I have grown up around the CFL. My father was a part of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Ottawa Rough Riders and the Shreveport Pirates. I strongly believe the CFL is a great game. I would love to see the CFL open a franchise in my new home town of Victoria B.C. There is roughly 500,000 people on Vancouver Island and about 250,000 in the greater Victoria area. I strongly feel we COULD support a CFL franchise. I would like to see what other fans think! I feel the CFL could grow to places like Halifax, Victoria and who knows where else.
It's a nice dream but Victoria has never supported a major sports team of any sort, and doesn't have the fan base to support a CFL team. Its population ranks behind Quebec City, Halifax and London, Ont., all of which have more of a football tradition than Victoria. It's far better to hop on a ferry and take in a game in Vancouver. There are five Friday night games and four Saturday night games this year.
I think the league has to have nine strong franchises before expanding and then they can expand. Also Halifax is tops on the list when the CFL decides to expand to a tenth team. Victoria will not be getting a team for a while. I also think they would have trouble supporting them since I think B.C. is not fanatical enough about the CFL to have two teams (this is just my opinion). They would also need a CFL stadium which takes millions of dollars. Although if I had to pick a sixth western team it would be Victoria.
As far as Saskatoon goes, Kanga-Kucha, the Saskatchewan RoughRiders lost $270,000 last year. That's with the whole province supporting the team. How can you honestly think Saskatchewan can support two franchises when they already have trouble supporting one? Especially with salaries escalating like they are.
Sorry Island Dude, the Okanagan Valley is in a much stronger position to get an eventual BC expansion team than Victoria. More populous and closer to the rest of the teams in the league. Most Islanders live there to escape the rest of the world and I doubt they would support a team, look at how long it has taken to get an ECHL team up and running, and that was after losing your WHL team to Prince George. Don't get me wrong, I think Victoria is one of the most beautiful places in the world, but like the previous huddleite said, jump the ferry to Vancouver for a weekend out with the missus for your CFL fix.
Too bad they don't have a fixed link to the mainland, it could be possible.....but there is about as much chance of that happening as there is a CFL type stadium being built in Victoria. I believe a lot of people on the Island are Lions fans but alot do not like paying for a ferry trip to see them play........ alas its just a CFL expansion dream. One of the most beautiful cities in the country. Maybe someday..... :roll:
Okanagan would be a better spot than Victoria. Okanagan Sun draw bigger crowd than the Victoria team in Junior Football.
As someone said, most people leave to the Island to get away from the Rat Race. A lot of people in Victoria and Parksville are retired. Also No Stadium that is big enough is an issue. Some else made a good comment about support. Victoria lost its WHL hockey franchise to Prince George years ago and I beleive it was support (as well as arena) that was a determining factor.
It would be nice...but very unlikely.
I love Victoria as well. It is beautiful, but lets get real. We're talking about the CFL here. It needs another team in the east first. Probably will be Halifax, but wherever they franchise it, it needs to become a solid member of the league before they even begin to think about expansion after that.
I can't see Victoria having 20,000 strong fans week after week showing up to watch football, it just isn't a sports city. As for the Okanagan Valley I think in 10 years their could be a possibility of a CFl franchise working there, still there would have to be a viable stadium built the Apple Bowl doesn't hold that many and it's older than dirt.
:D As i posted before, i would love to see CFL's expansion in canada! No matter where it is CFL. It will be sure to attract fans! :lol: And i vote YES :!:
No, actually Victoria has about 80,000 more people than Saskatoon
It takes a province to support the Riders, if Saskatoon were to get a team both franchises would fail. I say give a team to Halifax balance the divisions I'm happy with that.
You are right, there is no way that you would have teams in both Saskatoon and Regina.
Just not enough people. I now live in Regina and I used to live in Victoria. The only reason that the Riders can survive in such a small market is that the team has become such an important part of the provinces self image. This means that they get individual, government and corporate support from across the province.
In BC, the corporate support is going to go to the Lions, they are not going to devide up their effort.
Victoria is just not big enough to adopt a new sports team. Winnipeg is the second smallest market after Regina and they have 800,000 people within a two hour drive. Victoria may have 450,000 within 2 hours
I think Kelowna would be a hard sell as well as the population within a couple hours driving still is not that large, maybe 300,000…
I think that the chances of another western CFL team is slim to none for a long time. It will be in the east that we will see any expansion Quebec City, Halifax or Moncton… nothing else makes demographic sense.
I agree Western teams have maxed out for at least the next twenty years or so. All expansion will be done out east as it should, with only four teams a fifth one is necessary to balance the schedule. People keep talking how more teams is better, I'm happy with adding one Halifax. To me it's the best choice this is a community that deserves to be part of the only Canadian professional league and truly make it a coast to coast league. I don't think the league is really thinking hard about London, Quebec City, or Victoria very seriously. As for Saskatoon it's not even a thought cause it couldn't work.
I agree with Calgaryred. However, unless there is something going on behind the scenes that no one knows about, a Halifax franchise is not a sure bet. The CFL prefers Halifax, but if it doesn't come through they will focus their attention on Quebec City or London.
[quote="Kanga-Kucha"][
I just checked and you're right 
, sorry for the confusion 
. In that case Victoria should get a CFL team BEFORE Saskatoon. If that ever happens. However, Saskatoon has been at more than 100,000 people for many years, Victoria just went over and double that mark in 2001 becase of city meagers.
huh? I do not get your logic. First WHAT City merger in 2001???? Oak Bay is still Oak Bay, Saanich is still Saanich, etc!!! What would that matter anyway, its not like some city 100 miles away merged with Victoria and the population move in..... Even if a merger had occured, the same number of people lived in the area before and after the mythical merge. By your logic, the London England is just this small area around the core downtown area not a big city of millions of people.
As I mentioned in another post, Victoria has had more than 100,000 people since at least 1951, Saskatoon did not reach that until close to 20 years later.
The reality is that for a team to survive, it has to have a significant population and corporate base. The Riders struggle but make it by being the only game in town for the whole province and the fact that there are corporate sponsors that see them as a marketing tool for the whole province and beyond. Plus they have a long history in the province, starting at a time when you did not need lots of money to operate.
So what communities have large enough populations? Has corporate government entities that want to use is as an advertising tool and has limited competition for the entertainment dollars plus have a football interested population.
Quebec is close to Montreal, but has a reasonable population base. It has government head offices and some corporate interest. It has a football interested population and a traditional rivalry with Montreal that would help sell some tickets. While Montreal survives with a smaller than needed stadium, most teams would need about 22,000 people coming out per game to cover their costs.
Halifax has a minimially adequate population base, government and some corporate interest. It can count on regional pride and some college football tradition in the maritime area.