Ask any sports fan, and Buffalo and Toronto have two things in common: excessive snow and a love of the Bills, Buffalo’s National Football League franchise. Fundamentally, sports are what ties these two cities together. It’s a reason for Torontonians — and more broadly, Ontarians — to travel to Western New York. On a grander scale, it’s about much more than two nationalities of fans supporting a common team; it’s about international economics.
Cross-border interaction among sports fans, either through travelling for live-game attendance or purchasing team apparel, leads to what is essentially international flows of money, products, services, and culture. When Canadians travel to see a sporting event in the U.S., they’re not only spending money on American goods and services, but they’re also contributing to the tourism industry in the U.S., and subsequently to its current account balance, the difference between a country’s exports and imports of goods and services.
Canadian interest in U.S. sports teams far outweighs U.S. interest in Canadian teams, and it’s not hard to see why. We only have one National Basketball Association club, and zero NFL teams. An absence of these leagues, despite widespread interest in both, is simply inexcusable. Why shouldn’t we try to attract American sports fans to come watch our teams play?
Sports franchises are becoming more valuable and more profitable than ever. The Los Angeles Clippers were sold this year for $2 billion U.S., and the value of the Toronto Raptors increased by 28% this year to reach $520 million, according to Forbes. Canadian cities could use this value. Sports franchises give cities instant international appeal and, bluntly speaking, make areas that may otherwise be unremarkable viable destinations for increased tourism and investment.
Even setting aside sports franchises as a draw for tourists, they also provide support and value to the Canadian economy as a whole. According to an article by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, spectator sports in Canada contributed $4.5 billion to the Canadian economy in 2010, and that was before the recent rise in popularity of the Toronto Raptors.
At a micro level too, sports franchises create and support a considerable amount of jobs in their communities, both directly, by hiring Canadians to work for the team, and indirectly, by boosting the sales and value of nearby hotels, restaurants and pubs.
Prime locations for new sports franchises in Canada include Vancouver and Saskatchewan. Vancouver, situated perfectly and once home to the Grizzlies franchise (now in Memphis), is craving another major sports team. As an international city trying to expand its brand around the world, an NBA or NFL team would simultaneously satisfy domestic demand and improve its appeal in the U.S., particularly in Washington, where a group of investors in 2013 failed in as bid to purchase the Sacramento Kings and bring them to Seattle.
Saskatchewan, as the only Prairie province currently without a National Hockey League franchise, could benefit from a major sports team as well. The province is booming, and it wants to stay that way, so why not strike while the iron is hot? It, as should the rest of Canada, needs to recognize the economic force that is sports, and invest and spend accordingly.
