Dear Mr. Cohon

CFL Talk
#1

In order to be respected by the CFL fans, please do the following:

• Get us a DVD we can buy of the 2005 Grey Cup game and NEVER let it happen again that there isn't one. :cry:

• Get us a weekly recap show along the lines of NFL Films' epic battles. If necessary HIRE NFL films to produce them. We want guts and glory and drama.

• I live in the States. I also buy CFL merchandise and watch CFL games (when i can get them). Don't forget about us.

• Fix the streaming content from this site so I don't HAVE to be a Windows user to watch it.

• Put a team back in Ottawa but ONLY if it's very, very solid ownership that can afford to be around for a long, long time.

• Get to work on organizing new covered stadium deals for Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg and Ottawa. Keep Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton because it is THE best football stadium anywhere (maybe in the world) and just reeks of football history and culture (though an upgrade or two would be nice - make the soft fans comfortable).

• Market market market market.

• Throw us fans in the States a few carrots in the way of promotions. It's annoying to be excluded.

• Celebrate the CFL's history more. Put up lots of old photos and clips from the past. Show us lots of famous plays. We shouldn't have to read most stuff on Wikipedia.

• Read these forums regularly.

• Take other suggestions in this thread seriously.

Thank you.

#2

The only thing I can disagree with here is covering the stadiums in Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg and Ottawa ... I love being outdoors to watch football, no matter what the weather!

The rest of it sounds great ...

#3

I'd be interested in reading more specific suggestions that you may have, rpaege. How would you go about it? The CFL isn't looked at with much respect by many Americans, but we know it has a cult following.

How do you improve on that? Are you better off marketing individual players as a draw rather than a full team?

Say Brad Banks becomes a bigger deal in Winnipeg. I'm sure many folks in Iowa remember him fondly. Perhaps if they're better able to watch him, they can also get attached to other players on the Winnipeg roster, and so on.

#4

Maybe (if there's a way) partial coverage for, as he says, the "softer" fans. It makes for nice image that fans should be able to tolerate any kinds of conditions, but I know one gentleman who'd bring his elderly father-in-law to games, for example. The old guy can't take sitting in rain for too long so the northside (which sucks) option is pretty welcomed by him (despite its suckage).

#5

Dear Mr. Cohon
I would greatly appreciate it if you could convince the Board of Governors to offer any city building a new stadium the opportunity to host three Grey Cup games over a five year period. The revenue generated would greatly offset construction costs. Hopefully, this would convince the electorate, and by extension the politicians, to do something.

#6

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE...

create a(worthwhile) cfl video game and use it as a marketing tool to showcase our league and our superstars!

#7

Well, there certainly is some support for local players here, and serious football fans I know actually look forward to June every year because they can get CFL games, at least until the NFL starts.

It's true that the CFL doesn't get a lot of respect from the Dan Marinos of the world, but those in the know (like Warren Moon) and the real football fans actually really like the CFL and see it as pretty good football. Jackie Parker's passing got some play down here for example.

I don't think you can go over the top trying to promote it here but if you included US fans in some contests or offered special packages to US fans in the store I'm betting you'd get some takers.

As an aside, I was watching a program about a school in New Jersey not long ago and one of the kids was wearing a Roughriders jersey.

I just think people need some encouragement. Maybe some over the air stuff during games would help, where you could have a trivia question and invite all fans from anywhere to call in and particpate, or maybe even target the US fans with some trivia about some local imported players, such as what college so-and-so played at - something my friends and me like to try to remember about some of the guys we see.

Another aside - A friend, new to CFL games since they finally started showing them in the Bay Area, noticed Damon Allen for the Argos and was pretty excited to see him play! He had no idea he was even in football.

If you could somehow get a weekly CFL roundup on ESPN that would be awesome, but I know that would likely be quite a challenge - unless they could maybe buy it from TSN and show it on Sunday morning or something.

How about a short feature during games looking back on some of the greats of years gone by that down here would remember?

I'm sure there are marketers out there who are far more imaginative that i'll ever be. I just know that there ARE fans here. The game just needs to be accessible to them. Do anything you can to promote it. If players were doing public appearances I'd certainly go see them. Though I'm not sure in what context that would work. Maybe an exhibition game or two? It would give fans a chance to see some local heroes anyway. It wouldn't matter if it was in a small venue - the ticket prices would be less and I'm betting you'd get some fans, sell a little merch, and build on the fan base.

Games that are blacked out down here - and there were a few last year, are really a drag. How about some links on the CFL site to all the radio streams available for every game?

Steaming the games for pay is a great idea, just fix the stupid Windows only thing - Mac fans have money to spend. I actually spent some money on a game last year that I couldn't watch. That was not good. If it happened to me it probably happened to others. Be first class. Make it happen. That's what fans expect.

Go Esks!

#8

Get us a weekly recap show along the lines of NFL Films' epic battles. If necessary HIRE NFL films to produce them. We want guts and glory and drama

That would be excellent! Show some big hits by linebackers up the middle on a rb or db whacks on a receiver or whatever, I like the real slow mo's the NFL broadcasts do making the players almost look larger than life.

#9

I've always thought an "NFL Films" type of show would be great for the CFL. I'm not sure if anybody could do as good a job as Sabol's group.

#10

I want a covered stadium in Winnipeg.
True its nice to be outdoors in the summer.
But not in November.

#11

i don't. I love it outdoors in November - less whiners.

StatiK76
GO BOMBERS!!!

#12

I hate whiners. I rarely goes below 5 degrees, even in November.

#13

Ya I agree, why would you get rid of the one thing that makes this game awesome, the elements?

everything else sounds good. especially the DVD.

#14

Mr.Cohon,

First Congrats on being the commishoner I think you will do a great job!.

The CFL should make a CFL game to market the players and the league, and it will also help kids like me follow the CFL.

#15
I've always thought an "NFL Films" type of show would be great for the CFL. I'm not sure if anybody could do as good a job as Sabol's group.
NFL Films did do some filming of the CFL a few years back. This was part of the NFL/CFL cooperation agreement in the late 90's (including them loaning us $3 mil and they could sign our option year players). I think they did one or two films, but I haven't heard much from them recently.

You would think the CFL or TSN could create a NFL-style film division to do some quality shooting. But then again, our TV networks dream of having 4 cameras instead of 3...or having an extra HDTV truck (we can only dream)...so unfortunately CFL Films is a bit of a stretch.

#16

get a pepsi deal and get this can made:

#17

That would be awsome if they did that. And they should get players like charles roberts and geroy simon doing gatorade commercials

#18

I know that some fans are really hardcore types and love to get out the antifreeze and tough it through an autumn classic CFL matchup, but lets face it, gramma and grandpa aren't going to bring the children out to a game when it's a frozen hell. Put some roofs over their heads. This isn't the 1950s any more. Many (dare I say most) people are fat, lazy and expect creature comforts like good beer, soft chairs, and protection from the elements. If you can make small retractable roof stadiums, even better.

There just has to be civic will to do this. Calgary probably never will - you have city of well over a million playing in a horrible ball park - it just isn't a sports town. Regina or Winnipeg on the other hand are great sports cities. Those fans would support a drive to build a small but state-of-the-art stadium. And they deserve one.

I hate to say it, but Ottawa will never be a great football town until they get a decent covered stadium where all those soft civil servants can spend their tax-payer dollars in comfort. I used to love the old panda games between Carleton and U of O, and Lansdowne Park was fine for that, but for a pro game people need and expect quality.

To grow, the CFL needs marketing, TV revenue, and butts in the seats. Build nice venues and the fans will come, the game will look awesome on TV and you'll have prospective owners begging you for franchises.

Go Esks

#19

I don't know man. The most popular part of the place is always the south upper deck. mind you, part of that it's that it's cheaper seats, but it's also the youngest crowd, the most lively and the least covered.

The northside is fairly well covered and has all the atmosphere of a morgue.

And can we give the stereotypes a break? Not everyone who lives here is a civil servant any more than everyone is Saskatchewan rides a tractor to work. That stuff adds nothing.

#20

Right on Drummer. I still remember buying A Jim Zorn Steve Largent Glass Cup from Dairy Queen for my kids when they were small visiting in Seattle!