I tend to agree completely. Why need 4 downs to get a first down anyway? In Canada we get first downs with 3 down football. We don’t have a fair catch rule every punt has to be returned one way or another. Watching a fair catch is super boring.
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But most NFL games these days rack up more passing yards than a CFL game, go back and check the stats. Every season an NFL QB will throw for over 40 TDs in a season, in fact a few years ago there were 4 QBs that threw more than 40 TD passes in a season and despite the fact that the end zone is shorter, narrower, receivers can’t get a running start and the receiver needs TWO feet in bounds to make a catch.
It’s been over 10 years since a CFL QB has thrown for more than 40 TDs in a season, and the CFL plays 18 games per season and the NFL until last season 16 games.
I think having 4 downs would be more entertaining on a CFL size field.
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I wonder if the NFL stays for passing TDs are inflated just by the pro-offense rules in the NFL these days.
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I think that there are pass completions in the NFL that would be called back in the CFL because CFL refs call everything. The NFL allows clutching/grabbing and I think that’s the way it should be. The refs in the CFL should be backing off and letting the players do more battling for the ball. Blatant stuff like grabbing a jersey should be called but they should be allowing more clutching and grabbing and the problem now is that plays are reviewed and analyzed on video. Too many plays called back in the CFL.
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I believe 4 downs would be way too favourable for the offence on a CFL field. With the waggle, larger end zones, favourable pass interference rules, not to mention automatic possession at the 45 yard line now after a field goal, the offence is already gifted a huge advantage. Understandable that punts can be numerous in some games but this might swing the pendulum too far the other way.
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The rules could be changed if they went to 4 downs, kick offs after a FG instead of the ball on the 45.
Four downs may create a lot of offense but that’s what people want to see. The CFL needs to attract more fans and creating more offense is the way to do it.
4 downs with otherwise Canadian rules will cause the game to revert to run-heavy offenses and conservative play.
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About 30 years or so ago the NFL had considered adapting the rouge but they decided that it would not work because their end zones are too short and it would have been inconceivable to enlarge their endzones.
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What I want to see in the CFL is star players. Not a player that is racking up stats because of favourable rules. Not just offense for offense sake. Not just offense without any defense. Talent and skill would bring in more fans, IMHO. That’s the only thing that would legitimize the CFL to the “non-believers”.
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The CFL has the second best football players in the world. You can’t ask for anymore than that.
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Just hoping for the odd neglected and dismissed star to be discarded from the NFL or some other elite “in betweener” like Cameron Wake to spice up our league.
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Yes and nothing wrong with watching “second best” or second tier players. Look at soccer, the elite players are playing in the English Premier League and all other leagues could be considered second tier.
But fans support their local team no matter if they are Div2 or 3
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Agree that the CFL has the 2nd best players; however, some athletes just fit the CFL game and some ex-NFL players struggle when they come north and play on the bigger field.
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Exactly. As @mikem mentions above, and this goes for every pro sport and league, offense sells tickets for the most part and the CFL is no exception. What this means going forward for the league and the rules, I don’t know. But of course the BoG knows this only too well. The league in the past would have Patrick Mahones and the like in it. Not today though. That’s an issue the league needs to be aware of and is aware of.
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Cfl has the second best players!! It is like my girlfriend being the second best super model. I ain’t complaining! The best, I can’t afford and they tell me to get lost.
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No reason to complain for sure.
That being said, does the CFL do this type of stuff? I don’t think so and they never will. This doesn’t happen in the CFL, people outside of arenas watching games in playoffs. Is what is it CFL. Street parties are a “non thing: in the CFL, just telling it like it is compared with the NHL CFL. The CFL isn’t even in the same league on this ( I won’t use the word 'minor” or this post will get banned I’m sure).:
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A lot of these kids don’t even know what they’re cheering about. It’s about being there with all their friends. I think I was guilty of that a few times when I was young. 
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But that’s exactly the point in so many ways what separates the “bigs” from the “not bigs”. Sure, superficial in many ways but that the way she goes.
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my friends and I were too busy playing football.
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Because the CFL has an older crowd, majority baby boomers, they aren’t going to be standing outside watching a big screen.
The other leagues have a much younger following and they are influenced by others and it’s the cool thing to do.
Look at TFC games where it’s young people waving the flags marching to the stadium, non stop chanting and setting off the smoke bombs, they want to be part of a gang.
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