In my opinion I think Cohon has to do several things in his second term in the league.
If he doesn't I would consider him a failure.
Negotiate a healthy TV deal. And get the Grey Cup back on a national over the air network.
I say CBC.
A nice TV deal in the 30 to 40 million range would catapult this league into the stratosphere.
A similar one to one we have now would be a disaster in my opinion.
Add at least one more expansion team besides Ottawa to make it 10. There's markets there.
He can get number 1 done, expansion should be easy.
Now that the NFL is officially dead in Toronto, he has to be aggressive in marketing the league in this area.
Enough of the poor little old me approach. Get out front and tell people why you're better then baseball or the soccer team.
Raise the salary cap so that we can keep players from jumping to the NFL to play on the practice roster. IF you put the cap up to 6 or 7 million, players can make some decent coing.
It would also encourage more Canadians to take up the game because there would be money to be made.
All of the above depends on if Cohen can get step 1 done. If he fails, then the rest of his term will be a failure in my opinion.
Because it will be the same old little league struggling to make ends meet.
Your move Cohen.
I think you hit all points very well there, benji. These next 3 years are HUGE for the CFL and I trust that Cohen is the right man for the job to continue leading it all in the right direction. Locking down a franchise in Halifax or Moncton and securing a new huge TV deal will lock down his spot as an all time great Commish.
Agree but how aggressive can someone be. Sportsnet is out of the running as they say, Score doesn't have the means and CBC, well still not sure what their stance is with the CFL. American networks, well, not like they are going there with something we can see in Canada.
It's basically TSN or CTV - Global well I don't know about them any more -so really, how aggressive can the league really be in all honesty? :?
A huge TV deal is just not going to happen IMHO unless CBC comes out of the woodwork big time.
CBC doesn't have the money to bid for exclusive rights (thankfully), but it could get a piece of the pie; maybe a game a week or something. It would have to seriously upgrade it's production values to not look ridiculous compared to TSN's stellar coverage. It won't be able to get by with sticking MacLean and Cherry in a 10x10 room and calling that "analysis." :lol:
I'm not expecting a bonanza for the CFL, though there will most definitely be a large upgrade in revenue. We'll see what happens to the viewing numbers this year. I suspect they have more or less levelled off — which still means winning its time slot for most games. That means it will still be the hot sports ticket in Canada from June to December.
Touchdown Atlantic was a huge success
Got a new agreement with CFLPA
Got a PED screening program in place
Has been fan and media friendly
Has been instrumental in working with OSEG to put a team in Ottawa.
Has not alienated any of the owners.
TV contract is based on offer and demand and there is nothing he can do in Atlantic Canada until a stadium is built there.
The only criticism from me is that he said the league would market its players better and he's done very little with that.
I watched and listened to the interview on Sportscentre this morning and he mentioned specifically that the league, something to this effect, has a great partner in TSN. So take it from there really. He didn't mention any other network. Is that a good thing? I think so. It's not all about money, it's about commitment as well, very important.
Have you ever been to Moncton or Halifax ? There is less people and money there than Mississauga, that's right Mississauga has a bigger economy than alllll of NB and NS put together. To say put to be successful he has to put an expansion team there is ridiculous. There is no stadium there, no local millionaire interested in owning a team.
As for you dismissing the success of that game it shows your complete ignorance. That game created thousands of new fans for the league. It gave it credibility and it sowed some seeds.
I think Cohon has done a pretty good job... the game has grown, has many new fans, and we aren't constantly talking about its imminent demise... the commish can only do so much, as much as the owners will allow... if anything, I would like to see him be more autonomous... in handing out fines and suspensions and decisions on how to make the league better... expansion is definitely part of that...
He can't just raise the salary cap. The cap is where it is at so that teams do not lose money. Yet, some teams, most notably Hamilton and Toronto, still lose money. The cap can only go up wen revenues increase. It would be nice to see the cap increase, but that won't happen to the degree of 6 or 7 million per team any time soon.
I think Cohon (can someone please change the spelling in thread title, it's ignorant and incomprehensible to have it spelled incorrectly) has done a great job, and his being the longest-serving commissioner since Jake Gaudaur speaks to that. The league is in good hands with Cohon at the helm.
The cap (and floor) is part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, isn't it? So, as you say, he couldn't just raise it. I do believe there is a clause in the CBA that would allow (require?) an increase in the cap and floor if there is a big increase in revenues, so the cap won't increase by huge amounts unless there is corresponding huge increase in revenues. Unless fans of every team start buying merchandise in Roughrider proportions, the best chance of a large increase is from TV revenues, which I expect will be at most double what it is now. Assuming the TV deal doubles and all of the increase in revenues goes to player salaries, what would the corresponding increase in salary cap be?
I think Cohon has done a great job, and his being the longest-serving commissioner since Jake Gaudaur speaks to that. The league is in good hands with Cohon at the helm.
:thup:
(can someone please change the spelling in thread title, it's ignorant and incomprehensible to have it spelled incorrectly)
I think his biggest priority in this next term should be to launch a massive promotional campaign to educate people on the correct spelling of his name. But that's just me...
I agree with guys like HfxTC and Sambo. He's done a bang up job so far, and I'm glad he got another term. :thup:
I agree with most of what you say , however , I thought that the last T.V. contract with TSN was for 75 million?
I hope that they get at least 100 million from TSN , which is owned by BELL [30% of TSN is owned by ESPN]
The CBC may be on more T.V. sets but they do a horrible job promoting regular season CFL games.
CBC's budget is being cut by 10% and I don't think that they can afford the CFL.
TSN , does a great job promoting the CFL.
I think that COHAN has done a great job and I am just happy that the CFL front office is stable.
If the CFL was looking for a new commish , the TO media would go crazy.
One thing I really like is that the commish doesn't have to think about American expansion as now most people who follow the CFL want to see expansion in tbis country, period. I think I'm correct saying tbis. :?