This question goes to all the canadians out there which league is better the CFL or the NFL and why?

Question

I'm from Edmonton and personally I think the CFL is bushleague compared to the NFL

Answer 1

i prefer CFL because of certain rules like 3 down rule, extra point if missed field goal and/or punted through end zone.

also i like CFL more because there's alot more passing plays than the NFL.

Answer 2

First off, let me say I'm a fan of both the CFL and NFL.  I just like watching football, although I could care less about college ball.

Obviously the players in the NFL are more talented, since that's where the $$$ is.  But the CFL is far more exciting. Things move too slowly in the NFL.  While watching an NFL game, I can bring by 4-year old upstairs, read a couple of books, put him down for his nap, come back downstairs and the team that I last saw would still have the ball on the same drive.  If I did that watching a CFL game, the same team might still have the ball but that's because they already scored the first time as did their opponent.

The same goes for the dying moments of a game, or even the last quarter.  As a previous poster mentioned, in the NFL if a team is up they just grind it out.  In the CFL, they still have to play.

All in all, they are different games.  The question of which is "better" is subjective to personal opinion.  The NFL I find is more cerebral.  There's more thought and strategy put into each play, hence they need more time in between plays, more timeouts, etc.  As a result though, the CFL is more fun and exciting.  20 (or is 25?) second clock means more action.  Three downs means the offence has to try to more yardage on each play, which translates into bigger plays on average.  The bigger field (and smaller players?) means speed is more important than size (comparatively).

So the NFL is better for some things, and the CFL is better for some things.  The NFL has better players, better coaching, better marketing.  The CFL is just simply more fun.  Me, I like the excitement of knowing that in the CFL, no matter what the score is and how much time is left, the game is never out of reach for the team that's behind, and that's keeps me watching until the final gun.

Edit:

I used to favour the CFL from about 1980 to about 1994.  I think that's when they did that stupid expansion fiasco.  They lost me as a fan and I started to prefer the NFL.  It was only from about last year where I started watching CFL again, and boy I couldn't believe what I was missing.  I think the first game I saw last year was Winnipeg / Edmonton where the Eskimos scored in the dying seconds to take the lead, Winnpeg got the ball with something like 10 seconds, and Stegall got that 100-yard TD.

Answer 3

To the genius who said the CFL is older than the NFL and that the NFL would not exist without the CFL, you are a moron. Football has been played in the United States since the 1860s. College football has always been huge, and someone finally had the idea to start a pro league in 1920. The NFL did not get its rules from the CFL, they evolved over the years from the college game.  I will give you that the CFL is older, but it's not as if NFL executives said "Hey, let's copy the CFL". The passing game originated here in the United States, football was more of a running game, comparable to rugby before it became more wide open in the 1930s.  This "Canadian Football gave birth to American football" is c**p. Football was played here before the NFL AND CFL began, it just happened to be college football.

Now if you want to talk copycat, those CFL pre and post game shows are complete rip-offs of the NFL shows. I live near the U.S.-Canadian border and it is laughable. They even ripped off "Sportscenter".

Answer 4

The NFL is better. It has a broader fan base compared to the CFL. I think the CFL should broadcast games through out the U.S. instead of the cities close to the border. I would watch. I'm sure the sports channels in Canada show NFL highlights.

Answer 5

Canadian football gave birth to US football, but due to the much larger market in the US and Canadians' curious tendancy to degrade their own country in favour if the US in all areas except hockey, it is a miracle that the CFL still exists.

What the NFL has is more players, fans, market, money, and hype.  If you switched rules between the two leagues, it would still be that way.

Answer 6

The CFL is bush league compared to the NFL. I am from Canada and to be honest, I would rather watch American College football than the product the CFL puts out. NFL is the cat's........

Answer 7

I am a fan of both.  I find that the NFL is sterile and bland when compared to the CFL.  It's mostly hype.  When I watch the CFL most games aren't over until the last play.  In the NFL you can't say the same.  I love the big field and the passing game.  Don't get me wrong there are things in the CFL I don't like like the one point for a missed field goal or no yards calls after the punt hits the ground but overall a much more entertaining game.

Answer 8

When I watch a sport, I want to see the best players.  Because I feel that way, I prefer the NFL.  The players are simply much, much better than those in the CFL, all of whom would play south of the border if they could.

I'm a Canadian and will watch some CFL games, but they're a distant third behind both NFL and American college.  I don't like the three-down rule, and the single point cheapens the game.

Answer 9

the CFL is older than the NFL, the NFL learned rules from the cfl and changed it to their game....the 2 games are very different......so in reality if there was no cfl, maybe there would be no NFL today and no overpaid football players would exist...I prefer the cfl cuz the nfl moves way too slowly and the game is over at halftime if one team is winning by 2 points or more......they can just grind out the whole 2nd half which i find stupid.

Answer 10

CFL all the way.  NFL seems (to me) to be a bunch of showboaters and that's not why I watch football - Randy Moss and TO for example.

Answer 11

I shouldn't answer this question because I'm from Michigan, and we don't have pro football in Michigan (get it?), but the CFL has good players, I just don't like the way the league is set up with 3 downs.  A huge portion of the plays are short passes, there isn't enough variety for me.  I enjoy all aspects of football; running plays, and all passing, long and short.

Edmonton, in particular, has had some awesome players.  Especially Warren Moon.