CFLPA mulls earlier start to the season

This suggestion just makes sense.

I talked with a member of the CFL Players Association this week and he said the group would like to make a gigantic change to the game as we know it.

Not in the rules or anything like that but in the timing of the season.

The idea is moving the whole season up a month.

That would mean starting training camps in early May, the season in early June and staging the Grey Cup game in late October.

That would certainly, at least for the most part, eliminate the weather problems in places such as Regina and Winnipeg on Grey Cup day.

Plus, said the member, they could utilize the fact the final would be played on or near Halloween Day for purposes of adding more fun to the production.

But by moving it further away from Christmas, there could be more money to be spent and a better chance of getting fans to travel to watch the final.

Link: http://calsun.canoe.ca/Sports/OtherSpor ... 2-sun.html

....i.ve been saying this for years....i'm sure someone will find the neg. side to it....but the article sure points out some advantages.....maybe its time to have a real good look at the move... :roll:

i said this earlier and was told it was the dumbest idea ever....whos laughing now?..muHAHAHA

Who was the idiot that said this was a dumb idea? It is common sense do you not think? Good one DG. :lol:

Good idea, with the price of GC tickets going up all the time, fans should have better weather when it is outside. This isn't the USA where there are so many football fanatics they can play the game anywhere, anytime and not worry what the price of tickets is.

billy soup
berzin99
torontoismyhome
ro1313

others.

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talk to me when its been changed!

Damn, this is bad.

No longer would this spell the end of football in the snow, but it would be terrible for football in the CFL's most important market. The Argos only draw about 27,000 people during Blue Jays season, versus about 34,000 afterwards. Also, football is bigger in the fall months with NFL fever hitting Toronto. If the CFL wants to throw away Toronto in favour of pleasing Calgary, who can't draw 25,000 people if its not 25 degrees and sunny, then this would be a good move for them.

If you look at the schedules from the past 2 seasons you will see what I mean about Calgary. They have the softest fans in the league. THey refuse to show up with a few drops of rain or if the temperature drops below 15 degrees.

Also, why the hell would the CFL want to compete with NHL playoffs and start of the MLB season. Where the season is right now, there is enough time for sports fans to get hungry again just in time for the start of the season. The CFL would get lost in May or early June.

Intersting arguments 2005. The only negative that comes to mind is people spend time in their cottages during the summer month. Maybe some one can confirm a stat(Maybe?), but doesn't attendance traditionally go up on or after labour day? Moving the season up a month may cut into revenues.

Good discussion 2005......

Good points about the cottages. There’s a reason the Argos avoided weekend homegames for the 2007 summer.

Same with the Lions playing on weekends after Labour day.

Stats anyone??? LOL

Your post displays the ignorance and arrogance that could only be experienced in Toronto. The rarified air in Hogtown (the reference is an insult to hogs) has fried your brain. First to term Toronto as the CFL’s most important market is a concept nobody outside of the Niagara peninsula could buy. Go on and believe in your cities overblown and overexploited sense of worth, that really doesn’t bother me much.

What does stick in my craw is your absolutely unfounded, unresearched and totally incorrect comparison of your NY wannabe hicktown and Calgary. Stamps fans averaged 30,771 fans last year despite our horrible weather. Argoes averaged 29,077 in their climate controlled cavernous dome. What really blows your misinformed theory is that when you compare the attendance for the Semi final games played on the same day, November 5. Calgary drew 35,650 fans outdoors while the largest city in the country could only draw 26,214.

Before you criticize Calgary fans maybe you should make sure that your fans can keep up. I, by the way am an Edmonton fan, do you want to compare the Argoes numbers to the Eskimos now?

-There is no problem with Argos fans. The only problem is a lack of them.

-There were only 25,000 Stampeder fans at that game against your second biggest rival. The Argos got 26,000 (a very disappointing number) against a western city that most Torontonians have never been to.

-Like it or not, Toronto is the most important market in the CFL, simply because it is the biggest. The CFL needs a healthy CFL in Toronto in order to be successful. The fact that the Argos are the 3rd most lucrative team in the CFL while having the smallest fanbase is a testament to Toronto’s importance.

-The Stamps can draw 33,000 fans for the third game of the season as long as the weather is nice. The fact that they can’t draw more then 24,000 for a playoff game because the weather is cold shows that there is a problem.

-There is no doubt that the Stampeders are bigger than the Argos in terms of popularity. I’m just saying that the fans are pussies who are afraid of a football game in the cold. The posts made on this board by Calgarians asking for no more November football echoes my statements.

Hey! i was at the game, in Toronto, actually, it that game was fun and was the reason i decided to get season tickets.

You can’t blame all of Toronto for not supporting a the argos.

Esp on that date when the Raptor’s where playing. 2nd home game of the season. Cause you know everyone loves basket ball

:roll:

I was at that game too, and the crowd was pretty roudy. I just wish more fans in the CFL would simply SCREAM to make noise instead of using some sort of gizmo to make noise for them.

I went to an NFL game in Buffalo and 70,000 people screaming simultaneously is a sight to behold. 30,000 people screaming and whistling would be just as good.

Again read the numbers, Nov 5:

   Calgary (November, Outdoors) 35,650
   Toronto (November, Indoor, huge population
   26,240

The numbers don’t back your argument. I don’t necessarily back an earlier start but the fact is that the Stampeders have the second largest fan base in the Country over the last 10 years, when the Argoes draw what the Prairies do then you have a argument, but the facts are that Toronto is not a good sports city. If their attendance reflected that population they would out draw entire league. As it is Toronto’s support per capita is one of the lowest, if not the lowest in the league.

Raptors playing their 2nd regular season game, give me a break. Only 26,000 people went to the Argo game because the other 9,000,000 were watching basketball.

OK!
The average attendance up to and including labour-day Monday was 27876

The average for the balance of the season was 30857

Its quite a difference if you ask me.

Again read the numbers, Nov 5:

Calgary (November, Outdoors) 35,650
Toronto (November, Indoor, huge population
26,240

The numbers don’t back your argument. I don’t necessarily back an earlier start but the fact is that the Stampeders have the second largest fan base in the Country over the last 10 years, when the Argoes draw what the Prairies do then you have a argument, but the facts are that Toronto is not a good sports city. If their attendance reflected that population they would out draw entire league. As it is Toronto’s support per capita is one of the lowest, if not the lowest in the league.

Raptors playing their 2nd regular season game, give me a break. Only 26,000 people went to the Argo game because the other 9,000,000 were watching basketball. Wink

I’m not denying any of that. Read my other post again and it answers everything. I know Calgary has a big fan base. But they don’t draw in the playoffs and a look at the 2005 numbers will prove that. They sold out this year because there were 11,000 Roughrider fans in attendance, and 24,000 Stameders fans. Calgary will draw 33,000 on sunny dayss, and 23,000 in the cold. For a team with that many fans, 23,000 fans showing up for a game in the cold is terrible.

Yes, as I said (and you repeated), Toronto has the worst support in the league. So I would suggest that the people who do support the Argonauts are to be commended, not bashed for their city’s lack of support. I have brough countless people to Argos games in my attempt to make them fans of the CFL, with about a 70% success rate.

Please do not reply to this with another idiotic answer. The facts are the facts. Calgary fans are soft people who are afraid of sitting in the cold. Toronto is a big city and many of its inhabitants feel “above” following the Canadian FOotball League. One statement is just as true as the next.

Now that is a classic group of guys!

Thanks for the stats ro1313.

Stil, an interesting comcept, would “warmer” games draw more fans?