CFL Needs more teams?

I think 12 is the most you’ll ever see. The existing teams, Ottawa, Quebec City, one in Atlantic Canada and one in Saskatoon if Sask keeps growing (although it would still be a tough sell I think). I think though that’s mute. The CFL needs to get up to 9 competitive teams again and to stabilize Hamilton and Toronto. Once that’s done, and success has gone on for at least 8 years, then try to add another team and rinse repeat. However, I know something in the future will take the wind out of the CFL’s sails and it will rebound as it always does but it will delay expansion.

I would have to agree that the CFL wants desperately to get to 10 if and or when that happens the CFL will breathe a sigh of relief and will not pursue another team becasue getting to ten has taken so much to get too after all of these years. Atlantic Region and QC are the only two realistic places there is no other place within the Canada Borders where a 12th team would have the things needed to support a CFL team.
If team 10 does get into the Atlantic Region the CFL will no longer even put any effort into Quebec City. Now if for some reason some ownership group with deep pcokets suddenly appears and want a team in QC and can provide a stadium the CFL could work very nicely with an 11 uneven number then it will with a 9 uneven number.
If there were 11 teams it would be a 20 week season in which to play 18 games. Each team will get a bye each week for the first ten games and then each team will get a buy for the second 10 games. 10 however is the number the CFL wants for a nice clear schedule and 5 instead of 4 games a week would make sense for more revenue

This has been discussed several times on here, and many felt that in time that 12 was possible.

There are several options in the East for 5th and 6th teams…Laval, Moncton/Atlantic/Quebec City/etc.
The West is obviously more of a challenge getting a 6th club.

  • Victoria has a draw of 1/2 a million or so, not including limited draw from Vancouver.
  • Saskatoon has ~1/2 of the Rider fan base, but the question persists…does dividing loyalties kill the team with the largest fan base? Saskatoon is growing fast…in 5 years who knows…
  • Okanogan interior…lots have wondered if it could sustain a team. I personally don’t believe it can, but I could b wrong.
  • US Boarder cities…populations are lower in places like Bismark, but there is also no competition unless you travel to Seattle, Denver or Minnesota…all pretty good treks. Montana has around a million people, ND about 700k. The NFL is not going to come knocking.

another option exists…who says the East and West need to be balanced?
Have 5 West teams, 7 East.
East play each other 2 times totaling 12 games
West play each other 3 times 12 games
Then the remaining 6 games is some sort of East/West mix. Perhaps a couple East teams play each other more then once. There is lots of wiggle room to make a schedule work.

All that matters is that the teams play the same number of games, and the champs from each play for the cup.

All that said…I do believe the goal is 10…12 is something to merely ponder years later.

One place that idea might work is in Portland, Oregon. Their non-imports could be from Oregon. Most of better players from Oregon that play Div I are linemen and tight ends (similar to Canadian non-imports). Most of the players that play for Div I Oregon and Oregon State come from California.
A Portland team would face the same kind of restrictions as the Canadian teams, using Oregon players for non-imports.

I don’t think North Dakota or Maine could produce enough players of CFL calibre for their non-imports. You don’t see that many on Div I rosters.

7 teams in the east?

7 teams in the east?

7 teams in the east???

are you serious?

That will not happen probably this century, and certainly not in the next 40 yrs.

are you dreaming?

what planet are you from?

is this candid camera?

Did I wake up in Bazzarro world?

its a joke....right??

The east doesnt even support the 3 they have that well.

What are they putting in the water these days?

sheesh

What is so hard to believe with it. Whether you agree with their support level or not, they have the population base for more teams. Toronto has had bad numbers the last while because of a few factors (boring team, shitty media support, bad venue for football), but coming off a championship and having an O that can move the ball, they should see better numbers. Montreal fills their stadium. Hopefully Hamilton will as well once they have a new Stadium. I am hopeful for Ottawa.
We are talking the possibility of having 12 teams down the road…not next year. 10 teams leaves little for discussion beyond which single city will step up. The CFL is thriving right now, so who knows, especially if they get a beefy new TV deal! The West simply does not have a lot of options for a 6th team. You may find it whimsical, but clearly you are not open mind to conversation on possibilities, even if they are unlikely. There are obviously solid arguments against it working, I could list several myself…by the above post I question if you are capable of bringing one forth, and simply choose to preach from your soap box.

So…teams could included in a 7 team East:
Toronto
Ottawa
Montreal
Hamilton

  • Moncton / Halifax - One or the other is a viable option and obviously getting looks
  • London - 475k urban, 370k rural. I hear London brought up more and more by Eastern fans.
  • Quebec City - 1.5 million to draw from, so long as the Als allow it (territorial rights)
  • St. John’s - Newfoundland may only have 500k people, but I still believe a team would thrive. No competition, and the fact is there are spread across the country, which is going to help other cities if they have a back home team to cheer for (much like the Riders). I think they would be huge. Regina does it with 230K…Saskatoon is 250K away…so yes, people are willing to commute.
  • Windsor - 600K urban / local

so there is a quick list of 5 locations. Atlantic and Quebec City are already getting some serious looks by the CFL…so it would only by picking a 3rd. My vote is St. John’s.

We have wishes and wants but reality is that the CFL will in all likely hood end up as a 10 team league within the next 8 years and stay there for some time. The difference will be 5 eastern teams and 5 western teams , coast to coast .

Or more likely it stays as a nine team league and we keep getting a steady deluge of expansion threads in the CFL forum...

Keeping expansion after Ottawa in mind, I am suggesting the next team call themselves the "Black Reds". Different than Ottawa Red Blacks, but close enough to keep that CFL quirkiness alive like Rough Riders vs Roughriders. :smiley:

I tend to agree. I just hope that someone somewhere is willing to invest in a stadium so the CFL can get to 10 teams.

I have a number of times in the past givens a number of arguements why this league will not support more than 10 teams for a long long time.

this time, I was just being incredulous. Dont feel like repeating my previous arguements over and over again.

I have to agree with FYB on this. It’s really pointless to talk about more than 10 teams. 10 is doable, though just barely. More than that is a total fantasy that is unlikely to happen in the next 40 years.

yep you are exactly right!!

The CFL had 9 teams 40 years ago and it’s likely that in another 40 years there will still be 8 or 9 teams. Forty years ago Toronto was averaging 33,000 fans a game and Hamilton was averaging 32,000 fans a game. Now both cities average 20 to 22,000 paying fans, yet the population in the southern ontario region has exploded from 2 million 40 years ago to 8 million now.

http://stats.cfldb.ca/league/cfl/1972/attendance/

Kind of hard to compare as the games played are so different. In Finland they play 60 regular season games, small 5000 seat facilities that can be built cheap, have multi-functions and which most teams can get to within an easy days drive. Stadiums are much bigger investments, usually have limited other uses and we live in a friking big country. How about the number of players on a hockey team, vs football? Just look at how many junior hockey teams we have in Canada, that is a more appropriate comparison.

Really? I doubt most kids in Canada even know what rugby is…

Well if you look at Ontario i think its fair to say far far more play soccer then rugby.

10 is the number that the CFL wants. Cohon had a to do list coming into office and everything on that list has been accomplished or in the process of being accomplished.
For the first time I think that we will see everyone involved with the CFL being proactive in getting team number 10. In the past expansion was not saught out aggressiviely by the CFL itself but rather waited for an expansion group to come to them, The CFL, owners, and CFLPA give it the ok and the team is on their own to get things done. i.e. Ottawa and Jeff Hunt.
The 10th team is of much importance to solidifying the CFL into a solid 10 team league 5 east and 5 west. 5 games a week instead of 4. A more football like schedule with teams playing each other only twice during a regular season and not the 3 or 4 times a year.
Just a nice neat package of 10 is in the best interest of everyone in the CFL so all involved will do what is needed to be done.
If a group then comes to the CFL for a team 11 the CFL will OK the group if it is a legit group such as the OSEG in Ottawa. A schedule will still be able to be made in a nice neat package of 20 weeks for teams to play 18 games. Each team having a bye week in one of the first 10 weeks and a second in the next 10 weeks.
After 11 ( which include the Maritimes region and Quebec City which can support a team population wise in their city or Metro region) there becomes an 11th team in which the CFL will be unsure can work in the Cities, Metro areas, or regions that they will serve for at least the forseable future.