I think that the CFL should have expanded more a long long time ago. Look at the NBA, NFL, and MLB! SO what if your in debut, you can pay that back in a few years with the crazy attendance you'll getting, since the leauge is MUCH MORE COMPETITIVE! They made have made a mistake expanding to the U.S. but there are soooooo many Canadian cityies out there that would love a team and MOST LIKELY give attendance of 40,000+.
Then the CFL's would regain the money they have to waste in no time! I just hope they expand alot in the next few years! ANd if they do in 100% sure they woun't regret it.
The problem is the stadiums. A city has to be quite large for someone to invest 100M$ in a one. The league may have good support now, but it isn't rich. It takes a looooooooooot of time for a stadium to be paid. In the USA, a lot a municipal government pay for the stadiums. You won't see that in here.
ten teams in 6 years, tops. Halifax or Quebec City.
Maybe in time as the country grows you could expand ot 12 teams. Whichever city above didn't get a team and maybe London or Windsor.
Then split the East West into three divisions, West (BC, Calgary, Edmonton and Sask.), Central (Winnipeg, Londsor, Hamilton and Toronto) and East (Ottawa, Montreal, QuCity and Halifax)
20 teams?!? What’s wrong with the weed in your town? Geeezus - Please humor me … Name 11 other major Canadian cities that could host a CFL game … let alone have their own team … 40,000+ fans? I don’t think there are any teams in the league right now that pull 40,000 (nevermind consistantly) …
Maritimes … maybe 1 there … Quebec … that would be a possibility if Montreal didn’t already do such a great job in that province … I can’t think of many others. London? thats all we need is another halfass supported team in Ontario … (apologies to Hamilton - they appear on the right track now) …
Really - humor me … name 11 other Canadian cities that need a CFL team …
I always thought that teams in smaller markets (like Regina or Hamilton) were shown the best support. People really bond with their team when someone finally care giving them one.
These population stats are from 2002, obviously some of these areas are close to existing cfl cities and some teams draw from larger areas, ie the Riders probably could not survive without Saskatoon (or the whole province for that matter)
If population is the best factor to determine who should get an expansion team, then the next team should go to Toronto or Montreal. At least they each have a stadium that could be a home for a team (Olympic Stadium and SkyDome). There is also quite a distance between Olympic Stadium and Molson Stadium as well as SkyDome and the new stadium going up at York. Of course, very few people would consider this a good idea. It is far better for the CFL to try to gradually expand into open areas that already have a good knowledge of the game (Halifax, Quebec City, and London).
No clue where you got that list but its way wrong. Missisauga is part of the TO metro area so it makes no sense that it would have a metro area of its own... St. Catherines and Halifax are #'s 12 and 13 with both metro areas close to 400,000 (As well as Halifax city proper, since the whole urban area is a single municipality). There's no way Regina or Thunder Bay for example are bigger than them.
I'd go with Halifax, then Q.C. and Victoria in about 3-5 years. Then maybe 2 more teams in Ontario even later.
Yeah, it is wrong, because its too old. The city called Saguenay which I refered to earlier was formerly three neighbours cities. The population of each (about 95 000) wouldn't qualify them to get a team, but their proximity, which was highlighted by the fact that they merged, makes Saguenay an appropriate market.
You forget where the big cities currently draw their fans. I can only speak for Vancouver, but I bet I'm close in comparison with Toronto and Hamilton. Most of the fans in Vancouver are not really from the city. They come from outside the city. The suburbs. (Heck even Victoria have weekend fans that come over). Surrey was listed in the population poll. I'll bet you most of the Lions fans come from Surrey. ( Heck the Lions would get 3000 fans for their training camp scrimmages in Chilliwack) I bet Toronto and Hamilton have a large fan base outside of their respective cities.
Now I'll touch on a really touchy subject.....Fan make up.... The reason most of the fans come from outside of Vancouver, is that Vancouver is heavilly populated with certain visable minorities that are not interested in Football. (BEFORE You call me a racist... I don't mean ALL Minorities hate football) Hockey and Basketball are their sports. Most of the Vancouver fan base comes from outside of the city. In fact if they built a new stadium, chances are it would be in Surrey, Coquitlam, or Langley.
your pretty much all wrong, victoria would never support a team, the lions have a stronghold on that market already. More teams in ontario is a bad idea because the people of ontario would rather support their american leagues. and quebec, while being the best idea, would also be tough to crack seeings how the alouettes have skyrocketed their popularity within that province. Halifax is the last canadian city that truly deserves a cfl franchise.
There are many reasons why the CFL should try to expand. The most obvious is that an even number of teams means no byes in the schedule. It is also important to maximize market potential, especially in a small country like Canada. A third reason is that it will make the league better able to cope should one franchise get into real trouble as there will be more owners to split costs. As for the earlier post about markets with more than one team in the same league, LA-Anaheim has 2 NHL, 2 MLB and 2 NBA teams. SF-Oakland has 2 NFL and 2 MLB teams. Chicago has 2 MLB teams. That being said, a second team in any CFL city would be a long shot and would just hurt an existing team.
Just had to chime in here quick re stadiums being the major hurdle for most cities getting a team. NOW is the time for those cities to look for Federal funding, with the Liberals on the ropes in the poles, they are looking to buy your vote, Winnipeg just received $100M towards the construction of the new Human Rights Museum, boy wont that bring them running to the Peg.
