The owners of the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts want a NFL franchise, according to an article published last week in the Toronto Globe and Mail. With this announcement, David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski have become the third group of potential owners of an NFL team in Toronto. The chief executive officer of the Toronto Blue Jays, Paul Godfrey — who has spent the better of two decades pursuing an NFL team in Toronto — is working in cahoots with Jays’ owner Ted Rogers, who also wants a team in his city. And Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment minority owner Larry Tannenbaum is looking into the possibility of owning an NFL team as well.

Cynamon and Sokolowski intend to bring a relocated franchise to Canada’s financial and media capital. While there isn’t one NFL owner actively shopping his team around at the moment and the NFL has no expansion plans, there could be a few available within the next five years. NFL owners in Buffalo, Jacksonville, Minnesota, New Orleans, and San Diego are coming to the end of stadium leases.

In Buffalo, Bills’ ownership is now marketing the club as far east as Syracuse and out to Erie, Penn., in an attempt to beef up revenues. Ownership claims that just 10% of its customer base that attends games at Ralph Wilson Stadium comes from Canada. If the city didn’t have a team today, Buffalo probably would not get an NFL franchise because its market isn’t the same as it was in 1960. The steel, grain, and flour industries are nearly nonexistent; the city’s port lost much of its business when the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway allowed ships to bypass Buffalo, and the city’s population today is half of what it was when Wilson himself opened up for business. The Bills’ lease is done in 2013.

Wilson was a major critic of the 2006 Collective Bargaining Agreement, saying that small market teams such as his could not survive without a major revenue sharing transfer from the high revenue clubs such as Dallas, Washington, Philadelphia, Houston, and New England. The league has come up with a complex revenue sharing deal, but it expires in 2009.

The Spanos family, which owns the Chargers, has been seeking a new stadium somewhere in the San Diego area for seven years. A team spokesman has said that two Chula Vista locations would work well for the team’s plan to build a 72,000-seat stadium. But it is unclear whether the Spanos family will be able to build the project. That franchise could become available on the market as early as November 2008.

Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver reworked his lease at the city-owned Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in November 2005 and claimed the new lease would allow the team to get more revenue. But Weaver has not been able to sell naming rights to the stadium. Also, last Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans was blacked out in local TV markets because of a league rule that states a game must be sold out 72 hours in advance to be broadcast. It is the second time this year that Jacksonville failed to sell-out. After the 2004 season, Weaver was forced to cover up almost 10,000 seats at the stadium so the franchise could avoid blackouts.

Weaver has repeatedly said in the past three years that he was not interested in selling the Jaguars. But the stadium is unnamed and that’s a bad omen for the long-term future of the franchise.

Minnesota Vikings owner Zygi Wilf will be standing before the state’s legislature in 2008 in an effort to get funding for a stadium-village at the site of the Minneapolis Metrodome. Wilf struck out in 2007 to get state money for his project, and his own Metrodome lease ends in 2011.

Tom Benson’s deal with the state of Louisiana to use the New Orleans Superdome for his football team ends in 2010. Benson will be finishing a 9-year, $186.5 million contract that was the first direct lease handout ever given to a sports owner. Benson does have a rebuilt stadium. But he is doing business in a city that is still trying to recover from Hurricane Katrina. He seemed to be ready to take his team on a permanent basis to San Antonio, Texas, but was bullied into returning to the Crescent City for the 2006 season by then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue. Benson then decided to honor his lease, and why not? Louisiana owed him millions of dollars as a thank you for keeping his team in the city. Will Louisiana be able to afford Benson three years from now? That is a big unknown.

In the midst of all this speculation, Toronto continues to look like an attractive NFL city. The Canadian dollar is worth about $1.02, compared to the American greenback. The city has a large population, financial strength, TV dollars, and potential owners who have deep pockets. In March 2006, Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen endorsed Toronto as a future NFL city. But there are a few drawbacks. Toronto needs a football stadium that seats more than 65,000 — but there is enough money in the city to get the stadium situation straightened out. The more pressing issue is the CFL and protecting the integrity of that league.

The Blue Jays, the Raptors, and Toronto FC of the MLS have eroded the Argonauts’ fan base over the years, as the CFL is viewed as a minor league entity in a world class, major league city.

If Toronto landed an NFL team, the Argonauts — a team that was founded 130 years ago — would more than likely fold. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats, a team that plays about 40 miles west of Toronto, may also face extinction — and that could kill the CFL.

The last time American football entrepreneurs entered Canada, the government tried to block them to protect the CFL. In 1974, John Bassett tried to place a World Football League franchise in the city, but he was blocked by a proposal called the Canadian Football Act of 1974. The act, which eventually died in committee after Bassett moved his team to Memphis in April of that year, had two protection provisions: Clause 6 stated that no person that owns, operates, or manages a team in a league foreign from the CFL shall play in Canada. Subsection 2 stated that no player or member of the said team shall play in Canada.

But that was then, and this is now. Because of the sudden strength of the Canadian dollar against the American buck, a ready-made TV audience, and a huge corporate base, Toronto might be the best option for an NFL owner who is looking for a new and stronger business address for his team.

evanjweiner@yahoo.com