Who else out there is a CFL fan in the US? I have been a fan of the league since I got access to games on cable TV way back in the early 90’s. I was a Houston Oilers fan and followed Reggie Slack when he joined the league. I am always rooting for this league to grow, I find the differences between the CFL and American football very entertaining. So for any US fans, what do you think would help the CFL make inroads in the US? I have a thought on something but I don’t know if it’s going to be a popular opinon…
Get rid of the player ratio system. I feel it’s a restriction that bogs the game down. Why not play the most talented on your roster all the time? To me what makes the game the CFL is the rules of the game itself, not where who is on the field is from. I can see someone saying “but then we’d have less Canadian born players in the game”. But, wouldn’t fans want to root for whoever earns a spot on the roster instead of getting spot so you can fill a quota?
Just ignore that guy.
I’m a US fan. I’m not sure there’s much that can be done. There are so many other sports vying for Americans’ attention that it’s hard to make inroads.
TV is different than it used to be. Maybe more streaming options could help.
I got into it because we had a lot of relatives in the Detroit suburbs and whenever we visited them during the season, I’d see games on the CBC, which broadcasted over the border from Windsor.
I was fixated on how the league was slightly different. It was exotic to me, like I knew about something my peers didn’t.
That was in the 80s. I got back into it maybe 12 years ago.
That’s exactly what got me back in the game. It was football, but it wasn’t the football I was used to. Plus having a charismatic star like “Pinball” Clemons helped in my fandom.
Sometimes I’ll listen to games on radio stations from Canada (on satellite radio). I think the way they advertise games is wrong. They say “come to our game. It’s a great entertainment value!”
It sounds desperate and your potential base puts it into a return on investment proposition.
Sports fans are tribal. The die hards are protective of their territory and (believe that they) share in the spoils when they win. That’s why so many fans say “we won” when they never actually did anything to help their team.
So I think, in Canada anyway, the key is to get people to come to games through regional pride rather than overtly asking them to.
I grew up watching the CFL in BC which is different than being part of the hardcore fan group in the prairies and in Hamilton. There was limited talk about the CFL locally. My family members weren’t die hards. One of my friend’s Grandpa’s had season tickets and I would occasionally go to a game. I watched most of the games on TV. I didn’t know that the ratio was a huge deal until I started talking CFL online so I can understand where you’re coming from.
You don’t need to tell the CFL that there should be no ratio because the CFL agrees with you. They’ve slowly reduced the number of starting Canadians. In 2022, they tried to get rid of the ratio entirely. The CFLPA put a stop to it but they did agree to the Nationalized American rules where one can replace a National for half the snaps. After the next CBA expires I fully expect the CFL to try to eliminate or reduce the ratio again after a lockout.
Having said that it was nice to have Lui Passaglia play for the Lions back in the day. Although some Baltimore fans may not have liked it.
Well, that explains the ratio some, good to read the league would be open to eliminating the ratio. Better players = better play, better play = more fans, more fans = more money. Put the best product you can out there, don’t water it down.
No issue with the league. My issue is with the US TV deal. The CFL needs to completely move away from linear platforms to FAST services. Everyone with an internet connection has access to the latter. No pirate streaming needed. The CFL will gain more viewers.
Good point. Maybe keep CFL+ for select free games to attract people at no cost and then offer the remaining games at a cost.
I typically don’t subscribe to much but I’d be willing to pay for some more streaming games.
This is a recurring point that’s been made for a while about all streaming services.
Access to live sports is usually NOT a price issue via the various services, except for the likes of YouTube TV, which is basically just your old cable lineup on streaming (with increased delays for live sports compared to real time!), but a SERVICE ISSUE.
Those who enjoy Pirate Sports Network would in heavy majority pay for something that works well with easier access to live sports.
In the meantime, Pirate Sports Network at least delivers SERVICE to fill that huge void.
Give people access to live sports, either free or paid, and via FAST channel is the best in operation for live sports aside from plain old antenna TV.
For subscriptions as are not via FAST channels, they have to figure out how to make them work like FAST channels, as in click-click and watch instead of waiting for a SLOW and bloated app with a bunch of crap on it that you don’t watch (remind you of the old cable bundle!?) to load, just like all the apps in my experience, with Netflix and YouTube the fastest (and also why they are getting more live sports, including the NFL).
But all games are available in the US and everyone has the internet to stream the games on CFL+
With CFL+ you can watch all CFL games anywhere in the world
Even if you are in Canada and don’t have TSN or don’t watch TSN you can watch ALL games on CFL+ with a simple cheap or free VPN
That is all correct and he and others know. Hey, CFL+ free is hard to argue about, but then again when fans would pay for a better experience that is also not cable TV, well there should be something better.
The main complaint here and in other threads and also about other live sports about streaming options, and for the CFL from viewers in the US, is that they wish they had access to games, on a paid subscription as well, without having to have cable, so as to have a better viewing experience.
Compare the CFL+ experience to the superior experience of FAST channels on a regular TV. There is a solid gap in the viewing experience, and it’s no longer 2021 when the entertainment and media industry thought that bloated streaming apps were the future (and then proceeded to lose billions with some continuing to do so).
As I summarized above, this is all about the same complaint as about streaming services in general, as the viewing experience could be better whether free or paid.
My opinion is that we don’t have the population density to develop an excess of top tier players. Competition and top tier coaching breeds excellence. The ratio gives locals time to tune their skills via PRs etc and local players help draw fans to the park.