Very interesting business plan, from 1 of the people apply for the top job. I understand He/she presented a 10 year plan, to have a 16 team all Canadian league, that can operate in profit with 14,000 paid attendance. This would allow smaller Canadian city/areas to build a small 14,000 seat stadiums, that would include all parking and concession, plus tailgating if applicable. He/She even proposed having ticket holders sign up as private member clubs, therfore allowing drinking on site in the parking lot. as the parking lot would be deamed a private club.. This would include citys like T.O and Vancouver, while keeping the Domes for Grey Cup. The outlook would be in 10 years to have 16 teams, all playing out of nice 14,000 seat stadiums, with ticket costs of between $40 and $65 bucks. The thinking is the TV money would still grow, Corp support would still grow and they would have more exposure accross the country to more people. The league would still attrack the same talent level. If true interesting ideal, would it work, ?
No.
it's outside the box thinking for sure, but lots of large tarts in the sky
At 14,000 capacity they'll need to charge allot more than 40 to 65 to make it work....Id' say 3-4 x that price point depending on suites, naming rights etc...
A 10 year plan with a 10 team all Canadian league is a more realistic game plan IMO.
Realistically, the next 10 years needs to focus on making all nine teams profitable, bringing a 10th team online, and laying ground works for an 11th and 12th team. There's room in Canada for a twelve team league with 25k seating, rather than 16 teams at 14k.
I proposed much the same idea in another thread (and no, I'm not in consideration for the commish). 
Instead of 14,000-seat stadiums, I believe the target should be 20,000-seats in the smaller markets. Obviously they're not going to build new smaller stadiums in Hamilton, Ottawa, Montreal, Winnipeg or Regina. But the new franchises could build smaller stadiums.
Edmonton - Commonwealth 57,000
Vancouver - BC Place 54,500
Winnipeg - IG Field 33,500
Calgary - New Stadium 33,000 (proposed)
Regina - New Stadium 33,000 (under construction)
Toronto - New Stadium 28,000 (proposed)
Montreal - Molson 24,000
Ottawa - TD Place 24,000
Hamilton - TH Field 24,000
London - 20,000 (proposed)
Kitchener - 20,000 (proposed)
Quebec - 20,000 (proposed)
Saskatoon - 20,000 (proposed)
Halifax/Moncton - 20,000 X 2 (proposed shared franchise)
I can't imagine 2 more expansion markets to reach 16 franchises? Perhaps Vancouver could support a second team with a 20,000 stadium in south Surrey? Then Sherbrooke I guess. I know Rider fans will complain a Saskatoon team will just siphon off interest from the Riders, but there should be enough fans to support two successful franchises in Saskatchewan.
Another option is expanding to a couple U.S. border cities which don't have NFL aspirations, Rochester (which had a franchise in Ontario's senior football league for many years playing teams like the London Lords until 1960) and Boise (which has a large stadium which could accommodate a CFL field.) Also consider Grand Rapids, Portland, Anchorage, Detroit/Windsor.
Here is a listing of Canada's largest TV markets:
English Extended TV Markets (2+)
Toronto/Hamilton 7,566,000 (Argos; Tiger-Cats)
Vancouver/Victoria 3,512,000 (Lions)
Edmonton 1,748,000 (Eskimos)
Calgary 1,676,000 (Stampeders)
Ottawa/Gatineau (Anglo) 1,059,000 (RedBlacks)
Kitchener 1,029,000
Winnipeg 1,001,000* (Blue Bombers)
Montreal (Anglo) 924,000 (Alouettes)
London 843,000
Halifax 677,000
St. John/Moncton 622,000
Sudbury/Timmins/NBay/SSM 518,000
Barrie 482,000
St. Johns/Corner Brook 456,000
Windsor 394,000
Saskatoon 359,000
Prince George/Kamloops 354,000
Kelowna 337,000
Regina/Moose Jaw 324,000 (Roughriders)
Peterborough 296,000
Kingston 270,000
French Extended TV Markets (2+)
Montreal (French) 3,835,000 (Alouettes)
Quebec City 1,113,000
Sherbrooke 585,000
Ottawa/Gatineau (French) 462,000 (RedBlacks)
Trois Rivieres 309,000
Saguenay 276,000
Where are you getting this nonsense?
Love the ideas and have been a proponent of this for a long time. Can you cite your source flutie?
It really is the future of the CFL IMHO. The CFL and BoG should absolutely make sure cities with decent 14,000 seaters have a chance at the Grey Cup. This person has my vote. :thup: The Vanier Cup is far more inclusive of Canadian cities and regions than the CFL can ever hope to be under the current manner in which the CFL operates. Not saying a pro league can ever have the number of teams of amateur, in the US the NFL can't either but here in Canada to close the gap a bit, it would be nice to see cities with nice 14,000 seaters be able to be have a chance to be crowned national champs of Canada. 14,000 seaters that are solid stadiums is achievable for some more cities, which would be super. And these could be expanded if necessary if the franchises flourish.
Aside from the fact that teams wouldn't make nearly enough money with only 14k seats...imagine how horrible the football would be? There's nowhere near enough talent to support 8 more teams. I get that expanding the league will grow the game, but it'll take years and years to build up enough talented Canadian football players to fill 16 rosters.
Really ? is this a joke ? Worry about keeping Toronto alive and maybe in 10 years a time in the Maritimes ?
X2 :thdn:
It's amazing anyone even attends CIS games with the attitude some people have here. And some people have told me they prefer CIS to the CFL albeit I will admit many American prefer NCAA over the NFL and Canadians such as myself prefer CHL hockey over the NHL. It's not strictly about the talent, obviously, for some people. Look, of course the talent level in the CFL is superior to that of the CIS (same with NCAA and NFL and NHL to the CHL) but I'm just saying some people out there, for whatever reason(s), prefer amateur over pro.
All you would need is to gross 1 million per game. With parking and concession, that would easy enough to hit. With 4.5 million in TV money, each team would need approx 3 million in corp support. You can run the team for 14 million
If correct, I would vote immediately for this visionary.
That’s what is needed forward out of the box type vision.
The league needs to grow in many centers and with it so does the viewership, merchandise and increased TV contract.
Never happening for so many obvious reasons . Still havn't seen a link to this "grand idea " :roll: :roll: :roll:
The way the Cats and RB have done it with their stadiums, should be a model for this league at 24k.
Maybe in the East , 24 k is a poor crowd in the West !
Uhh...no
If one of the candidates seriously suggested this, they should have been immediately shown the door.
First off, it's pretty much accepted the break even point for most CFL teams now is around then 16-18 thousand mark. There's no way around it, especially with the CBA only expected to continue to rise. Second, being from Hamilton and not having had the Grey Cup here since 96 has sucked huge. I can't imagine what it would be like to be in a market that has zero chance of ever getting the game. Third, how exactly are you going to get the on field product at a good enough level that it doesn't become a flagfest? Most CFL fans are viciously adamant about preserving the import rule and the CIS simply isn't producing as many top tier players to keep up with current demand as is. Fourth 14,000 seat stadiums make the league look bush. The CFL has been trying to sell the game to the US networks for years, and have always been hurt by "CFL, it's bush" talk. Fifth, $40 to $65 a game are what tickets are at now!
Very silly business proposal... 16 teams? Tell me where the talent for these teams will come from. It would destroy the "Canadian player rule". Not too mention 14,000k stadiums? Are you kidding me? That's bush league. I could see the CFL maxing out at 12 teams in about 30 years, each with stadiums around 24,000 (expandable to 30-35,000 for Grey Cup) all the way to 30,000 seats in select markets. I for one would not want these "mini-franchises" competing with real franchises like the Eskimos, Riders, Tiger Cats, etc.
I bet the West averaged 24000 actual paid buts in the seats this year… The Bombers had a game with only 22… The Riders had two games at 20000… One of the most respected NFL writers ,unknowingly outed the Stamps for only having 20000 fans at their season opener. We all can see that Attendance in Edmonton is down… Lastly, the 37k who showed up BC Place for the final game of the season,was deceiving because that was the last opportunity for fans to redeem their free tickets from Skulhead’s Rider game debacle.
2015 may work out for the Bombers because they are hosting the Grey Cup. However, if the team does not start winning soon, there is about 10000 too many seats at IGF… 24000 is a heck of a lot closer to their actual needs than 33000. I’d say the Bombers should of built a 27000 seater and the Riders would be wise to build a 27000 seater as well…
27000 for the West and 24000 for the East. TFC having 30000 seats is laughable.
As Mitchell says in his interview the “break even point” for the Tiger Cats is around 24k at $50 average. Teams have things like the “Club Seats” that sell in the $250 to $250 range and them private suites that add to the revenue stream so saying that 16 to 18k is a break even for most clubs is not accurate.
Look at the Argos - no “Club Seats” no “private suites” no “naming rights” - I’m sure their break even point would be a lot higher. Even if they go to BMO they need the “club seats” etc to break even.