NFL Network Gives CFL Exposure to United States
The CFL’s audience will now expand to the south. As the CFL season has now kicked off, the NFL Network has announced that it will air 14 CFL games this season.
CFL Senior VP of marketing and commercial assets Rob Assimakopoulos states: “This is great news for CFL fans living in the United States, a group that includes some of our most passionate and dedicated fans. And it promises to expose our brand of football to a broad, new audience.”
Indeed it is, as the CFL is getting bigger and bigger and perhaps it just can't fit in Canada alone anymore. Now, fans from the United States will not have to look far to catch CFL action.
The NFL Network’s VP of Programming Charles Coplin is very excited about the CFL coming to the NFL Network: “With the addition of the CFL, we now have live games from every level to deliver to our viewers who want football 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” said Coplin in a statement.
The addition of the CFL to American programming is a win for all parties. The NFL Network now has more live football games it can air and can now program football all year around. The CFL will now have a larger audience and should be very excited about the move.
Canadian football will also now have more exposure and popularity may increase across the continent. The league provides many entertaining games and gives an interesting variation of the sport for American viewers, who are used to four downs, fair catches and a running clock. The move by the network not only helps the CFL progress, but it helps the whole sport of football progress.
The CFL has the old expression that you never know what can happen in the CFL. You have to look no further than last year’s Grey Cup Championship game between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Montreal Alouettes to look for drama and twisting turns.
It was a classic where one team didn’t lead for one second of the 60 minutes played, but won the game anyway. After the heavy favorites, the Montreal Alouettes fell behind 17-3 at the half and at 27-11 in the fourth quarter the game should’ve been over. Eight minutes proved to be an eternity as the Alouettes scored a quick touchdown and converted for two. They then forced an interception on the Roughriders next drive which led to another score. A failed two point convert kept the lead at 27-25.
The Riders could not close off the game and punted back to Montreal. The Als drove down the field quickly in the last minute of the game to set up an attempt at a game winning field goal. The 43 yard attempt was no good and the Riders were crowned champions, or at least we thought. It turned out the Riders had too many men on the field and the kick had to be retaken from a shorter distance. The second attempt was good and the Alouettes were crowned champions. Try to predict that.
The game was a testament to how exciting and unpredictable the CFL is and how it would surely grab the attention of any viewer.
The league must hope that the 2010 season brings many more exciting games with thrilling finishes in order to grab the interest of NFL exclusive fans. While CFL ratings will never challenge NFL ratings, the league will still bring a whole new dimension of fans and this move can benefit the league for years to come. This could lead to an expansion of the CFL league and its fan base. Get ready NFL Network viewers, your minds may be blown away by the CFL.
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