This is shaping up to be a spring of discontent for the commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell, and his 32 owners. At least two senators and one Congressman are monitoring the business activities of the league, and there seems to be some rumbling that some of the owners want to get out of the 2007 Collective Bargaining Agreement, and may decide to opt out of the contract in November.

These developments are troubling for an entity that is considered to be the best-run sports league in North America. Senator Specter, a Republican of Pennsylvania, wants to know more about the New England Patriots’ practice of spying on the opposition, although it is not clear what the Republican senator can really do about taping. Specter, though, has a history of looking into sports practices: He has tried to persuade the league to get the NFL’s Sunday Ticket television package distributed on cable television, and has also tried to legislate capping the amount of money a municipality can earn from a new stadium’s revenue in order to cover construction costs.

While Specter was looking into football spying, two other problems cropped up in Buffalo and Canada. Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson has struck a deal that allows him to play one regular season game annually in Toronto through 2012, along with three pre-season games in 2008, 2010, and 2012. The 89-year-old Wilson claims he needs to broaden his market, and insists that playing a game in Toronto is no different than holding training camp at St. John Fisher in Rochester. He also is emphasizing that people in Buffalo and Erie County should not worry about the long-term future of the Bills.

Wilson plans to keep the team in Orchard Park while he is alive, but after his death, the Wilson estate will offer the team to the highest bidder — and that might come from Toronto.

This has drawn the attention of Senator Schumer of New York and Buffalo-area Rep. Brian Higgins. Wilson was vehemently against the original 2006 CBA in its initial form because he felt there wasn’t enough revenue sharing among NFL teams, and that smaller markets, such as Buffalo, would eventually be unable to support an NFL franchise. In the fall of 2006, Senator Schumer decided to “help” NFL owners break their logjam over how to redistribute revenues so that comparatively smaller market teams — such the Bills and the Bengals — have a chance to keep up with the big boys, such as Dallas and New England. Schumer was hoping the weight of his office, along with other NFL states, would pressure owners into coming up with a revenue-sharing formula that satisfies owners from both high- and low-revenue ends. The owners did hammer out an agreement that even Wilson approved. But Denver owner Pat Bowlen raised a red flag in late January in an interview with the Rocky Mountain News saying that the league “can’t live with the deal.” Bowlen’s statement has not triggered an official response from the NFL and has not yet made it down to the team level. But it certainly raised some eyebrows, and will more than likely be on the agenda of the NFL’s spring meetings in late March in Palm Beach, Fla.

While Schumer wants to know what Wilson’s eventual plan is for the Bills, Higgins would like to see the Bills’ ownership become just like Green Bay’s, where the Packers are owned by the community. He would also like to see the Bills remain in Orchard Park beyond the expiration of Wilson’s lease with Erie County in 2012. But, the NFL does not allow community ownerships other than the one in Green Bay.

Higgins is trying to address this issue with Goodell: Higgins even wrote Goodell a letter that states, “The Bills are a regional treasure and part of the fabric of our community. Community ownership in the Bills would give the Buffalo fans that built this franchise a real role in steering the future of this team.”

The problems that Wilson, or any other owner who would come into Buffalo, faces stem from the fact that Buffalo has been a city in decline for more than four decades. With limited revenues and a western New York economy that is, to be kind, sluggish at best, Buffalo is not the same market it was in 1960 when Wilson first opened shop. The steel, grain, and flour industries are nearly nonexistent; the city’s port lost much of its business when the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway allowed ships to bypass Buffalo, and the city’s population today is half of what it was when Wilson founded the Bills. The TV market is too small and the corporate community is limited — two key factors in landing an NFL franchise.

Wilson will now tap into a secondary market in southern Ontario, Canada, more specially in Toronto, which is about 90 minutes away. Toronto is, in every sense, a major league market: It is the fifth biggest city in North America, it is the corporate and press capital of Canada, and there is a lot of Bay Street money that would be available to Wilson.

Buffalo loses out in key areas to Toronto when it comes to what is a better economic fit for the NFL. In Buffalo, Wilson has to keep his ticket prices low, and has trouble selling premium seats. But in Toronto, Wilson and his Toronto partners, Ted Rogers and Larry Tanenbaum, will be able to charge big-city prices for tickets. With a team in Toronto, the NFL can charge more money for TV rights throughout Canada, and there will be more opportunities for marketing.

But that creates another problem for Goodell: The NFL’s invasion of Toronto could be the death knell for the Canadian Football League. Toronto’s corporate and TV dollars will flow into the NFL, not the CFL. And Toronto’s money people probably are more interested in the Bills of Toronto playing the Patriots, Giants, or Packers — rather than the Toronto Argonauts entertaining the Calgary Stampeders.

In this spring of discontent, Goodell may end up explaining NFL business plans not only to Congress, but also to the Canadian Parliament — all the while dealing with unhappy owners in what may be shaping up as a turbulent offseason.

evanjweiner@yahoo.com