CFL Milwaukee, Here we come!!!!

Maybe there needs to be a 'CFL Expansion Talk' forum on here so that those who get offended by some of the more radical ideas can just stay calm and not look... :wink:

Or, maybe we need:

'CFL Expansion Talk -- Halifax'
'CFL Expansion Talk -- Quebec City'
'CFL Expansion Talk -- London/Windsor'
'CFL Expansion Talk -- Other'

No riots out here BB. The flower children would be throwing daisies from the overpasses on the freeway! :wink: :wink: :wink:

Actually, The BC Lions almost died out here in the 90's. Pezzim, and the Brick guy (name escapes me) almost ran the franchise into the ground. We were at a point where most fans and media could care less. There were still the die hards of about 5-6,000 but it looked pretty bleak! As much as Braley is a pain in the butt, he basically saved the franchise out here. The CFL could be at 7 teams right now if Braley didn't rescue them.

I don't know why some people keep getting their shorts in a knot over BB's expansion ideas. It not like some millionaire is going to see these posts and go "oh, thats a great idea" "I think I'll start up a CFL team in Milwaukee".
Expansion to the US will only take place when and if the B of G's decide its a viable option, not because of anything said on here.
So let BB have his fun, he has some good ideas, and if you don't agree you don't have to belittle everything.
I thought MODS were suppose to set an example.

:lol: :lol: Do not go there the ground will open up and swallow you.

Very true nobody is forcing any one to read BB's threads. If it annoying there is a simple solution do nothing. The people interested in his idea's can discuss it. But there are those that are on a crusade to remove any idea that opposes theirs. Just my observation. :lol:

The thing is, we need 10-12 teams. There are years where 1 or 2 teams are in serious trouble. What if, and I am being serious here, what if one season down the road the CFL has a horrible season and 2 teams fold?
Although highly unlikely but very possible.
Then what will we do?
Will the CFL run with 6 teams?
There have been years when we have came close to that.
IF you think the CFL B of G does not read this forum think again. Trust me, they read this thing. And yes there are millionairs ready and willing to buy a francise. Once the B of G allows expansion, they will come out of the woodwork, just like last time.
Now for all you guys who think I am a dreamer for wanting a team in Milwaukee or Rochester, the harsh reality is, Milwaukee or Rochester have a much higher chance than Ottawa and Halifax by far.
Sure Ottawa may come back, but they will fold again. Sorry guys, but even Moncton and London are ahead of Ottawa and Halifax.
6 months ago, you guys were so conviced Ottawa and Halifax were going to be part of the CFL. Did you guys ever get a rude awakening.

Sportsmen, in the 90s almost the teams in the CFL almost folded. The 90s were the recession years. Oh and US expansion helped saved the CFL in the 90s too. Go figure.
Plus one thing that history proves, is that through good times and bad times, the Western teams have always held their own.
By the way my favourite team is seriously Montreal.
Go Montreal Colts!!!!

I think the reason a lot of us were convinced Ottawa and Halifax were going to be part of the CFL where a number of GOOD reasons.

(1) Both were Canadian Cities with good population.

(2)Ottawa had a Stadium, Halifax would have, if they had gotten the Commonwealth games.

I think right now, the CFL will run with 8 teams. How long? Any ones guess. We can all pick a number and debate it until we die of old age. (Probably me first! LOL)

Two things need to happen before serious expansion.

(1) A proper Stadium, to hold 25,000 +
(2) SOLID Ownership, that is prepared to lose money the first few years.

With out both of those ingredients, you are begging for franchise failure. And for USA expansion, until the USA changes the Labour laws the Canadian Teams will ALWAYS be at a disadvatange.

…!!!..what the gentle caress does this mean?..

No argument there. Funny you bring that up…You sound just like me from the nineties. I thought it was wonderful back then, Sacramento, Las Vegas, Shrevport, until I could see how Baltimore was building their team, and others soon following. It was only going to be a matter of time before a Canadian Team would win the Grey Cup as often as a Canadian NHL team wins the Stanley Cup. Yes, US expansion generated some much needed revenue, But, it was a very, very dangerous exercise that had POTENTIAL for long term fall-out.

Redandwhite
BeerBarons wrote:
Although highly unlikely but very possible
…!!!..what the gentle caress does this mean?..

It means that if there is a chance that a team or 2 may fold, there is always outside bail out money somewhere to save the day.
Thats one of the main reason why we still have 8 teams.
But that does not mean we should take a risk at loosing a couple teams in case we have a few rainy seasons.

Yes RO
I think the fans play a big part in helping the CFL plan their future.
If only fans would speak up more often and show support, maybe Ottawa would have a team.
Just like Winnipeg for the Jets. The fans are the ones TELLING the NHL that we are here. IF Ottawa or Halifax fans only pushed those tree hugging politicians, then both cities would have teams.
This is Canada where the people actually have a say.
GO MONTREAL STALIONS!!!

The problems with your logic are
A) There are maybe 2 dozen reg posters here
B) There are millionaires in Ottawa trying to get a team.
C) There are no millionaires in Milwaukee trying to get a team.

That's the important one!
No one who has the money in Milwaukee wants a team!!!!!!!
Even if there was.....and there isn't, your broken record, nonstop harping to US is not going to make it happen!
Do you know what it means to be barking up the wrong tree?

Like I said before, I respect your opinion and your right to express it. A dozen threads on the same topic is enough! It's time for you to respect our opinion and give it a rest!

Hear hear.

another thing with ottawa, halifax and QC is...the league has expressed interest at some point in the last 5 years to those places....and there have been tire kickers in each of those cities lookin at bringin the CFL to those cities......so the interest has been mutual.

noone in the CFL headquarters has even thought about the weird places beerbarons keeps bringing up....and as RO said, noone in those weird places has expressed interest in the CFL.

Quite simply, it'll be a cold day in hell before an American based team will ever agree to have half their roster be Canadians.

I'm all for Canadian Football being played in Milwaukee... but only if it were part of an 8-team All-American conference which would play only partial interlocking games against Canadian divisions.

There is no fear of failure or threats of American domination to Canada if the U.S. division would be semi-independant and in its own league...Owned by the CFL, but as a seperate entity, perhaps called the "American League of Football".

All the rules would be the same as with the current CFL. They could play 14 games against other U.S. teams, and 4 games against Canadian teams. This would bring some variety and spice to the CFL schedule which often has one team playing same team four times.

The American League (ALF) could sell franchises to investors with funds coming directly to the CFL, at US$15M per. A well-run and well-promoted league could easily expand to 16 teams or more in the U.S...in primarily non-NFL cities. Additional revenues from national U.S. TV contracts would also flow to the Canadian teams, which might dwarf the current CFL TV deal.

When you think about it, American teams playing Canadian football isn't all bad. Sure we could end up with egg on our faces again, but as a semi-independant league they would sink or swim on their own.

One advantage the CFL has in the U.S. is that it is a different game and they are not trying to compete with the NFL, the death-nell of all previous pro football leagues, excepting the AFL.

@Invader -- I like it. Your idea sounds a lot like the option I described in the first thread I posted on these forums a few months ago:

[url]http://www.cfl.ca/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=14678&highlight=[/url]

I had said the American league could be called the American Canadian Football League (ACFL), but I now think calling it a conference rather than a league (affiliated with the CFL) would be better -- perhaps the American Conference of Canadian Football (ACCF).

I have to say that now I do think it is important to find cities that have existing stadiums (or plans to build one), because the revenue wouldn't justify much private investment in stadiums...

This creates a problem because a lot of cities don't have a proper stadium to begin with -- and then you have to factor in the Canadian field size...

I think the following US cities/markets might be able to get started with their existing facilities:

Hershey, PA (Harrisburg/York/Lancaster)
Hersheypark Stadium -- cap. 16,841

Rochester, NY
PAETEC Park -- cap. 17,500

Ypsilanti, MI (Detroit)
Rynearson Stadium -- cap. 30,200

Spokane, WA
Joe Albi Stadium -- cap. 28,646

Boise, ID
Bronco Stadium -- cap. 30,000

[Some of the above may need some re-work, especially the one in Spokane which may be too tight.]

Some that clearly have issues:

Toledo, OH
Glass Bowl Stadium -- cap. 26,248

Kalamazoo, MI (Grand Rapids)
Waldo Stadium -- cap. 30,100

Portland, OR
PGE Park -- cap. 20,000

[The Toledo stadium wouldn't be able to fitfull endzones, and the same applies to Portland. The Kalamazoo stadium looks to be short all around.]

Milwaukee doesn't have any suitable stadium. For the sake of argument, let's assume that somehow a perfect CFL-sized 35,000 seat stadium is built in Milwaukee.

Then an 8-team ACCF might look like this:

Eastern Division
Detroit Wheels
Hershey Juggernauts
Rochester Red Dragons
Toledo Freight Trains

Western Division
Boise Behemoths
Milwaukee Beasts
Portland Leviathans
Spokane Sasquatch

[Hey BB, sorry to change up the Milwaukee Beer Barons name again. Thought I'd throw out another suggestion since it fit more with the rest of the names in the imaginary division (got a little carried away -- they're all beasts). Plus it was a nickname for a certain Milwaukee brew. :wink: ]

American teams have the Major Issue of not having to deal with the Import ratio deal.

If they are at equal level as Canadian teams needing to use 21(yes we will say 21) non-Americans then fine.

Right now it only works in Rochester and Detroit as the teams will Officially be in Windsor and Niagra Falls but play out of Rochester and Detroit.

That works fine does it not?

CFL LISTEN UP!

CHANGE TO A 3 GAME PRE-SEASON!
With Ottawa there are 6 Canadian Cities that have football Stadiums of 8K+ and are not CFL cities.with Monctons new stadium in 2009-2010

Holding 2 pre-season games in 2 Canadian Cities each year(say a CFL showcase weekend, touchdown atlantic, London, Quebec City, Victoria, Vancouver)

Specificly to test expansion and allow CFL teams to have stronger teams.

All 4 games would be on TSN(Part of a Pre-view to the upcoming CFL season)

Tickets to touchdown atlantic were 40-62.5$
and that was enough to make the game break even, WHILE paying for temp Seating.
If other Stadiums either:
A: Just have 11K fans paying 30-55$ per ticket
B: Can have up to 18K fans paying 25-40$(average ticket price of 30$ for 18K fans = 540K)

The Games should earn a small profit and be able to show CFL support in non-CFL cities.

Tickets could be sold in Mini-packs(for all games in that City either 2 or 4)

The Games could easily all be in the last week of the pre-season 1 on friday, 1 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. Unless Victoria has a game weekend, if so then 2 double headers can happen.

For these Cities if they do have some interest in the CFL, then surely they would pay 60-80$ for a 2 games of basicly regular season action, seeing as this would be week 3 games players would not be TC fodder.
An extra TC cutdown would happen of teams needing to be down to 55 players on the monday follow a teams second Pre-season game.(excluding Juniors/Draft picks)

It goes 68 in TC to 60 after game 1 to 55 after game 2 to 46 after Game 3.

The league would need to jump to 10 teams with expansion(the 2 cities who build a CFL quality stadium + get solid ownership)
after that the 3 game pre-season is kept, possibly having a 2 show-case weekend in 2 cities or 2 showcases + 1 game in another City(Quebec City preferably)

Ottawa will be back barons(and all others)

Frank D'Angelo(Owner of Steelback Brewery) + Hunt(owner of the Ottawa 67's) + Dr.Sherman(Billionaire backing D'Angelo)
If their the group who is talking to Cohon Their the best Group Ottawa could hope for, but a new stadium is needed.

It is not the US that should change its labour laws, its the CFL that should open is doors to all players regardless of where they are from.
That Canadian players minimum rule is stupid when there are so many better players out there, so get rid of that rule.
US expansion can work and with that logic you will never have to worry about the American cities teams having the upper hand.
All teams would have equal opportunity.