CFL vs. UFL exhibition games

Its been a long while since the old CFL vs. AFL games and even longer since the CFL and NFL teams played.

Here's my idea:

The bottom 2 CFL teams play the bottom 2 UFL teams in the following preseason. 4 teams such that there be one game played in Canada under Canadian rules and one game played in the States under UFL rules.

This would benefit both leagues in exposure as well as bring needed attention to struggling teams.

What do you think?

Whats the UFL?

I don’t know if the UFL should be talked about in a “next” year context, when they haven’t played a down. The CFL doesn’t need any cheezy marketing gimmicks ( unless it makes national TV in the states and results in a new contract for that year – then it’s 100% A-OK by me )

Oh, so the UFL is like the XFL and will probably end up in the same boat of the XFL.....soon to be defunct.

A new American Football league starting up by quality ex-NFL execs.

Its looking promising. They begin play in October this year.

Its first season will 6 games played by 4 teams with a Championship played between the two teams with the best record.

Next year, they'll have as many as 6 or 8 teams. They intended to have that number this year but the super recession postponed some of the teams.

What's interesting about the UFL is they are going for smaller markets that the NFL can't fit into. They're even looking into placing a team in Monterray, Mexico for next season.

They just had their first draft and they picked up a bunch of guys that had been benched in the NFL or didn't get drafted by the NFL but they're still quality players, there's probably a ton of top notch players that get passed over by the NFL every year. That's what the UFL is hoping to catch.

They're going head to head with the NFL starting in October? :roll: :roll:

Thats suicide.

Man, I wish they could waste some money on me on my projects.

I can see this league failing.....very fast.

You have the UFL completely wrong.

It couldn’t be any more different than the XFL. The XFL, WFL, and USFL all failed because they tried to take on the NFL head on from day 1.

You can’t do that. The UFL is entirely run by guys close to the NFL. This is why they’ll succeed. They have the blessings of the NFL because the UFL is more akin to the CFL than the NFL in structure.

Again let me stress this point: THE UFL IS NOT MEANT TO COMPETE WITH THE NFL. ITS MEANT TO CO-EXIST WITH THE NFL.

The NFL has become to big to move you see. The UFL will go into those smaller venues where the NFL simply can’t go. This is why the UFL will succeed.

Maybe in the spring, it might work. But in the States they cannot compete without TV revenue. If they play in the same months as the NFL, they will get killed financially.

No thanks any other bright ideas? :roll:

Let's wait until the Fall, when Michael Vick is scampering around in a UFL jersey.

Then, maybe, you'll understand.

The UFL is much more akin to the CFL in structure. The same way that the CFL has survived is the same way the UFL will survive in America.

It would be fun.

http://www.ufl-football.com/

4 teams playing in 7 cities in 2009 -- what could possibly go wrong? Buy your season tickets today.
A UFL game in Canada would be a logical first step. Maybe an exhibition series if there's a market.

A Champion vs Champion game would be interesting. Played somewhere down south after the season. If it co-incided with the draft or something, could build into a media circus.

Is Michael Vick chasing the dogs, or are the dogs chasing him?

Sorry, bad joke.

Other leagues have tried to go head to head against the mighty NFL machine. USFL, World League, are a couple off of the top of my head. There are probably a few more I have missed. Only the CFL in Only Baltimore was only successful head to head against the NFL. I suspect a good percentage of the Baltimore success was retribution to the NFL pulling thye Colts out.

If you’d bother to read any of my posts, I’ve stated multiple times:

They aren’t going head to head with the NFL. They are going where the NFL won’t. Smaller venues. They aren’t going to try to compete wit the NFL in contracts. They are making it known that they’ll pay much less than NFL teams and its going to stay that way.

The league is much more akin to the CFL than the NFL. The CFL has survived and so will the UFL.

You on their payroll, Matt?

Except most places have colledge football in the US.

Nope just a fan of the sport.

So?

Matt, how can it NOT be going head to head with the NFL when both teams play in October and November?

Suppose they put a Team in Bellingham Washington....Most of Washington State will be watching the Seahawks on Sunday, not the UFL. Having their season run the same time as the NFL is financial suicide. Unless some owner(s) have lots and lots of money to burn, I don't see the TV ratings being there. Run it in the Spring (March and April) and you have a chance....Heck, I'd even watch it in March and April as I miss football in the spring.

Simple really.

They play on Thursday and Friday. The NFL plays Sunday and Monday (yes the NFL has 1 Thursday game on NFL Network which no one gets so its irrelevant)

They’re a bunch of NFL ex-pats that are still close with all the big wigs within the NFL. So there’s no bad blood and there will be no hostility from the NFL. That’s pretty big in itself. The idea of the league is to catch all the quality players that aren’t in the NFL currently (for whatever reason) and to show that some of these guys still belong in the NFL.

Also, like I’ve been saying, they are targeting the smaller venues where the NFL simply can’t go. This is the most intriguing aspect of the league. The NFL is really nice but its also stuck because of its size. Its too big to go to other countries because Football just isn’t big enough there yet and they don’t want to expand because they’d need 40 teams to achieve the great balance that they currently have at 32 teams.

The UFL is 100x more dynamic because they’re small. They’re looking at Europe. They’re looking at Mexico. This is terrific for the sport in my opinion because you’ll see recognizable NFL/College players playing and you might even see Mexicans or Japanese or German players starting to come over.

They’re going to be on Versus network. Its not ESPN but its better than no TV deal and for a league that’s running on 4 teams, its not bad. This season is more of an exhibition season. Next season, when the league is (hopefully) 6 or 8 teams then the real football begins.

I agree it SHOULD be in the Spring but they feel people wouldn’t feel it is legitimate football if its played in the Spring. Someone in the thread said its going to be a gimmick like the XFL, playing in the Fall is a statement that they aren’t a gimmick. They’re serious about football but they also know and have no disillusions about the hierarchy of football leagues in America.

The problem with this concept is that I have no interest in watching our CFL stars playing 4-down American football. What happens if we like it?

The CFL already tried this exact concept in the 90s. Friday nights are highschool football nights and people will follow there local college team which I might add there are a lot of,Americans wont support something that is percieved to be not the absolute best, it wont work. Read Matt Dunigans book Goin Deep he tells you why.