Takuto Maruki
Ideal and the real
You're both correct, but on opposite ends, and not at the middle.
The NFL I think does believe that the CFL works within their own business scheme because it allows for more labor. Even with the combined spring football league currently operating, there's always going to be a desire for high level, professional jobs. Which is why the CFL has persisted for years now - because it is the gold standard for that second level of football jobs. If the NFL was truly going to kill the CFL, then they would have done so in 2020 when the CFL was effectively on the ropes, having cancelled their season and having the Major Market Question looming as large as it has ever in decades.
The reason why the NFL isn't trying to run the CFL (or really Aussie Rules football, considering that the AFL down under is operating under the same structure of being an effective national pro league in a place that the NFL covets for international dollars) out of town is that the owners of the teams, and the commissioner really, would run to the feds the instant they heard or got a whiff of the NFL actually going into the process of taking bids for an expansion team in Toronto. And no matter what government is actually in power, there's an expectation to protect Canadian cultural interests (of which the CFL absolutely is) alongside the jobs that are present from what can be spun as the conquering American horde looking to do damage. Even with the resources Goodell and the NFL have to put up a case in that scenario, why would you bother going up against the whims of a government who's going to be intent on muzzling you, and nationalist fervor whipped up by the opposite party?
