With the rumor mill running rampant right now over the Toronto Argonauts possibly playing their last game(s) in the CFL and thus possibly being gobbled up by the XFL, it would seem like many others are offering an opinion about a Toronto football team playing for an American league.

For that to happen of course, an NFL Expansion would be necessary—which is something else that has been getting a lot of play in the media as of late. This means of course that the NFL would branch out into Canada.

But what of the CFL?

There are those opposed to such notions, as a study conducted by the University of Lethbridge shows. They asked a group of Canadians if they would back the notion of the NFL having Canadian teams in the league even if it meant the disseverment of the Canadian Football league from existence, and only 11% supported such a notion, which makes sense.

But what if they can co-exist somehow? Many feel that that would be a good thing—especially if both leagues find a way to ultimately do so.

One such opinion was put forth by Cynthia Frelund, who serves as an analyst for the NFL Network. Specifically, and as detailed by nfl.com, Frelund is a “Predictive Analytics Analyst.” This is a position that she’s had for two years. Before that, she was a manager for development at the Disney ABC Television Group. She also previously served as a finance analyst for the National Football League.

She knows her stuff, as they say, and you can catch her each and every Sunday at 9 AM EST on NFL GameDay Morning. You can also catch her on NFL Fantasy Live.

It was as she spoke on the Rod Pedersen Show that she put forth these statements on the aforementioned issues at hand:

“I grew up in Michigan, so of course I’ve been to Canada when I grew up. We went to Canada a lot and I have definitely watched a lot of Canadian football when I track for players, but also Quinton Porter, who I went to Boston College with, he spent some time up there as well…

I’ve been to one Roughriders game. It was very fun. That’s more than maybe most people who talk about football in the US. I’m a big fan of [the CFL] and I think it’s good to have the CFL for a number of reasons, but not the least of which is because it’s pretty pure…

These guys want to be there because they’re having fun and they’re not breaking the bank there. Everybody likes to see someone just enjoying themselves at a game, so I don’t want it to die either…

I think two things can co-exist together. I think we’ve seen that in other areas. The hard part about a non-NFL entity for football is we’ve seen two examples of large-scale failures, the XFL twice and the Alliance of American football once. People are down on if it can exist or if there’s enough potential for both and I think that both can exist and I think they should…

I hope that we get the NFL in Canada and it may be actually even have the net effect of making the CFL more popular.”

via The Rod Pedersen Show

Toronto fans have made their sentiments clear about the possibility of the Argos going to the XFL over the internet, but the sudden buzz about a Toronto team possibly having a future in an American football league—either as the Argos in the XFL, or a whole new team based out of one of Canada’s biggest cities in the NFL—is definitely causing many to wonder.

And as she states in her comments, in the end, an NFL Expansion such as the one described here and by Frelund, can change the landscape of the sport overall, and that wouldn’t only be good for the CFL, it would be good for the entirety of Canada and for Toronto. Just look at what the Toronto Raptors were able to accomplish in the NBA!

We also can’t forget about the rumors that occurred shortly after Dwayne Johnson’s purchase of the XFL from Vince McMahon…of the XFL and the CFL joining up and becoming one. The opposition to that possibility was great, as you will recall, dear readers.

So why is this different? Why are some willing to see this come to fruition?

Because in the end, does it have to mean that the Argos go to the XFL, forsaking the CFL? In the end, no. What Frelund is proposing seems positive for right now, although perhaps it’s too early to see the ins and outs of what this could all possibly mean, but one thing remains certain: There sure is a lot of talk about Toronto playing ball in the good old USA right about now. Who knows what this could mean about the future of the sport entirely?

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