Does this vision of the CFL make sense?

Question

7 Western teams

Victoria

Vancouver

Calgary

Edmonton

Regina

Saskatoon

Winnipeg

7 Eastern Teams

Windsor

Hamilton

Toronto

Ottawa/Gatineau

Montreal

Quebec City

Halifax

Expansion to 9 Western US cities and 9 Eastern US cities to make 16 West and 16 East teams

I *know* - you say that is IMPOSSIBLE, but WAIT...

CFL regular season - April, May, June, July and the playoffs in August. THAT way, the two leagues do NOT clash.

Why can this NOT work?

Answer 1

It won't work because the CFL has to cater to it's real fans who buy tickets, especially seasons tickets. An April start would be impossible because how would you have training camp in March in Canada? Any real turf would either be still frozen or a mudbowl.  The Lions had enough troubles as it was with muck at their camp this year. Therefore every team would either need to invest in indoor training facilities, or have their camps in Florida alongside baseball?!

TV viewers in the US might choose CFL over poker or beach volleyball, or they might not. Either way, it's not going to generate much revenue for the league. Someone once advised Bill Ackles that he should not schedule a Lions game at BC Place against a Canucks game at GM Place. Ackles told the guy that the fans would just have to choose, and that he was very confident that his product was bettter entertainment than any early-season NHL. game. The league needs more guys like Ackles who actually have confidence in the CFL as it is. If people like NFL or whatever better than the CFL-it's a free country. It's not as if any CFL teams have money problems nowadays in any case-it it ain't broke don't fix it.

Answer 2

How come Quebec city does  not already have a team? The population is there the love for football is there.

Expansion is a double edged sword it looks good on the onset but then when things go wrong they go really wrong and can damage the credibility of a league for years. Case in point the NHL, they will never live down the failing southern franchises and when Carolina won the cup it was only more ridiculous.

If you start the season in April no one will watch. There seems to be this little Hockey deal  everyone is crazy for. I love the CFL but it can not compete with the NHL playoffs especially if a Canadian team is doing well. Half of the point of the CFL is to play in the winter.

Thats funny you would suggest expansion onto the states with the leagues new ''Our League" branding. This whole season they have gone to great lenghts to say hey we are not American this aint the NFL get over it, this is Canadian football and we love it. No Americans invited.

The CFL needs Ottawa to come back and then one more team and I think we will be set for another 100 years of great football.

Answer 3

Ottawa and victoria would not work.I would love to put another team down east and maybe saskatoon.

Answer 4

NB - I am from Saskatoon, and I would love a team to come here - or the Riders to move here.  It is a 3 hour drive to Regina from here and the game ended at 11 last night, by the time you get out of parking and home, lets see...3 am maybe on a Friday morning???  Not to mention the fact that you can't even buy tickets for the games cause they're all sold out!!

Answer 5

While expansion to a few more Canadian cities would be nice I dont think it would work in that many cities because of $$$ and attendacne issues. You've doubled up areas  Victoria/Vancouver,,,, Regina/Saskatoon........not sure about Windsor...

I would like to see it...

Maybe just adding Halifax, Ottawa, Quebec City would be nice.

East. Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Ottawa, Hamilton, Quebec (that would be a pretty weak Division)

West. Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, BC, Sask. would need another team.  

Answer 6

What about a team North of the Arctic Circle? As an American and a lover of Canada I see that there is a great deal of ignorance in the average American. Basically most Americans know nothing about Canada. I hear "Canada sucks" a lot. Americans would take the same attitude when CFL football would be presented to them again (remember a lot of that 18-24 year old age bracket doesn't remember the 1993-1995 US expansion). I love basically all sports that present a good game. I also greatly admire the pride that the average Canadian CFL fan shows in his/her league and team. Keep the CFL small and most of all keep it viable.

Canada does not have 300 million people.

Answer 7

The CFL Should never go into the United States again, ever. Saskatoon doesn't need a team because nobody would support it and Windsor is too small to have a team. I think it should be a 10-12 team league with.

West

Vancouver

Calgary

Edmonton

Regina

Winnipeg

Victoria

East

Hamilton

Toronto

Ottawa

Montreal

Halifax

Quebec

As for the season structure it should look like this.

vs. own division - 2 games

vs. other division - 1 game per team

It would be a 20 week season. Each team would get 2 bye weeks. Using this year's calender it would start June 6 and end October 18. That way it would be able to keep the Labour Day and Thanksgiving games, as well as avoid the NHL season and the NFL season. The The Grey Cup Game would be played on Novemeber 9.

Answer 8

Let's get a team back in Ottawa first.

If that works expanding to the Maritimes, Quebec City and/or London-Kitchener in the East and either Victoria or Saskatoon would round out at 12 teams.

Home and Home within your division and one cross division game will give 16 games. Add two more in your own division for the present 18 and we can have a league.

The Canadian content is the major problem a fifty percent increase in players will severly affect the quality of Canadians on the rosters.  

Answer 9

Expansion to more Canadian cities is long overdue.

Answer 10

$$$$$ is the biggest problem. The US TV revenues and audience must embrace it or else it is doomed. The spring schedule makes sense but can it be scheduled. The best way is to have domed stadiums so that the schedule can be winter and there is no other football around.

I love the CFL but it is not broadcast widely throughout the US and that kills the expansion. Even the NHL is not widely broadcast except on cable network which not everyone has.

I'm Canadian living in Los Angeles and this cheeses me. But what can you do. You love the sport but the TV networks don't believe in it.

Answer 11

I like the Canadian expansion, but the US expansion is a horrible, horrible idea.  It was the US expansion that cause me as a fan to lose interest in the CFL.  I'm only just starting to rekindle my interest in CFL, it took that long.

Answer 12

I agree with NB Josh.

However, many people mentioned US expansion didn't work out well.  One of the main reasons for the collapse of the US expansion was the import rule.  The CFL made a huge mistake by not making the US teams dress and play a specific number of Canadian players.  This created an unfair advantage.  You should never have a league with different rules for different teams (cough, cough MLB designated hitter...but that's another story....).

Answer 13

possibly could be done. only problem to over loaded with ontario corridor . rosters would need more canadian players . it is feasable if the e3conomy takes a up turn , and vancouver drops thier ticket prices . which are just pure greed . valid thoughtful question , great rivalries alreay there.  

Answer 14

Why can this not work, you ask?  Well, first of all, try finding 18 US cities that will have people come out and support a brand of football that is different from what they're used to, in a league called the Canadian Football League.  It ain't gonna happen.

Even your proposed Canadian expansion plan has flaws.  Windsor has a population of less than 250 thousand people, and would need to bring fans up from Detroit to survive.  Detroit is a city with professional sports teams in all four major leagues, so why would they want to support a team across the border in a lesser league?  As far as I'm concerned, Windsor is out of the picture.  London would be a better choice, but even then, I wouldn't seriously consider them for an expansion team.

Splitting allegiances in Saskatchewan would also be problematic.  The Riders are popular throughout the province, not just in Regina, and there's no guarantee that an expansion team in Saskatoon would steal their support, especially when they're coming off a Grey Cup-winning season.  Also, when you consider that the province of Saskatchewan only has about a million people living in it, I'm not sure that they could support two pro football teams.  Doesn't Saskatoon have a population under 300 thousand?

Now, I do feel that Ottawa, Quebec City and Halifax could be viable expansion cities, if they would be willing to build/upgrade their stadiums to CFL standards, but I'm not sure about Victoria.  Has there ever been much demand for football on Vancouver Island?  I have never heard any serious talk of expansion coming from there, and I really can't see anyone building a big stadium in Victoria, either.

So, there you have it: your theory has been debunked.

Answer 15

What about London?

I think a team could work there.

Kitchener too.

But we've seen the US idea before and it didn't work out too well at all.  Keep the CFL in Canada.