Bringing Vanier Cup on Grey Cup together on radar

CFL Talk
#1

This is long overdue to happen

Hopefully this gets expanded upon during tomorrow’s state of the league presser.

Talk about having Vanier Cup in Saskatoon next year with Grey Cup in Regina already scheduled.

Hurdles to clear will be broadcasting weather TSN will take it all or keep CBC involved…Rogers has really dropped the ball on U Sports since buying the rights via the Score.

Vanier Cup would have to move one week prior to match the CFL which will be a challenge due to the school calendar.

Hope this happens. The most well attended Vanier Cup games that I recall took place in Toronto and Vancouver of all places. All were recent too.

#2

Thanks for posting! ^^^

Yes, IMHO The Vanier Cup should be played on Grey Cup Friday afternoon in the Grey Cup City!
It’s a “no brainer”,Everybody wins in that scenario.
Glad to see the Commish on board with it!

#3

RE: regarding the Laval player not wanting to lock the Vanier Cup with the Grey Cup because Quebec City does not have a CFL team.

Well, whose fault is that??? ? Better work on it.

Pairing the Vanier Cup with the Grey Cup is an opportunity for Ambrosie to work on anti CFL sentiments in QC.

#4

How about TSN and CBC strike a deal to have TSN produce the Vanier Cup broadcast for CBC in exchange for the Grey Cup getting simulcast on CBC with TSN production and ads along the lines of Sportnet’s NHL relationship with CBC?

It’s time for marquee CFL games to get back on free TV.

#5

Sorry friend, this was brought to my attention earlier today

#6

Regardless of ESPN, not sure how CBC would affect their ratings in the US.

I like this.

#7

ESPN can’t go out of business soon enough. They’re propped up by Disney who won’t hang on to a money losing business too long.

If they sell a Disney+ bundle with TSN (maybe even Crave), I would sign up for that and can put the network and the league intron of more potential eye balls. I believe it’s done states-side with ESPN and Hulu.

#8

Indeed! Makes all the sense in the world.

I’d say make it Friday evening or Saturday afternoon though for maximum participation and thus attendance by Canadian football celebrants! Unless of course the Canadian Junior Football championship can also be included the same weekend…

:slight_smile:

#9

Since 2007, the Vanier has been played on the Friday before the GC in the same city three times as I recall and I think I’ve been to all three. My alma mater Manitoba won that first one in Toronto, and it happened in 2011 in Vancouver and again for the GC’s 100th in Toronto in 2012.

They were mostly certainly the best attended Vaniers in memory as I believe the Vanier ticket came with your GC ducat. It’s only logical IMHO that they be in the same city and it gives fans something football related to do on the Friday with lots of time to go out and hit the Spirit of Edm room and Tiger Town.

As I understand it, U Sports issues an RFP for the event and it’s up to centres to bid on it…thus it’s 7th appearance in Quebec City in the past 12 years…lots of gov’t sponsorship $$ keep it there.

#10

I’d think the other 70% of ownership might have a say in the matter.

Not that I think it’s likely to happen anyways. I don’t know that CBC has the Vanier rights beyond this year anyway, so it’s quite possible that TSN/Bell could get those rights.

#11

Any source ?
Or is it simply coming from your mental representation of Quebec ?

#12

Why are people talking about Friday for the Vanier Cup? Has it traditionally been on Fridays and just this year it is on Saturday?

#13

I think it’s traditionally on Saturday. But it was moved to Friday when coupled with the Grey Cup . . . maybe to allow field crews enough time to prep the field? Maybe to take advantage of the FNF timeslot?

#14

It had to do with set up times for the field for Grey Cup. Even Friday is pushing things

#15

I could not agree more, lets get it done,

#16

I went to both in 2011 and it was a great week! How about we also squeeze in the Canada Bowl. I could sure use some broadcasting help.

#17

That would make for a great football festival atmosphere.

Flag football championship they have established ,Juniors ,U Sports and the CFL all during the same week .

Add the provincial high school championship game as well ; as they could not do a national play down .

#18

This would be a major scheduling challenge. Based on the date of the 2020 Grey Cup, U Sports would have to start the RSEQ, AUS, and OUA seasons on the weekend of Saturday, August 22, 2020. That’s three football weeks before school starts. To resolve that, they would have to re-introduce conference-interlocking and shorten the OUA playoffs. I’m not sure they would go for either of those, although the latter situation is intriguing.

I wouldn’t mind them adding the bowl games to Grey Cup weekend and then having the Vanier on the weekend after (November 28, 2020). That way, the Bowl games get more meaning and Vanier isn’t overshadowed by the Grey Cup. In any case, the start times are pretty bad with 1pm EST not working well for those in the west. That’s gotta move to prime time.

The bottom line is that the current situation doesn’t work well, so I hope some kind of partnership between U Sports and the CFL can happen.

#19

I like this idea a lot.

I mean, if they can schedule the Vanier for the Friday night before Grey Cup, then great. If not, then the above scenario makes a lot of sense.

And if the long-term plan is to move Grey Cup up a couple weeks, it might well become impossible to have both championships on the same weekend.

#20

I wonder if this moving up the schedule any further than one week has been put on hold .

The November numbers the league brings in Canada for it’s playoffs and Grey Cup are too risky to jeopardize with a October final .

My speculation is the October finals was a careless thought that a huge US contract would make this change viable . I always ponder if there are new guys every year influencing the CFL that maybe don’t watch the CFL or understand where the bread and butter is when they come up with these ideas .

November in Canada brings you an audience that is now sitting thru the cold weatherchange at home and have a traditional time of watching . Warmer weather and maybe the semi and final division numbers slump big time . Bad for sponsors and advertisers . Way too risky unless your getting very big money to change .