One Division - Nine Teams - Why Fight Common Sense?

Just do it. I've seen more and more people starting to jump on board with this idea. It simply makes sense with the East dragging down the rest of the league year after year. And anyone who thinks it was entertaining and better with the Calvillo dynasty it certainly wasn't, was basically let's see who gets a chance to play the Als in the East Final each year.

I'd rather leave the discussion up to everyone else to get their temperature check on this idea, but I've been a fan of this for a while now, with nine teams it just doesn't make sense to split them up in my mind. And the biggest issue I've come to realize is that this will never be fixed because competition breeds competition. Every year the West squads know they have no idle time to sit on their hands or they will get barried by labour day and have no hope of catching up, meanwhile in the East the mentality is just get to labour day no matter what cus we all know that's when the real season starts. Bullsh**. There are 18 games and this stupid mentality of just coasting till September because likely the top seed will be .500 at best is ridiculous, and will not change under the current format because we've basically got division 1 football being played balls to walls out West, then you've got the sad sack division 2 teams who are just happy to play each other in a battle of mediocrity then hopefully one of the four can sneak a win out in the Grey Cup.

I understand the tradition argument I truly do, but at some point logic trumps tradition, and I feel like we have hit that point in the CFLs history. It's a crying shame the Bombers fans probably won't get a playoff date meanwhile two of these sorry excuses out East will be gifted a playoff game based off geography and nothing else.

I want to see the best play the best, and I don't want teams rewarded for mediocrity, tradition is something I value but this is just stupid in 2017.

The last place team in the west has the same record as the first place team in the east. How is it a good thing for the league that bottom feeder teams will make the playoffs?

Still I like the east west, , they really need to push for a tenth team, like set a goal of 2 years and start pushing for it , Quebec, Halifax, London, whoever starts to show interest . Maybe the new commissioner could work on that.

I vote 1 division.

I had no issue with the Calvillo dynasty :wink:

I’m sure this will be asked at this year’s Grey Cup and it’ll be interesting how the new commish tackles this question.

I tend to want one division but realize this may not fit into the business aspects of the league.

I'll support the one division league the minute they eliminate time zones. Those 9:00, 9:30, 10:00 ET starts have to be incredibly tough on eastern teams. Doesn't explain the losses at home (and this year has been incredibly bad), but it could explain the year after year trend of western dominance.

Though I understand why this type of thread comes out, I would like to see how this looks at the end of the season to see if any changes really need to be made. In a single table, the same 6 teams would have made the playoffs and the ones at the top would have still ‘coasted’ late in the season. The teams with the 2 best records did not give us the best game in the playoffs. We all knew how that ended and the discussion stopped…until now.

In North American sports leagues there’s an economic case why leagues are divided East-West. The main one is TV especially in the playoffs where they’ll get highest audiences. Networks will want established timeslots to sell to advertisers well in advance and not wait until match-ups are set. Hence TSN will want 1pm EST and 4 pm EST open for the first 2 rounds. Same reason why the NBA stuck with East-West despite western dominance for years. To a lesser extent the NHL did and now the power has shifted to the east. Similar reason why there will never be an all Canadian division in the NHL.

Ticket sales wouldn’t change much as 6 teams will still make the playoffs and the ones in 7th place and perhaps 8th would still be in it until the end same as it is now.

The seeding would be different for sure however since the playoff format is known and acceptance before the season starts, the current system is fair. Of course then questions would need to be asked can a single table really make it better?

First question I would ask is….Does geography by itself make the teams in the west better? If we were to take the rosters, coaching staff and front office of the Stamps, Esks, Lions and Bombers (I’ll leave the Riders alone) and swap them with the 4 in the east…take your pick of who goes where…does the east become better or does geography cause these teams to lose now?

If the answer to question 1 is yes then the league needs to dive deeper into why. If the answer is no then keep it as is.

I think either we reduce how interlocked the schedule is between the divisions (have East teams play ~75-80% of their games against other East teams, for example) or just eliminate the divisions.

In the past, I've always leaned toward the former to keep traditional rivalries and the Grey Cup format intact, but maybe it is worth trying the latter.

The way the Riders looked last night I’m willing to bet that all 5 Western teams will wind up with better W/L records then the sorry scrub team in the East that falls ass backwards into a first place finish this season.

Maybe the league can change up the cross over rule from one team to two teams so all 5 Western teams qualify for the play-offs this season instead of the two sorry sad sack outfits that will qualify as 1rst and 2nd in the Least Division .

I don’t know about anyone else but this BS mentality of some fans always saying “the season doesn’t start until Labour Day” drives me absolutely nuts. Seriously ?? I mean what a crock of shite !!! So if this is the case then why doesn’t the league just play a 9 game schedule starting on Labour Day if the first half of the schedule doesn’t matter ?

As all of you should know by now I’m unfortunately a Cat fan :-[ and I for one find it absolutely ridiculous and farcical that this sorry excuse for a team that we have this season is still in so called play-off contention at 0 - 7 .

Meanwhile out West if the play-offs opened today we would find the last place Riders out and 6 pts back in the West even though they have as many wins as both the first and second place teams in the East . The Lions with more wins then both Mtl and Tor would have to go on the road as the crossover . The Bombers with more points then one and two in the East would also have no home play-off date and have to also be a visiting team .

Here are some startling stats from this season just to show the huge disparity and how lopsided and imbalanced things are between East and West this season :

Combined W/L/T records by division :

WEST…25 - 10 - 1
EAST…7 - 22 - 1

Head to Head : East vs West

WEST…17 - 2 - 1

Home and Away :

West combined home records
13 Wins 3 Losses
East combined home records
6 Wins 8 Losses 1 Tie

West combined road records
10 Wins 6 Losses 1 Tie
East combined road records
1 Win 13 Losses

If the league was a single table, the Cats would still be 6 points out of the playoffs. Would leap frog1 and be level with 3 other teams based on the current standings.
Anyone in steeltown feel better now? :slight_smile:

But it doesn't always work out that way, and also, if you find more and more the same teams in the basement it could be very bad for attendance, and then fans losing interest faster,. It's a tough one , but I think you stay east-west and push for another team.

But the schedule has been almost completely interlocking for a few years now, so why not remove the divisions if that’s the case.
The other option, which I suggested above, is to significantly reduce those inter-divisional match-ups. And the problem with that is some get bored with seeing the same 3 opponents (in the case of the East) too many times.

In the event of a 1 league standing, someone please suggest how the scheduling would work.

9 teams, 18 games.

Each would play each other at least 2 X.

Then each team has to play a 3rd game at home and a 3rd on the road.

What formula would be in place ? Keep in mind if you rid the divisions you can not schedule teams as though they were still in the division.

Can not have it both ways.

I think the correct way would be to have it based on the previous years standings :

9 - 8
8 - 7
7 - 6
6 - 5
5 - 4
4 - 3
3 - 2
2 - 1
1 - 9

I’d rather see it done this way:
9 - 8
8 - 7
7 - 9

6 - 5
5 - 4
4 - 6

3 - 2
2 - 1
1 - 3

Your way would give more of reward to the top team and more punishment for the bottom team, which does make sense on one level. However, my way would probably lead to more close match-ups, though it would favour the weaker teams.

If one more team is added (Halifax, Quebec City, etc), then I would be on board to abolish divisions.

Each team needs to play the same amount of games against every opponent, otherwise records are distorted.

The advantage of having two divisions is obvious, having two playoff races rather than one. At least now all the eastern teams are still in the Grey Cup hunt. If there was only one division Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa would essentially out of the playoff race, looking up at the dominant western teams. There would be a commensurate drop-off in fan interest and support in the east.

The only people complaining are mainly the journalists, who like to nitpick criticisms about the CFL even when the games are exciting and fans are engaged.

I don't hear complaints from the 5th-place Western team saying they were robbed and should be in the playoffs because the East div. is so weak (at this time). A last place team has no right to demand a playoff berth, except for the toilet bowl.

The East/West Grey Cup format is traditional. We should remember the CFL was formed by the merging of the eastern Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (Big Four) with the Western Interprovincial Rugby Football Union, which were two separate leagues.

Just look at last season with a losing eastern team winning a thrilling Grey Cup victory against a supposedly far superior 15-win western team. Who's complaining? If it ain't broke, don't fix it! :wink:

I say the west should separate, form a new league and stop their endless whinning

Yes, then use the East Division as a development system. 8)

This will go on as a debate.
How many threads have there been on this issue ?
I see both sides.

I just suggest all consider the following.
Are we willing to risk another East team folding out of principle? I say no.

In the last 3 seasons, the " real Grey Cup " between the 2 best teams ( WF ) have been blow outs.
While the Grey Cup between the power West and the weak East could have gone either way.

Always be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.

No way.

This is s'pose ta be Football. Not Futbol.