improving the playoff format

CFL Talk
1

No one wants to see 75% of the teams make the playoffs. That ruins the integrity and purpose of a long regular season.

It would be better to have the playoffs as follows as a four team bracket:

Best-of-3 series.............Single game

Second place West-----
at..............................--------------------------
First place East----------
......................................Grey Cup........------------------
Second place East-----
at..............................---------------------------
First place West---------

Crisscrossing the playoffs allows for the two best teams in the league to meet in the Grey Cup. The first round is a best of three series.

That's the way it should be...with the Honolulu Parrots in the west division.

2

yawn zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

3

This is almost as silly as your thread about not expanding to Ottawa or the Maritimes.

One of the best things about football is the one-and-done aspect of the playoffs. The integrity of the regular season is not ruined or compromised because six teams make the playoffs. I guess if you think that, you must discount every Stanley Cup champion prior to 1968. :roll:

4

It was a rip-off for the fans prior to 1968 during the regular season and in much recent seasons too. Not much incentive for the teams to put-out. Less than half should make the playoffs. The goal should be winning records for teams in the playoffs.

5

If less than half should make the playoffs, then your playoff idea sucks too since exactly half make the playoffs. I guess you want only three teams in the playoffs. Give a team a bye to the Grey Cup! :roll:

And how, exactly, was it a “rip-off for the fans prior to 1968”?

6

Because that works out so well for baseball, where half the teams are out of it by June and play months worth of meaningless games?

This is nonsense.

7

Here are some other suggestions that take into account the integrity of the regular season.

  1. Extend the regular season to 20 weeks. Each team plays 4 games against teams from their own division, and two games against teams from the other division. Only the top teams from each division go on to a single playoff game.

  2. Extend the regular season by 3 weeks and have a fully balanced schedule with no divisions. Award the Grey Cup to the team with the most wins.

  3. All playoffs all the time. We don't have to worry about the integrity of the regular season if it doesn't exist.

8
One of the best things about football is the one-and-done aspect of the playoffs.
No, No, No. I SO miss the two game total point Eastern finals. I preferred that to the Western best 2 out of 3 finals but either is preferable to the one and out for this old geezer.
9

so, what we do is

a seven game round robin, each team plays one game in nuetral city

top 4 play a 3 game round robin, each team plays one game in neutral city

top 2 play 11 games total pts for the cup. Each game played in all 8 CFL cities plus 3 other to be named later

10

I agree with an earlier poster. The one-and-done makes football playoffs great. I don't want a series. As for alternating, why even have divisions then?

11

Expand to 10 teams, with 2 five team divisions. Get rid of the crossover and have the 1st place team in each division earn a bye to the Division finals. The Grey Cup should always be east versus west. That`s all you need to do to our playoffs.

12

two in Hawaii and one alternating between Mars and the Moon each year, of course

13
:thup: :thup: :thup: :thup: :thup:
14

and we could send EZ to build the stadiums :twisted:

15
:lol: :lol: :lol: ....yes, yes, we mustn't forget to alternate the host sites.... :lol: :lol: :lol: ...priceless
16

Exactly. A 10 team league solves the problems of too many teams making the playoffs (including the stupid crossover). The first 2 first place finishers in each division get byes with 3 out of 5 in each division making it overall. That would lead to true playoff races at the end of the season and added importance to regular season games. Not to mention it would also make the schedule perfectly balanced with each team playing a home/away games with every other team in the league. Hopefully one day…

17

then why have divisions?

18

To make sure there always is an East-West Grey Cup, and the playoff games are always between 2 cities relatively close to each other.

19

And if no clear winner emerges from all of this, a two-man sack race will be held on consecutive Sundays until a champion can be crowned.

20

My ideal CFL has 10 teams, the current 18 game schedule with everyone playing eachother once home and away. The divisions are retained for standings and playoff ranking purposes. The great thing about this is each team gets a balanced schedule and each fanbase gets to see every other team once. The rivalry games will have heightened significance with the Argos only showing up for a sold out Labour Day (not a 22,000 mid August crowd) in Hamilton.

Playoffs either stay as is with 6 of 10 making it and the crossover retained. This format keeps the regular season interesting for more teams into the later weeks, it almost guarantees the East vs. West championship while ensuring the best 6 make the playoffs.

The alternative is something like 4 of 10 qualifying with a 2 game aggregate series determining the East and West participants in the Grey Cup. This would cater to those who want to see the more statistically proficient teams with winning records compete with their typically weaker counterparts weeded out. This way we will never again see an 8-10 team win the Grey Cup. The drawback is that 3 or 4 teams could be out with a month left in the season.

Perhaps the league could alternate between 4 team and 6 team playoff years to cater to both appetites?