with an 18 game schedule montreal would play all the teams from the other 3 divisions ONCE each. and 4 games each against division rivals for a total of 17 games. the 18th game is against traditional labour day rival ottawa!
top 2 teams of each division make the playoffs. 1st round pits top 2 teams in each division against eachother....then pacific division winner vs central division winner
( winner of that goes to grey cup )
and south-east division winner vs atlantic division winner ( winner of that goes to grey cup )
this way, no teams get a bye in the playoffs, but it could mean an extra home playoff game for the divisions top team....so more money for the owners and more stability.
your favorite team would then have a one-in-three chance of making the playoffs. also, expansion teams such as, quebec-city and halifax would not be a shoe-in to miss the playoffs for the first 5 years, as one of them would HAVE to make it in the atlantic division.
i'd say the league would be heathier and more interesting if they could expand and make division set up like this. and if scotiabank is paying 2 million a year to be eastern final sponsors, then cfl could sell sponsorship to the first round division playoff game! example:RONA's cfl south-east playoff match-up!
what do u guys think if that happens in next 10 -15 years?
the only way they could do that, in this structure, is to add more games to the schedule....im lookin at 12 teams in an 18 game season!...not enough games to play everyone 2ice....thats y i put the emphasis on divisional play!
what about everything else tho?....what'd u think?
I love that idea. Obviously the CFL would have to have some major luck in the next 10-15 years.
Heres my take on what they could do though....(this took me a good hour so someone please consider reading it)
You have a 24 game season (just stick with me here) and you could play every team twice, and play your divison opponents equally. You play your divison teams 3 times each. Each team in the divison would alternate year by year of how they played their opponents home/away. So there is 6 games done. Then you would play each other divison team home/away. So that would be 18 more.
Ok so your probably thinking thats way too long for a football season. Well consider this...the more games they play, the more money brought in by the teams that are successful and stable (and all teams would have to be to expand the league like this.) The extra 6 games would help bring in more money for the league as well. Therefore the players get higher salaries, and attract more talented Americans to come North. It would create for a much more exciting league, to have it go on longer than any other football league.
Ok now to explain where in the year the season is expanded. I figure 6 more games, with an even number teams is about 6 more weeks. So training camp would start (using 2005) around the weekend of April 23-24. The First exhibition game would be the April 29-30. The second would be May 6-7. The Regular season starting the weekend of May 14-15.
After 8 weeks of play all teams take a week off. That weekend being July 9-10. All teams would resume play that next week. After 17 weeks, they take another week off. That weekend being Sept. 10-11. Then October 29-30 would mark week 24.
About the playoffs, I like your idea drumming god, but with my idea, the divison winners need a week off. So here I go....
All four divison winners get a first round bye. 3 wildcards in each confrence make the playoffs. The two weaker wildcard teams in each confrence would play a midweek game. On say Wednesday the 2nd, and Thursday the 3rd. Alternates each year of which confrence gets the Thurs game. Then the winners would play the top wildcard team. That would be on the weekend of 6-7. The winners would then play a mid week game versus the weaker divison winner on Wednesday the 9th, and Thursday the 10th. The winners of that would then play the top seed in the confrence on the weekend of November of the 13th-14th. Then if you win that, you will play for the Grey Cup on the 21st.
Obviously the dates would change from year to year, I'm just making it a little more simple by using 2005 as the year.
Reasons why I like my idea is that this would show a real toughness compared to the NFL. A 6 month marathon. That could be our slogan. Now I know my mid-week playoffs could raise an eyebrow or two. But this way, we don't have teams like the 2000 Lions, and the 2001 Stampeders, some how winding up in the Grey Cup when they don't deserve to be there just because they won two flukey games. This way the underdog has to really fight to make it the grey cup my going on the road every twice a week. Also it would make it really competative for the divison winners. This way it means so much to place 1st in the confrence. If you don't you just don't lose homefield advantage throughout, you lose a chance to play just one playoff abd get a full two weeks off.
Anyway just my thoughts....Tell me what you think.
I like the West/East divisions and the Grey Cup match up (East Vs. West) too much!
and what abou the Cross over???
and I say a 20 week shudular, 18 games per team, each plays each team twice. if the league grows to 12 teams, that will have to chage, but thats great for the league at ten teams.
Pacific South east
BC Toronto
Calgary Hamilton
Edmonton Ottawa
Central Atlantic
Sask Montreal
Winnipeg Quebec
London Halifax
Each team plays their Conference twice, there are 2 conferences. East and West. Then they play non conference teams once. Then they would also play a second game against the team that finished equal in their division in the seperat conference. this would make 18 games and 8 of them could make the playoffs or we could keep it at 6.
Obviously as with any Pro. sports league the population of a country and it's major urban areas will dictate things like expansion and whether or not there is enough fan interest for that new team to draw a crowd and make money in the end.
Currently Canada's population is est. (as of July 2005) at around 32,805,041. Now the country currently has a population growth rate of 0.9% which is roughly 295,245 per year approximately. Let's assume for the moment that the second number stays a constant for 10-15 years. Here is Canada's population at 10 years: 35,757,491. 15 years: 37,233,716.
well...hamilton has a team and its population is 450 000
Regina ONLY HAS 200 000
halifax has 400 000
london has 400 000
quebec city has 671 000
so if the interest is there, then i dont see y each couldn't support a team in the future
.....with the addition of these cities, then thats 12 teams total. it doesnt matter the population of the country as a whole, its city population that matters most.
I'm not disagreeing with you I was just pointing out one (population) of many many things a pro. sports league has to consider before landing a team in one of those cities. Economics is another as well as per capita income.....etc.
with the growth of the game in recent years, and Tom Wright at the helm, your scenario ( hopefuly ) will never come!
i like TVOR's idea of playin the opposite conference teams once for total of 6 games.
opposite division teams ( but SAME conference ) 2 times each for 6 games.
same division teams 3 times.
so the 18 games season would still apply!
so montreal would play BC, edmonton, calgary, winnipeg, sask., london ONE time each....then play Toronto, ottawa, hamilton Twice each ( home and home ) .......and quebec-city and halifax 3 times each.
then if montreal finished FIRST in division AND conference, then they'd get a home playoff game against halifax or quebec-city ( whichever finished 2nd in atlantic division )....IF montreal wins, they get ANOTHER home playoff game against winner of the south-east division.
thus financially rewarded for a good season which is still only 18 games long!!!
You can't have a three-team division. That's silly.
In any case, this is all pure fantasy on my part, and I don't realistically expect this to happen, given the way the league is running. But what the hell:
West:
BC (Vancouver)
Edmonton
Calgary
Winnipeg
Central:
Saskatchewan (Regina)
Toronto
London
Hamilton
East:
Montreal
Quebec City
Halifax
Ottawa
In my ideal league, you'd play each team in your division 3 times, and each team outside your division once, except for a special rotating 'interleague'-type home-and-home against a team outside your division. So you'd basically play 9 games against your division and 9 games outside it.
As for the playoff format, I would keep the bye option. It really makes the regular season mean something. But eliminate the crossover rule which nullifies the whole concept of divisions in the first place. So 6 teams make the playoffs, and the 2 division champs with the best records get playoff byes. The third, weakest division champ plays the team that finished second in its division. The other two second-place teams play each other. The winners of each meet the top 2 division champs.
That's 50% of your league making the playoffs -- a very acceptable number.
London Stallions (if there is a team in London, England :lol: )
Atlantic Schooners (or Thunder) (Halifax)
Quebec City Nordikquess (or some rip off of the fomer NHL team)