About 10 years ago, Mike Smith tried to capture the exuberant mood of customers at his local bar, Joe Kool’s. Over the years, your favorite sports teams have endured winless seasons, playoff droughts, and epic collapses. So he designed a T-shirt featuring a map of southern Ontario with London in the center and lines connecting Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and Toronto. Above it were the words “The Epicenter of Loss” and a red arrow pointing to London.
Since then, London has been transformed into a kind of center of triumph. The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967, but have made the playoffs for eight straight seasons (losing in the first round almost every time). Although the Cleveland Browns last won an NFL title the year the Beatles invaded America, the Crosstown Guardians have advanced to the American League playoffs six times since 2016.
But the real twist is the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions, traditionally two of the NFL’s sad sacks. They won their division convincingly this season and are serious Super Bowl contenders as the playoffs begin this weekend. This is something to please fans in southern Ontario, which separates the two cities.
“There is mutual respect and sympathy between Bills and Lions fans,” said Charlie Smith, who owns Joe Kool’s with his father. “Rust Belt cities don’t catch a break, so I’m happy for both teams.”
The two cities, located just past London and a four-hour drive away, have a lot in common, from closed factories to run-down neighborhoods and faded history. Ralph Wilson, the founding owner of the Bills, was close to the Ford family, who still own the Lions. Wilson maintained an office in Detroit, and for many years the Bills and Lions played preseason games. In 2022, the Bills played their home games in Detroit due to a snowstorm in Buffalo.
The two teams also share the dubious distinction of not having the Lombardi Trophy. The Lions are one of four teams that have never played in a Super Bowl. Before last season, they had won just one playoff game in 65 years, and their last NFL title came in 1957, two months after the Soviet Union launched the first Sputnik satellite. The Bills won two AFL titles in the 1960s and appeared in four straight Super Bowls in the 1990s, losing each time.
After a long hiatus, both teams now have powerful offenses and solid defenses that attract the attention of Canadian fans living between Buffalo and Detroit. It described the nervous hope masquerading as Joe Kool’s optimism.
Longtime bartender Ross Cockburn started rooting for the Bills when OJ Simpson was a Bills running back. “The Rust Bucket Team never sleeps.” “If the Bills and Lions get to the Super Bowl, it will end in a tie.”
Last Sunday, the Bills played against their second stringers and lost to the New England Patriots to end their regular season. But they have already won the AFC East division for the fifth straight year and were saving their energy for the Denver Broncos they will face this Sunday.
The real tension began late last Sunday when the Lions faced the Minnesota Vikings, a team with a 14-2 record and two teams without a Super Bowl title. After a tight first half, the Lions were able to close out the game successfully, securing the NFC North Division title and earning a bye as the conference’s top seed this weekend.
“I’ve been pinching myself this year,” said Lions fan Darren Pyne, who left Joe Kool’s at halftime and returned home to watch the second half from his “fortress of solitude” because he didn’t want to jinx the team.
Canadian fans have another reason to cheer. Popular teams north of the border – the Vikings, Kansas City Chiefs, Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks – have all posted double-digit win totals this year, and all but the Seahawks have qualified for the postseason.
Their success comes as the NFL expands into international markets in search of new fans and revenue. More than a decade ago, the Bills played six regular season games in six years in Toronto, an experiment that unnerved fans in Buffalo. Not only did their team lose five of those games, they saw it as a prelude to the team’s move.
However, the game was not well-received in part because it lacked tailgating and was played indoors. The Bills will maintain their presence by building a new stadium in Orchard Park, New York. However, Toronto remains part of the Bills’ domestic market. About 10 per cent of the team’s season ticket holders are Canadian, and last year the Bills hired new executives to expand the team’s presence in Ontario, including finding corporate sponsors and media partners.
“Ultimately, whatever we can do to theoretically eliminate borders and allow people from Southern Ontario and Toronto to be a part of the Bills organization, or feel as close to it as possible,” said Pete Guelli, the team’s chief operating officer. “I’m doing it,” he said. officer.
The Lions, Seahawks and Vikings are developing Canada as a market. About 5% of Lions season ticket holders are Canadian, mostly from Windsor, just across the border from Detroit. The team has expanded its reach, doubling its email list of Canadian fans over the past three years. Before Christmas, the Lions hosted a watch party in London with the team’s cheerleaders and mascot Roary entertaining more than 3,000 fans.
London is roughly equidistant between Buffalo and Detroit, and the success of the Bills and Lions has made it an NFL demilitarized zone. For many years, fans in London had a television signal to watch Browns and Lions games. But you can also follow the Bills through the league’s digital streaming package.
The ubiquity of the NFL is one of the reasons Reid Collins, 9, became a Bills fan. Wearing a Josh Allen jersey, he and his father, John, watched the Bills on TV at the Dawghouse Pub, a 10-minute drive from Joe Kool’s. After following the Bills in the 1990s, John Collins said, “I stopped watching them, but he got me back into it.” “I’m glad he picked it up.”
Like Joe Kool’s, the Dawghouse had a mix of NFL fans, with patrons wearing Chargers, Cowboys, Giants and Packers hats and jerseys. The NFL, which has 14.5 million fans nationwide, has more than 20 corporate sponsors in Canada, two media packages and its own online store. The Super Bowl is the highest rated program. Nearly 36 Canadians play in the league..
“There have been fans in Canada as long as the NFL has existed.” said Gavin Kemp, general manager of the Toronto league office.
As popular as the NFL is, hockey is still king. If Team Canada had advanced to the final round of the World Junior Championships last week, Joe Kool’s stadium would have been filled with hockey fans. Instead, only one TV showed the title game between the United States and Finland.
But over the next few weeks, the NFL will be front and center at Joe Kool’s and across Canada. Charlie Smith’s 95-year-old grandfather, Bill Haddow, who attended the Lions’ 1957 title game and has had season tickets for years, is very excited.
“We are nervous now because we have never been in this position,” he said.
