IMPORT / NON IMPORT RATIO

That’s the beauty of starting a Canadian Oline. You don’t have to have Amercans competing with Canadians for five of those seven starter spots and if your a smart GM. You make sure your other two spots are backed by Canadians and you don’t end up with “unfair” situations or very few of them. When your seven are scattered all over the place and their backups Americans and your making two roster moves when you make ONE change, then you have the problem your talking about where you have a type of “apartheid” system that is not healthy. Another spot recently where Americans have been treated unfairly by a couple orgs is kickers. Where Americans are brought in for “competition” with no real chance of making the team.

What makes our league unique has nothing to do with the Nationality of the player. It's about the rules such as 3 downs, the 2 extra players on the field, the wider/longer field. The fact that the CFL cities are all Canadian.
If you look at the greatest players that have played in this country and the record holders almost all have came from south of the border, just look at the Ticats.ca page and see our greatest Ticat players, very few were Canadians.
And as a fan I couldn't really care less if that player on the field is Canadian or American. I want to see the league be successful and see more of these exciting players and if it means reducing the NI ratio to reduce costs and allow teams to be more flexible with their starters then so be it.
The problem right now is that there are just not enough good Offensive Lineman coming out of the CIS and the OLs are primarily a Canadian position. When Ottawa comes into the league that means more NIs have to be given jobs.
It's time to reduce the ratio by 2, when Ottawa comes into the league that still maintains the present overall number of Canadians in the league.

Ha ! Here is the real reason. Reduced cost ! It is all about exploitation... Now I get it.

If you think it’s dumb, then GTFO this board. Your comments are repulsive, ignorant, libelous, and beyond insulting. Heck, if you think Canadians are under-talented and under-skilled, GTFO of MY country - at least I have the guts to defend it.

I enjoy the fact that Canadians get to play in something called the "Canadian Football League". Heck, Stala is our favourite player.

However, Seymour does have some valid points. Most infuriating and I'm sure most coaches would attest to this, is the constant juggling act they must do to balance the ratio. There are surely inferior NI players on the field that are there only to fill a NI roster spot while more deserving Imports watch from the sidelines or are outright released due to lack of roster space.

The fact that a coach has to constantly fiddle with the ratio does not allow him to put the best team on the field. I'm sure Cortez would rather be game-planning or watching film rather than staring at a list of names and figuring out how to play Markeith.

I think they should scrap the ratio rule and instead force teams to bring in a certain number of Non Imports to training camp. Then let them legitimately EARN a spot on the roster. If they are really that good and have the talent then there should be no discrimination from GMs and Coaches.

Not sure about that. Trestman says it is a priviledge that we let Americans like himself play and coach in our country. Only place we hear comments like these are from Southern Ontario fans. Way to go …

This subject has been discussed at great length and in considerable detail on this board.

[url=http://forums.ticats.ca/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=72243]viewtopic.php?f=5&t=72243[/url]

Some (like me) like the ratio and consider it to be an important ingredient of the game, not in any way a burden. Others (like Seymour) do not.

If you go through the above thread I think you will find there are considerably more of the former than of the latter.

I disagree that this is about saving money. Teams are going to spend to the salary cap limit regardless if the import ratio rule exists or not. With the non-import quota reduced or eliminated however, teams would be able to bring in many more highly skilled import players while still staying within the $4.35 million cap.

Well said. You obviously get the point.
I would be in favour of your suggestion concerning the non-import quota at training camp. I would even be in favour of expanding the practice roster (team finances permitting) to allow more non-imports to develop there and eventually move up to the active roster if and when ready. But CFL teams should not be forced to devote spots on the active roster to players who lack the skill, talent and/or training to legitimately earn those spots.

There is a lot more to it.

Non Imports are the guys that stay here year round and promote the league. Where more than 90 percent of imports go home on the first flight after their last game. I'll take Stala over a Jeffers-Harris Any day.

Filling the league with imports would turn the CFL into a farm league for the NFL. You think losing Hickman,Thigpen and Medlock is bad. Imagine if 10 guys left every year. It is very possible that the quality of the game would drop rather than increase as you suggest and don't tell me that an import is going to stop looking at the NFL because he's making 100 000 instead of 60 000 a season :slight_smile:

Americans and Canadians can both make good money in the CFL. Fantuz is not playing for peanuts and Cobourne is not playing for peanuts.

While some people don't see this. the reality is imports compete with imports and non-imports compete with non-imports. There are two seperate roster on CFL teams. And since all teams play under the same rules, the same cash, the same draft. There is no competitive advantage to eliminate the ratio.

I think there are plenty of good Canadians coming out of the CIS and NCAA. The problem is many of them don't get the chance to show what they are made of. The reason why we don't see many Canadian tackles is because these coaches keep converting them to guards. When corners or half backs come into the league there converted to safeties. The same with runningbacks being converted to fullbacks. I would like the coaches to actually give these players a shot at the positions they played in college. I know we are all down on Kevin Eiben right now, but lets remember it was not to long ago that he was an allstar linebacker and hope he comes back and has a better game.

The CIS players do get the chance to show what they are made of, the problem is that they haven’t competed at the same level as an NCAA Level 1player. The CIS tackles, the corners half backs have not played at the NCAA or NFL level and have never gone up against the faster, stronger, better coached players at the US college level. This is the same issue as the Canadian QB, the better ones look good against CIS DBs and facing CIS D lines but how would they do facing NCAA players or ex-NFL players, they have never had the opportunity to play at the higher level. The advantage that the US player has is that they are generally faster, stronger, better coached and have competed in a much more competitive higher level.
But occasionaly a Canadian high school player will get noticed for his talent and will get a scholarship at an NCAA school.
If he doesn’t get drafted by an NFL team he goes to the CFL and he gets to compete one on one against other NCAA players and CIS players.

And what’s changed in the last 60 years ? If anything the CIS is better now, there are more prospects now to choose from then there has every been and the ratio is the lowest it has ever been.

HfxtC said

And what's changed in the last 60 years ? If anything the CIS is better now, there are more prospects now to choose from then there has every been and the ratio is the lowest it has ever been.
Yes the CIS is better now, one of the reasons is the interest in football in Quebec. Quebec is becoming a hot bed of football, it was rare to see a Quebecer in the CFL 20 years ago, now I think every team has a Quebecer on it. My point was that for QBs, DBs, DLinemand the NCAA players are better trained, better coached, faster and stronger and have played at a higher level than a CIS player. Outstanding Canadian football players get recruited to go to NCAA schools.

As for comments about “if you don’t like the ratio you can stop posting and go away” etc or it’s “unCanadian” is just plain ridiculous. The question is - “what is the ideal Canadian ratio” - it used to be higher and it was lowered did people complain about that. Is reducing it by two per team to give the teams more flexibility and lower costs bad? Right now the problem is the lack of OLs and the OL is a Canadian position, by reducing only by TWO, teams could choose to start 2 more imports on the line or wherever they want to use them. Let’s face it no matter how you look at it, the most exciting players on our team are Imports.

What has changed in the past 60 years is a complete evolution of sports entertainment in this market. The GTA in particular and Southern Ontario in general are now firmly entrenched in a “major leagues” mindset and the CFL is being left behind. Like it or not, that is the environment the CFL must deal with when trying to hold on to fan interest and attendance.
As with any other product, when you’re trying to remain relevant in an extremely competitive marketplace, job one is to provide customers (fans) with the best possible product you can provide. CFL teams cannot provide their best on-field product as long as they’re being hindered by the roster limitations. The league cannot expect to compete and be perceived as a bona fide professional sports league in this market as long as it operates as a de facto development league.

Just to be clear. I have never suggested anyone stop posting for any reason. :wink:

If you reduce by two the starting imports. In a team like Montreal for example (five olinesmen). You would have never gotten to see Ben Cahoon become the greatest posession receiver in league history. Just would not have happen. No way a 5,8" NI receiver ever hits the field. It is also highly unlikely you would get to see Cornish, Emry, Fantuz or too many guys grow into “skilled position” roster players.

Actually, it’s ratio supporters who think that Canadians are under-talented and under-skilled. That’s one of the frequently used justifications for having it. If we thought that Canadian players were talented and skilled enough to earn a majority, or at least a strong minority, of roster spots based purely on their talent, then we wouldn’t need a rule to guarantee it.

We agree to disagree. Fans don’t care about the nationality of a player. They enjoy a winning and exciting product. The biggest problem in SO market is three franchises that have been mismanaged (not currently) and fielded a poor product pretty much without exception for over a decade.

Actually, it's ratio supporters who think that Canadians are under-talented and under-skilled. That's one of the frequently used justifications for having it. If we thought that Canadian players were talented and skilled enough to earn a majority, or at least a strong minority, of roster spots based purely on their talent, then we wouldn't need a rule to guarantee it.
Not in my case anyway. The development and college system in Canada does not provide "prospects" who are as ready as the American system. The only way for the CFL to deal with that without a farm system is to use a ratio. Fact remains that most fans across the country support Canadian content and markets like Saskatchewan are rabid about their organization to use local talent. The only place this is a topic of conversation is in Southern Ontario and I've explained the reason why I think that is.

What I think would be a better solution is for the league to improve its salary management by separating the import and non import to prevent gouging by agents when representing NI clients and create a fair environment for ALL players. The league should also cap compensation at 225k a season for players with less than five years and 350k for players over five years or something similar.