The NFL has been trying to go more global with games overseas. All 32 NFL teams are associated in the United States of America and no team is located in the country of Canada or elsewhere.
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President Donald Trump speaks during the American 250 kickoff event on July 3, 2025, at the Iowa State Fairgrouds.
The closet NFL team to Canada might be either the Buffalo Bills or the Detroit Lions. There are a lot of Bills fans in Niagara Falls, Ontario and other places across the province. U.S.A. President Donald Trump has been critical about Canada since ever being elected a second time into the White House. Will fans from Canada not go to Bills games or other NFL contests during the 2025 season because of it? It remains to be seen what will transpire.
One NFL Insider Questions Whether Fans From Canada Will Go To Games Or Not Because Of Donald Trump
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President Donald Trump speaks during the American 250 kickoff event on July 3, 2025, at the Iowa State Fairgrouds.
Tim Graham, a reporter for the Athletic wrote a headline on his list post and asked, “Can the NFL overcome Trump’s anti-Canada rhetoric? The Bills are banking on it” This is a very interesting headline to say the least because there are probably fans who come from the Canadian border into the USA to watch Bills home games throughout the course of the season.
Graham questions that and said in some of his column,
“The NFL craves Canada more than ever. There’s untapped corporate money, growth in youth football, philanthropic connections and long-term fans to help build a league with massive, global plans. Buffalo, a small-market club with 60 percent of its market population lying across the border, needs it most.
But are Canadians in the mood to play along?
For some, the idea of entering the United States has shifted not so much logistically as symbolically. It started after Donald Trump was elected president for a second time and floated the idea of making Canada the 51st state. Trump belittled Canada’s economic wherewithal, called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “governor” and threatened a trade war. In February, Trump reportedly told Trudeau he believed the 1908 treaty that demarcates the 5,525-mile border is invalid and in early March enacted 25 percent tariffs on Canadian exports.”
It didn’t go over well with some people about Canada being the 51st state of the United States. This is what lead to Canadians booing the American national anthem at sporting events, especially the four nations when Canada fans booed the U.S.A. anthem when they played each other. Trump claimed that Canada relies on the United States and that also the United States doesn’t rely on Canada.
What is also interesting is that the Bills have not played a game in Canada in quite some time and maybe the NFL should try and do that for its international series. Toronto has a large base of Bills fans and Windsor has a large base of Lions fans. Despite the U.S. Canada border having a drop off of people coming into the country at the moment, the Bills will need the Canadian fans to come support them during the 2025 NFL season because of the money those fans bring in.
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