How do we fix the CFL?

Question

This year was something less than spectacular. Being most of the CFL fans are Canadian, we have all likely seen the facelift of the NHL game over the last two years. So how does the CFL do it? How do we fix this game before it returns to the near bankrupt state that it was in through the 80s until the mid 1990s?

Answer 1

i would expand to US cities like portland, louisville, and syracuse where it could thrive........

or expand to halifax, moncton, and quebec city

i'm still waiting for my team in windsor.... the league said 1985

do a cross-country promotion across canada

get a US  contract to absorb current losses so angelo mosca would stop crying

montreal playing at least three regular season games in olympic stadium....

the glieberman family was better off moving the rough riders to detroit...

Answer 2

The CFL's problem is the result of the mindset of the Canadian fan that the American product is better.  Rather than promote the Canadian athlete the leaque has increased the number of Americans on each of their teams over the years.  The result is that Canadian teams are stocked with Americans who were not looked at by the NFL or were looked at and deemed not good enough to play, for whatever reason, in the NFL.  Football fans are not stupid.  Given the choice between watching the top American players in the NFL or the rejected players who turn up in the CFL, more and more fans are turning to staying home and watching the NFL on TV.  

Personally I feel that a lot of good Canadian talent is not given the opportunity to play professional football in the CFL because of the number of positions taken up by Americans.  This is the typical Canadian inferiority complex that Canadians are not good enough (Hockey, of course is exempted from this inferiority complex) to compete.  You don't get good enough if your chance is limited.

I spend 0 time watching the NFL and limited time watching the CFL.  I do support football in Canada by attending some high school games, and most of our local junior team and university team games.  I find them exciting and enjoyable.  Too bad so few of them are able to continue playing after their amateur careers are completed.

Not sure if I answered your question but I did state an opinion!!

Answer 3

It isn't broken as far as I can see.  If anything, it is stronger in all markets than ever.  Maybe 8 teams is the answer, instead of continually s******g around in Ottawa.  It seems questions of viability only come up when Ottawa folds again, or puts the Glieberman's in charge.

Answer 4

I posted a similar question and some people suggested we change ourselves to join or be part of NFL. NOOOOOOOO! I totally don't agree with that strategy.  I agree that we should introduce this back to the US cities that would be acceptive to CFL.  Baltimore will be a great place to start! Considering there are still many CFL fans there coming to OUR Grey Cup.  In order to reverse the situation where everyone goes to the US for the green, we need a bigger market.  That means better promotion and marketing!  Promote it to the US as well as local markets: like one of the answerer suggested, we are not giving a chance to local talents to develop.  All these players from high school and varsity teams, they have to stop upon graduation..what a shame.

I always believe that you have to invest in it before you can reap the profit (be it money, time or effort, on EVERYTHING we do). So yes, someone (CFL league investors??) will have to bite it down and bear the cost of promoting the league in full force then the money will come in later when more people have become interested in it.  

Expand the league: we can have a team for the atlantics! There are enought interest, right? Weren't they talking about having a tema in Quebec City and Halifax?  Wasn't that Tom Wright's mandate once upon a time? (Too bad, he's such a good commissioner...)  Strike a deal with cautious investors, make it workable for them, present a plan that includes the big picture.(the league!!)   We need to stick together as a team in order to survive and grow!  Solidarity is the POWER!!

Organize the schedule with other sports teams so that we don't compete with each other.  Like don't host both hockey and football game on the same night!!! (There are people who like both but when it comes down to making a choice, okay, hockey wins... )  If we do that, we will have so much more support for soccer (Whitecaps), junior hockey (Giants), baseball (Canadians), even Lacross (Ravens).  We should not be limited to one sport.  But too bad hockey always get all the media attention....and American sports team always take over air time...

Talking about organization, I was at the airport this afternoon waiting for the Lions to come back.  What a disaster.  The club is so disorganized that it totally made the fans felt not appreciated/important...  The players were good, but the arrangement sucked.  Why did they make the fans waited in the rain for 2 hours before they showed up?  Why dont' they just come out from the main terminal and everybody would be happy?

We all talked about what if that's the Stanley Cup with Canucks? You think they would just sneak out from the south terminal and hid in the park 'n fly bus and trying to get home as soon as possible?

I agree that it has something to do with our national pride...or non-pride??  Look at Canada Day and July 4....my peers and I always wonder if it is actually multiculturalism went astray...  well, that's another topic for other forums...

It's not easy for sure. But because it's not easy, its' more important that we bite down the bullet and do it!!

Answer 5

I think the trouble with the CFL is that many cities cannot afford to run teams and this is the trouble with the Renegades in 2005.  I think teams in the US would be a good idea although to focus on places like Detroit (Lions are a struggling team and Windsor is close-by).  At the end of the day, the CFL has to decide what to do.  By having a merger with the NFL would increase the NFL to 40 teams and would also bring more big money into Canada.  The NFL-Canada League might also work but would Canadians like to be associated with a league that does far better?

Answer 6

Make the playing field and rules the same as the NFL. It's the old adage, if you can't beat'em join'em.

The NFL makes a ton of money and possibly some kind of affiliation with the NFL could save the league. Look at NFL Europe.