Whatever term you want to use that gets to a 14+ team league that spans the border that plays 4 down football - mergers, acquisitions or consolidation or whatever.
Whether or not the teams south of the border are drawing many fans to the stands I don’t think is the important thing - It is the footprint in the USA that is important and the ability to draw fans on TV.
And if there is a “merger” (or whatever word you want to use) the key moving forward is not going to be selling tickets to the fans - circa 1993 - the key is going to be online wagering. Which is why Genius Sports is involved.
Who is going to bet on a 3 down CFL with 4 games a week in sufficient numbers to drive any kind of big numbers for the CFL? Is the American betting public going to magically have a love affair with the CFL? For Genius Sports to have any kind of product to push to sports books you are going to need 10 games a week or so - 4 games a week from the XFL or CFL separately are useless. 10 games a week from April to start of September fills a gap in the NCAA/NFL calendar with nothing to bet on other than WNBA, Baseball and MLS. Whatever global action there is for gridiron football is not going to flock to the CFL and 3 downs. To sell that product you will need volume and 3 or 4 games a week that are MUST SEE - you can’t get that with 4 games a week in the USFL, XFL or CFL, you are going to need critical mass. A library of content for the betting public. Canada doesn’t have enough bettors in 38 million people to make the league a ton of money - you need the USA at a minimum and to do that you need American Teams and 4 downs.
And what are the degenerate gamblers going to bet on? WNBA? MLB? Maybe the MLS? There isn’t a good choice in the summer that is where the mishmash comes in. I would bet on a mishmash CXFL long before I would bet on the WNBA, MLB or MLS, once again in that time window there is no product worth betting on. You are a CFL purist - you need to look at this from the lens of the degenerate gambling community and what Draftkings and Fanduel are offing as a wagering product.
The XFL is already pushing the gambling and wagering, have you watched any of the XFL? that is a product built on gambling and online wagering. Draftkings and Fanduel could sell online parlays and wagering on a 20 team CXFL especially in the Non NFL/NCAA window of the sports calendar. Once again your other options are WNBA, MLB and MLS in July or August.
The NFL owns 8% of Genius Sports and Genius Sports owns a minority stake in in the CFL. The guy who is in charge of Genius Sports North America used to run ESPN and the NFL Network. The walls are closing in on the CFL and 3 down football.
Yes and no. Ultimately both have to be at hand, for a hub league is not going to cut it. We’ve been over this a whole lot, but don’t stop believing in that hub concept as viable so long as there is gambling. I’m going to say no. You need a spectacle to draw more of all kinds of action not a re-enactment of a video game a la Fan-Controlled Football and the likes.
I am not going to argue that no fans in the stands is a viable path forward. I guess that I should have stated that for a CXFL I think that gambling revenue is going to be a super important component for that entity to achieve and maintain profitability. And that this gambling revenue stream was never there before due to the structure of American Laws on sports gambling.
As shown elsewhere the National Rugby League is trying to tap into the American Sports betting market by having a couple of games in Vegas. Leagues from the other side of the planet coming to the USA to get a slice of the gambling and wagering pie.
in sports where there is some semblance of champions league style tourney’s those are my fav. i’m not a huge soccer fan, but champions league is by far my fav. i love seeing cross league powerhouses go to battle.
XFL champions vs Grey Cup champs would make my day
i would say the XFL semi-finals were close to on par with average CFL quality play. i think Bombers would likely beat those teams most of the time but it wouldn’t be a walk in the park.
general quality of QBs in XFL is a step down from CFL though i would say. most of those XFL starters would be second or third stringers on CFL teams.
For marketing purposes, the NFL now has five games in Europe this season with 3 in the UK and 2 in Germany.
They don’t have one in Mexico this year, and I figure there is a reason not discussed for that reality too because there is interest there.
But for sake of full expansion to Europe or to Mexico, there are two nasty realties with which to reckon respectively:
The end of the War in Ukraine - It won’t take much for something to go wrong quickly with that situation so as to disrupt a whole lot more than merely sport and all the untold financial losses than already worldwide via also the supply chain beyond all the loss to human life and suffering that comes with war.
The Cartel problem in Mexico - This subject is well-documented via many a recent documentary, and I would recommend via Netflix or YouTube for some of them, but it’s a bigger problem even now in 2023 despite all the efforts and investment on both sides of the border. Sure you can have a game or preferably two given the interest, but a full-time presence in Mexico just no. The Cartels stay out of disruption of Liga MX, but they are not going to sit idly for the NFL much as how they actually deal with other major foreign investors. To ignore this looming issue and reality of life for many Mexicans for sake of foreign investment in Mexico is just plainly delusional.
agree - i actually think the latter is why there is no game in Mexico this year. that cartel problem is really bad. now they’ve moved into the tourist areas.
Mexico is not the Mexico of 1994, Mexico is a notch away from being a failed state like Yemen, Afghanistan or Somalia. The idea of a Mexico expansion is delusional at best.
I’d like to see that but it would be a minor miracle if they hired local football players to pretend to be CFL players, dressed them up and played against other leagues. Have guys like Vernon Adams be the head coach
- i actually think the latter is why there is no game in Mexico this year. that cartel problem is really bad. now they’ve moved into the tourist areas.