East vs West - incredible stats

it's incredible to see that the "worst" Western Team's record is better than the "best" Eastern Team's record...

East: 2 wins total
West: 18 wins total

> |East Division|
> |[Toronto Argonauts]    1|2|0
> |[Montreal Alouettes]   1|4|0
> |[Ottawa RedBlacks]     0|4|0
> |[Hamilton Tiger-Cats]  0|4|0
>
> |West Division|
> |[Winnipeg Blue Bombers]       5|0|0
> |[Calgary Stampeders]          4|0|0
> |[Saskatchewan Roughriders]    4|1|0
> |[BC Lions]                    3|1|0
> |[Edmonton Elks]               2|4|0
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So up to last Saturday, when Winnipeg met BC, the Elks had played more games against western opponents than any other team in the west....

The schedule had the 2nd weakest team last year play the Grey Cup champs back to back to start the season.

Two East teams had every opportunity to be at 2 or three wins but just couldn't get the job done....

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It really is. I can’t recall seeing this strong of disparity in any league before.
I guess the only caveat is that Edmonton has played 6 games and Toronto only 3 at this point, but still


Started a similar forum weeks ago, & incredibly, it's only gotten worse. It's like the West is premier league, & the East second division. I asked for theories as to why & basically got crickets.

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I don’t think it is a theory that the division set up promoted bad teams in the east for decades .

It is a fact .

When there is no incentive to get better and you win championships Grey Cups by bad seeding and bad home field advantage for decades this is what you get bad management of teams with no incentive but be a little better than a few slugs every year .

You devalue winning a championship when you constantly allow poor teams to host and get into the playoffs every year since I have watched the league .

Yet you still have people who think this attracts fans .

It never has and never will .

Yet this system remains . No one cares about geography in Canada but maybe a few old timers .

The world and Canada changed but the CFL is still thinking it’s 1971 .

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Still seems against the odds to me. The East has had their share of great talent both in management & on the field but collectively always falls short.

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It’s the answer that people don’t like to hear but it’s obvious this set up has a west that has for sometime a more engaged fan base who see fighting thru the west more competitive .

This could be from engaged community ownership and engaged private ownership in the west compared to the east .

The east has been okay with mediocrity and getting unearned byes and unearned home field advantage .

Rewarding CFL east teams for bad management is systemic .

Reward failure in any setting and see the result in any given business .

Right now two bad east teams have home field advantage and one has a bye . Not sure how doing the same thing over and over again has worked out for engaging the fan base .

Cheap Grey Cup wins and more stories of mediocre teams backing their way in year in year out does nothing but cheapen the experience of the CFL season .

Really could it hurt the attendance it’s rock bottom level now there is no where to go but up .

Make the climb to the top a higher endeavour and see the difference .

Oddly enough if you judge by CFL.ca forums Ham & Mont fans have by far the biggest footprint here. Possibly just the most vocal, I don’t know. I guess the forums aren’t truly representative of the support at large? Attendance seems to be an issue not just for the East.

I think for me and of course this is IMO the east has been bad for 40 years . Once the east moved to more games to match the west and there was more interlocking the east fell a bit with seasonal records but nothing was fixed for playoff seeding to reflect that drop off except a cross over seed for the west even though that seed may have a bye or home field advantage . So the last year Toronto won the cup they were actually the fifth seed yet had a bye and home field advantage .

There is two approaches either the east stays in the east and we watch more east versus east and inflate the numbers and watch more repetition or

go to a no division league until enough teams for a larger east division and hopefully it changes organically with the extra competition in the division driving better seasonal record results .

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Hello All, I am in favor of a single division. Have been for years. If there were a single division, scheduling would be more balanced. Each team plays everybody twice and for games 17 and 18, you could schedule in pods based upon the previous years record. So for 2022:
Winnipeg, Toronto, Saskatchewan would play each other 3 times
Hamilton, Calgary, Montreal 3X
Ottawa, Edmonton, BC 3x
I will be honest as I have watched every game this season. At this point, I would be much excited to watch a Winnipeg v. Calgary Grey Cup rather than a Toronto v Winnipeg Cup. Any league should want their two best teams in the championship game. I think that goes much further to generate interest than the East v. West thing.

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Since the Commish keeps telling us that he and the BOG are looking to "grow the game," why not give this a try for two to three years? If it is harmful, then we go back. I know this, something needs to be done to generate interest sooner.

I agree . At this point in the season none of the East teams should have a shot at being in the Cup let alone the play-offs or a home play-off date .

Actually this might just be the year that the crossover amounts to a West vs West matchup in the big game .

Honestly if this does happen my dream matchup would be the Bombers vs Riders . Now let me explain why . It would be hilarious to see the Riders have to use the visitors dressing room in their own home park and to be considered the Eastern champs . Meanwhile just down the hallway would be the hated Bombers using the Riders dressing room as their own . It would be akin to being forced to having a annoying relative sleep over at your house and they wind up sleeping in your bed while you end up sleeping on the couch in the basement .

Lastly it would do my heart good to see the BB's absolutely destroy them in front of their hometown crowd on Grey Cup Sunday . :laughing:

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There is absolutely no way this would actually happen even if the Riders ended up as Eastern champs. Despite it being the “rule” there is no way the Riders would be using the visitors dressing room.

I too would love a Wpg v Ssk Grey Cup, but for different reasons. These two teams always play each other tough, and it makes for good football. Plus it would be a chance to see what tv ratings look like with an all West GC where both teams have earned their spot as opposed to one team being a charity case.

Been watching for many years since the days of Moon and Brock and their big games and seems almost always true the West is best. The NBA (not a big fan) has also been this way since dinosaurs roamed the earth, or at least quite a while.

it look like Montreal's French Newspaper talks about this:

It’s not incredible. It’s embarrassing.

It would be hilarious to see the Riders have to use the visitors dressing room in their own home park and to be considered the Eastern champs . Meanwhile just down the hallway would be the hated Bombers using the Riders dressing room as their own

Won't happen in Gina, just like it didn't happen in Hamilton for the 2021 Grey Cup. Would be disrespectful to the home team.

Aw c’mon PorkyPine. I typed in a response.

If I recall correctly I mentioned something to the effect that GM’s build teams that’ll get them to the Cup. Specifically they’re ALL painting targets on last year’s finalist and THAT’S the level they’re trying to reach or exceed. In the East the bar was set at the Hamilton TigerCats. IMHO every GM did a bang up job of putting together a roster that could beat Hamilton’s roster.

In the West the bar was set at the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. IMHO every GM (except Edmonton’s which had the biggest mountain to climb) did a REASONABLE job of putting together a roster that could beat Winnipeg’s roster. BC, Calgary and Saskatchewan improved their chances against us in the offseason. None of these Western Teams were using Hamilton as their benchmark.

Interestingly, of all the Western teams that I mentioned it’s Saskatchewan that has the BEST chance of getting to the Grey Cup since they’ll probably do it as the Eastern representative via the ‘Crossover’ method.

Bottom line, ALL of the GM’s in this league did what they were asked to do
 assemble teams that could get past last year’s finalist in their respective divisions.

What about Hamiton and Winnipeg then? Well they were ALREADY the previous year’s finalists. There was nowhere to go but sideways or down.

Honestly, who cares if the east is way weaker than the west? I certainly don't. It's just a down year for the east.

This is a small league. Each team is needed to be successful. If anything, we should be applauding fans of eastern teams for supporting their franchises through the bad times.

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