Except, I pointed to the downtown cores/core's of the city, which are much more vibrant than most American cities. And, the suburbs are rarely interesting. It is the same chains recycled in strip malls with the occasional unique main street. A bunch of American cities downtown core turn into ghost-towns after the 9-5 weekdays.The suburbs in the USA have a lot more character and things to do than any of the Canadian neighbourhoods. Suburbs in Dallas, Houston, etc... all feel like almost little mini-cities with great restaurants, attractions, bars, etc... Many have their own local sports teams and stadiums.
There is nothing going on in the burbs in Canada. This applies to even the more exciting cities like Toronto and Montreal.
Most people who play for the Leafs don't live in the suburbs. They live in expensive downtown condo's or if they have a family, live in wealthy neighborhoods in which were built in the early 1900's such as Lawrence Park, Rosedale, Forest Hill, etc. They don't live in Vaughn or Oakville. And, I mean, the Toronto suburbs do have minor league teams (Raptors 905) and a ton of OHL affiliates. American suburbs do have NFL teams due to the need for land, but if you want to call things like Arlington interesting around the stadium, I doubt you've been there. It has an NFL stadium, a Baseball stadium, 6 flags and a bunch of parking lots. Bills are in Orchard Park which is essentially a ghost town when the Bills aren't playing.