-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Toronto-Age
- Thread starter EvilMario
- Start date
- Status
firehawk12
Subete no aware
No one gives a shit. Which is why they had to give away tickets to those Buffalo games.Blackface said:
AlphaTwo00
Member
In a way, I'm for NFL in Toronto. But more specifically, I'm for NFL in Toronto that would not take money and resources away from the city serving it's people. Sure, they've said no public money. But already they're spending time away from issues in the city to pitch the idea to NFL. Why?Blackface said:
Blackface said:
There's a limited amount of resources, bodies and messages the city can use. Their priority is in all the wrong places. They would rather talk about this than focus on issues like how they ruined transit city, or explaining how Ford is going to keep the budget in line with all these cuts.. and ruining his advantage with the unions by easily handy out a wage increase to TPS. Who gives a shit about services, transit, and things that make great cities great when we could dream of an NFL team.
The NFL has even come out and said that we don't have a stadium for a full time NFL team. And from the NFL perspective, a Toronto team is going to do nothing for their gigantic US television contract.. which is where they make most of their revenue.
It's all about priorities. An NFL team, a second NHL team, a real baseball stadium for the Jays. I would love all these things, but there are dozens of issues I would rather have the city address because looking at sports. If some rich billionaire would look to come in and take care of some of the sports stuff, I'm all for it, but the city government should get their priorities in order.
hoverX said:
It's another valid question when considering a team in the market. Selling 55,000+ seats per game, not being a factor in the US television contract, where they're going to build (Etobicoke looks like a prime spot, near one of the GO Stations. There's land, the value is good, easily reachable), and how exactly they're going to fund the stadium. Then there's possibly paying off the Bills by entering their market, how the value of the CFL maintains its place, etc.
Then how the franchise is run will be interesting to see. Every other major sports team in Toronto except for the Leafs struggles to attract American born free agents, or have their own players sign extensions. And that's even more of a factor in the NFL, where the % of Americans playing are even higher than the NBA and MLB.
Just saying. I'd be exciting for a team, but don't automatically assume it would be a wild success. Toronto tends to support their professional teams pretty well (only the Jays really struggle, but then again.. you have to see a game at the Skydome. Blargh) If they have to keep gate prices down, and they're not making a butt load off a television contract.. why would the NFL think about moving here? If you just want to tap into a massive market with a decent interest in the sport, there's an even larger market south of the border.
I'm going to Portugal this summer with my family (12 of us in total) and it's going to be such a hassle and expensive getting to the airport.AlphaTwo00 said:
My brother goes to Atlantic City every year for some DJ trade show and he loves flying out of Porter. He goes on and on about it all the time and he works at Pearson. lol
Just take a taxi from the airport if they're not renting a car (or if their hotel doesn't have a shuttle service). It's a pain in the ass, but we'll be lucky to see an extension there in the next 20 years.
I hope when they're building the Eglinton LRT, they're at least planning for a possible expansion to the airport later.
I hope when they're building the Eglinton LRT, they're at least planning for a possible expansion to the airport later.
added_time
Member
Here is what today looked like at high park:
(just thought I'd try to sell you all on viewing the cherry blossoms one more time)
(just thought I'd try to sell you all on viewing the cherry blossoms one more time)
EvilMario said:
The land right beside the MasterCard center is good however there's no good TTC link there
You have the Kipling bus, 110 islington bus, and 501 queen streetcar
I live in the area, and it'd kinda be suicide... The reason the leafs are hugely successful is because the ACC is so interlinked with union station
Having a go train is not enough... And having the waterfront west LRT cancelled due to the whiny people in the neighborhood... It's a bad spot. The land though would be cheap as hell because no one has interest in it
Though having the NFL in the area might expedite some of the transit optionsthat were once available
The Leafs are a huge corporate sell too, don't kid yourself. If they played in Richmond Hill, they'd sell out. You're right though, other sports in this city need to be in an accessible spot, or they risk losing sales.
We're pretty much thinking the same area for the stadium. It's close enough to Long Branch / Mimico GO, Kipling Station, and the 501 streetcar.. and more importantly, the QEW/427.
Hopefully if they do build a stadium at the spot, they would use it to revitalize the neighborhood. Plan condos, shops, and make it a real lively village area. It's more like that down toward Islington on Lakeshare, so I'm sure it's going to naturally expand over as it is.
We're pretty much thinking the same area for the stadium. It's close enough to Long Branch / Mimico GO, Kipling Station, and the 501 streetcar.. and more importantly, the QEW/427.
Hopefully if they do build a stadium at the spot, they would use it to revitalize the neighborhood. Plan condos, shops, and make it a real lively village area. It's more like that down toward Islington on Lakeshare, so I'm sure it's going to naturally expand over as it is.
I would love it if they did, to be honest...(I live right on islington and lakeshore) The area has no attractions, really... One thing that the area has a TON of is bars and diners... Certainly would push business up huge and hopefully expand the horizons of available business
I just want that damn LRT, right of way or not lol
The place is just BEGGING for a boost, considering it's a 3-4KM straight street which could potentially become a great diversion from downtown, and if they'd get the stadium on birmingham, there'd be huge potential commercial developments on basically wide open land which only a police college, canpar and campbells soup occupy
I just want that damn LRT, right of way or not lol
The place is just BEGGING for a boost, considering it's a 3-4KM straight street which could potentially become a great diversion from downtown, and if they'd get the stadium on birmingham, there'd be huge potential commercial developments on basically wide open land which only a police college, canpar and campbells soup occupy
added_time
Member
For anyone that like business versus livability number-crunching:
PricewaterhouseCoopers released their annual report on the top cities of opportunity which analyzes and ranks how 26 global centers of finance, business and culture perform across 10 key indicators.
http://www.pwc.com/us/en/cities-of-opportunity/
Best places to live and do business in the world according to the study:
1. New York City
2. Toronto
3. San Francisco
4. Stockholm
5. Chicago
Also of note from the report, Toronto came in first place for quality of life and air quality among the big business players and also has more skyscrapers under construction than any other city in the world.
Neat.
PricewaterhouseCoopers released their annual report on the top cities of opportunity which analyzes and ranks how 26 global centers of finance, business and culture perform across 10 key indicators.
http://www.pwc.com/us/en/cities-of-opportunity/
Best places to live and do business in the world according to the study:
1. New York City
2. Toronto
3. San Francisco
4. Stockholm
5. Chicago
Also of note from the report, Toronto came in first place for quality of life and air quality among the big business players and also has more skyscrapers under construction than any other city in the world.
Neat.
crimzonflame
Member
added_time said:
I totally agree with that list. New York, Chicago and Toronto are the best cities in North America.
added_time said:
Just comparing the cities I know well, San Francisco and Toronto.. I'm surprised Toronto scores better on air quality (ever so slightly). The dry days in the summer back here are pretty bad and actually in the city of San Francisco.. you'd rarely see it (more so towards the valley, or even north bay). I'm surprised San Francisco's quality of life is pathetic as well, but it's not as if California's economy is something to marvel at (at least in a good way) right now.
Toronto's transit scores are a good reflection of the TTC though. Bad prices, bad service, but good coverage for a city this size.
crimzonflame said:
I'm west coast bias, but if I had to live in a US city it would be a toss up between the Bay Area (San Francisco) and the Puget Sound (Seattle). The north west is quite amazing. And while Vancouver is a very attractive city, not being able to afford an actual house within 100kms of the metro area is terrible. At least with my two other cities listed, I could afford to live a bit outside the city limits and enjoy myself.
lunarworks
Member
Warning: If you have a car, you'd better gas-up tonight. Prices are gonna shoot up by 6.5¢ at midnight.
lunarworks
Member
I don't understand how they price gas at all.ShaneB said:
It's like they make a conference call between all the companies, decide to fuck as all on a whim, and then at midnight prices shoot up.
Yeah, I keep an eye on this site.lunarworks said:
http://tomorrowsgaspricetoday.com/city/toronto-GTA-London/
Kuro Madoushi
Unconfirmed Member
Today, I waited half an hour for the 72 to come to Pape station. One woman was there for an hour!EvilMario said:
Then then the bus comes, they're both 72A buses, which take the long routes, and there should be no way in hell they should be coming together like that. Where was the vanilla 72?
TTCtrollface.jpg
edit: normally, 72 and 72A buses are around 15 min.
BladeWorker
Member
It's a little bit sad he wasn't re-elected.Fuzzy said:
BladeWorker
Member
I waited 40 minutes at Bathurst and Eglinton for a bus that is scheduled to come every 10 minutes the other night. We've all got stories.Kuro Madoushi said:
Today, they probably pale in comparison to the dude who was shot at Scarborough Town Centre bus loop though.
BladeWorker
Member
Megabus has some great deals and is the cheapest way to go.Zoltrix said:
Zoltrix said:
I'm sure bus will be cheaper, but if you want to take the train check VIA Rail's deal section. $59.00 CAD each way from Toronto to Montreal when it's on sale. It's around a five hours trip.
http://www.viarail.ca/en/deals/from-toronto
BladeWorker
Member
If you pay by Visa, they usually have a deal that lets you get an additional 10% off or something.EvilMario said:
Google Visaperks.
added_time
Member
Zoltrix said:
I went to Montreal and back to Toronto on Megabus for $2!
The price increases the closer you get to the travel date though. Either way, it's always a great deal.
CN Tower Edgewalk. Pay money to vomit on the outside ledge of the tower! What could go wrong?
http://www.canada.com/Newest+Tower+attraction+Take+walk+outside/4752950/story.html#ixzz1LtIBK16I
http://www.canada.com/Newest+Tower+attraction+Take+walk+outside/4752950/story.html#ixzz1LtIBK16I
criesofthepast
Member
You could go skydiving for about $175. Would rather do that than this shit. Imagine being up there and the wind picks up? lol
Disaster.
Disaster.
Driving myself crazy with this apartment stuff, don't want to just jump in the first apartment I find.
Think I'm thinking too much about how my commute will work, right now I've got it pretty good with it being 30 minutes max, and even less when I take the highway without traffic. I work near Vaughn Mills Mall, and live near Yorkdale Mall.
Anyways, just wondering if anyone can recommend some areas where I should check out? I guess that is a fairly broad question, but just looking for decent highway access. Somewhere uptown, nice and quiet, etc etc, all the things everyone wants I guess.
Think I'm thinking too much about how my commute will work, right now I've got it pretty good with it being 30 minutes max, and even less when I take the highway without traffic. I work near Vaughn Mills Mall, and live near Yorkdale Mall.
Anyways, just wondering if anyone can recommend some areas where I should check out? I guess that is a fairly broad question, but just looking for decent highway access. Somewhere uptown, nice and quiet, etc etc, all the things everyone wants I guess.
firehawk12 said:
This is not true at all actually. They reason not all the tickets got sold is because you were paying more to watch the Bills, who are a shit team, then you would to watch any other team in the NFL. The event organizers, from Rogers downward, were price gouging people from Toronto.
If you look at the actual numbers, 1/3 of the people who attend Bill games are from Toronto. There are arguably as many if not more Bill fans in this city, then in all of Buffalo.
Toronto also produces some of the highest ratings for the NFL in North America, and it is the fourth largest sports market on this continent.
evilmario said:
Like I said before, the NFL does not get in the way with anything the city is doing in terms of top priorities. It takes the Ford brothers no time at all to make a pitch for an NFL team. Changing a city takes time, and believe it or not mayors sit around on their ass with nothing to do for a huge portion of their days. It's not their fault, it's the system. Instead of sitting and doing nothing like almost all other mayors in this country, Ford wants to make a pitch to the NFL. He is doing this on his free-time. He isn't missing meetings, or negotiations with anyone to do this. If you work for the city, as the mayor or on council, you work for a couple days and have 4 days of nothing to do.
The city is only involved as far as making the pitch goes. They have to show they are behind the team. All the money spent is coming from the private sector. It has to be NFL rules. A city or state may fund a new stadium, but that's as far as it goes.
Roger Godell said as soon as Toronto gets a proper stadium, we will probably end up with a team. Last year, he once again stated we need a proper stadium. The plan is to either dig out the bottom of the Rogers centre and add in seats, or build a water-front stadium. These are all things that are going to happen anyway, because Toronto is hosting the pan-am games. We are currently building facilities all over the GTA. Doing so for an NFL team would fall within the money already allocated as it can be used in 2015 for the games. The government of Canada has also stated it plans to give Toronto money to build new sporting facilities, in hopes to eventually land the Olympic games.
NFL execs have been stating for years they want to break into Toronto's sports market. It's massive. New York, LA, Chicago and Toronto are the largest markets in North America. It only makes sense to have a team here. People in this city love football. Have you ever been to a sports bar on a sunday during the NFL season? It's more packed then even in the NHL playoffs. The ratings in Toronto are all through the roof.
Which is something else I want to bring up, the nationally televised contracts. All of those contracts and the money generated DO count in Canada. It is done through the Canadian affiliate stations. All the money generated counts over both Canada and America. Which is why revenue sharing in the NHL and NBA are viable business models. If you can see it, it counts. In terms of sports, Canada and American TV deals are considered the same thing since those channels are nationally televised everywhere in both countries. You get Monday night football the same in Vancouver and Edmonton as you do in LA, New York or North Carolina. You are not "pirating" money night football. If you can watch it on TV, it generates money for the NFL, and all ratings count.
One aspect people forget is what it can do for the youth of Canada and the economy in general. The NFL has proven to be a huge boost to almost every cities economy that has a team. Thousands of jobs are created. Not just involving the team, but involving special events that take place weekly in all NFL cities. The games generate revenue equivalent to holding a major sporting event or concert in the city. For example, the UFC just generated a ton of money for Toronto. It got legalized in Ontario because of how much money it brings into the local economy. The NFL does this 8 times a season.
Much like the NBA, the NFL helps aspiring athletes grow. They invest loads of money into high-school, middle-schools and elementary schools to promote football. They set up NFL sponsored little leagues and tournaments. They bring in NFL camps, and events. All of these things Canada lacks. Canada ONLY put money into Hockey. Thats it. They don't put money into virtually any other sport. Most high-schools in Toronto can't even afford a football team, and before the NBA came to town, most didn't even have basketball teams. Ford himself has paid out of his own pocket to put football teams into 10 different schools in the GTA. This is something the NFL would take care of if they were here.
The NFL would bring opportunity to young athletes who do NOT get it currently. It would open up proper NCAA recruiting in Canada. It would be a MAJOR boost to our economy. The NFL would also invest money into our schools at all levels, and provide leagues, camps, and even jobs to the city.
There is literally NO downside to having a team here. Anyone arguing there is has no idea what they are talking about.
Emperor Bohe
Member
Has anyone worked for the Canadian Census before? Specifically as the on site interviewers that are dispatched into different neighborhoods. I was wondering because I have a test/interview for the position coming up and I was wondering if it was even worth it to go because honestly, knocking on everyone's door seems like a recipe for disaster.
Buba Big Guns
Banned
Is there any parking in High Park? Or where can I park when Im going there from Brampton so I can easily take the subway?
Buba Big Guns said:
There's parking inside the park, or you can park on Bloor St right outside and walk in.
It's easily accessible by subway from High Park station and Keele station. They are both literally across the street from the north end of the park. If you're heading over on the weekend, the subway would probably be for the best. Parking at this time of the year tends to get crazy.
Blackface said:
Yes, I knew you would be bent out of shape about any point made against it. Like I said, I would be in favour of a team here, but the notion that politicians have too much free time on their hands so it's okay is ludicrous. I'm sure the majority of city council members are as 'bored' as you say, but there are a few that work tirelessly for their city and their ward. They're as busy as they want to be, and there's no shortage of issues they could be out throwing their weight behind.
This is their vision for the city, which is fine; it's their opinion, and this is the government the city elected. I disagree that this is high on their agenda, and is making more news than developing the water front, the services they're cutting, the mess they've made with the garbage contract, and the extension for the police force. It might just be noise, but maybe they could try to make some positive noise about issues facing the city.
You are glossing over the stadium issue too easily. The Rogers Centre won't be where Toronto's NFL team plays. The federal government has actually backed away from a lot of their Pan Am games funding, so I'd like to see where they promised to help with an NFL stadium. The Ford brothers were trotting out the line that not a single tax payer dime would be spent on a moving the team here. So I guess money from Ottawa isn't tax payers money. Your other issue with playing at Rogers Centre full time is tailgating. This is why Etobicoke makes a lot more sense.
Then of course you have the issue of who will own the team, with corporate ownership not being allowed in the NFL. Rogers obviously would be the front runner it was allowed, but I'll be interested to see if the NFL will bend the rules a bit. They said in the past Rogers CAN NOT own the team though.
You assume a bunch with how the stadium will work out, how ownership, ticket sales for a full time team will be much better than the Bill's results in Toronto, that the CFL, or the Bills will not take it to court, that the NFL will do more for Toronto than its done for a half dozen American cities.
The television contract will likely change as well, with one of the Canadian broadcasters actually signing a giant contract. I wonder what will happen to Bill's games up here if anything. None the less, it doesn't make Toronto a huge draw for US audiences. Just like the Jays, and Raptors are among the lowest rated teams in their respective sports.
Like I said, I'd support a team coming here, but the city at this point is just making noise. Maybe they should shut up about it until they have an owner, a stadium, and the NFL actually willing to sit down and talk about it. Until then, how about they actually address transit, infrastructure of the city's ageing utilities, the homeless problem and affordable housing, the 'shocking' deficit the city will be facing this year, and actually doing what was promised in the election with cracking down on unions and being smart with contracts.
Buba Big Guns
Banned
Probably going in the middle of next week. Hopefully it wont be too bad. I just need to have my car to pick a friend up from Brampton so I just want to either park close or close to the subway.EvilMario said:
Apartment hunting is in full swing. Have a place to visit on friday morning. Seems like a good deal, location im familiar with, not too far, free parking, balcony, etc. Don't want to fall in the trap of just getting a place right away without making the right decisions, but it sure is nice to get things going and moving forward.
- Status