If not the Toronto Bills, then the Toronto Vikings?

Mark Craig points out that Buffalo is not the only NFL team with a small home market, a need for a new stadium, and potentially willing to move:

What happens after the 2011 season depends on whether the Vikings make any serious headway on a new stadium with the state legislature. According to Lester Bagley, Vikings vice president of public affairs and stadium development, the Vikings will not extend their lease with the Metrodome under any circumstances unless there is some serious momentum toward a new stadium.

If that doesn't happen — and it might not considering the state announced a $4.8 billion deficit on Thursday — the Vikings essentially become free agents after the 2011 season.

The Vikings already have been approached by an group from Los Angeles that wants a team. Zygi Wilf, the team's owner, turned them away. If the 2009 and 2010 legislative sessions produce nothing, the Vikings will be swarmed by other cities. Portland, Ore., Orlando, Los Angeles and Toronto are desperate for an NFL team.

Ted Rogers, the Toronto gazillionaire who was behind the deal with the Bills, died this week at 75. He was the one who REALLY wanted to bring an NFL team to Toronto.

It remains to be seen how his death will affect Toronto's lust for the NFL. But the guess is another rich Canadian will want to join the fraternity of rich American NFL owners. And the Vikings will look awfully good in four years.

After all, if the folks in Toronto are willing to pay nearly $10 million for one Bills home game, imagine how much they'll be willing to pay Wilf for the right to move the Vikings there permanently in 2012.

I wasn't thrilled with the idea of Toronto stealing the Bills from Buffalo. I'm seriously conflicted about my favourite team moving from Minnesota to Toronto. It'd be great to get all the Viking games televised locally, but there are serious issues that would almost immediately need to be addressed. First is that the stadium they're looking at is another dual-use facility, shared with a major league baseball team. It's also, as sports facilities go, getting older. It's highly likely that either football team moving to Toronto would want a new football-only facility built — mostly at taxpayer expense — as part of the deal. I'm absolutely against public funding of stadiums for professional sports teams.