Pick only 1 American expansion franchise, and the reason why

Yes, that’s what I thought, but it doesn’t look like Rentschler Field can fit a Canadian field.

The Rentschler allows soccer to be played there such as MLS. Supposedly Toronto FC is to finish their season there in October. The US men’s and Women’s National Soccer Team has played there before. I think you can fit a CFL field in that stadium.

The Hartford area is perfect for a football franchise because it is situated between two major US markets in New York and Boston. Any football team could draw attendances from those two markets along with the Hartford city

They could call themselves “the Fighting Insurance Salesmen”. George Wendt could be the team mascot. LOL!

The advantage to the Oakland Coliseum being a dump is that you could easily and cheaply modify to fit a CFL field. Sacramento could only work if you could do a deal with the MLS team going there to factor CFL in their stadium design like in Toronto.

Overall that is the advantage of St. Louis and San Diego as well, ready to go football markets with stadiums that no one will care if you butcher to fit a CFL field. St. Louis is getting an MLS team as well so a deal could be made there as well.

Though San Antonio is tempting upon greater reflection I’d say we should take a pass. When the NFL gets around to expanding again San Antonio is likely top of the list to get a team, plus no readily available stadium for us to play in. Austin is getting an MLS team so maybe something to be worked out there. Texas is absolutely football nuts, so I think a team in any city there would be more than well supported, just getting a compliant venue would be the tricky part.

But going into those first three US markets with readily available cheap stadium means we could get much higher franchise fees. Those fees could be use to bring Halifax online as well as prospect in other areas where again a stadium cost is gonna be hurdle.

The MLS NYC FC is without a home and been having a devil of time getting land to build one, but if CFL is working in those other three US cities then it is likely we could recruit and ownership group for NYC and potentially team up with MLS team there to help on stadium. Having the team play right in NYC would be a huge boost, none of this having to go out to New Jersey nonsense.

Another option would be to give Mexico a long hard look. Our league is still predominately ticket sales dependent league. Soccer is huge there so all their major cities are going to have facilities if not multiple facilities that could host a compliant field. Those same facilities likely support much larger seating capacities which is good since ticket prices there would be lower, but the revenue is made up for in quantity.

Latin America is one area we really could get the jump on the NFL, as it will be quite some time before any of those locations are going to be able to meet the NFL’s requirements for support. Where the CFL is far more attainable almost immediately and allow us to tap that talent pool well ahead of the NFL.

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perhaps this is a reason why CFL will be lucky to survive in anyway with the 9/` 10 teams in Canada as is.

overall decline in na football which I believe is happening in both countries

The Decline Of Football Is Real And It’s Accelerating**

**

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The key for the CFL to gain access to stadiums in the US, is by teaming up with MLS. This is where the Argos ownership comes in to broker some type of deal since MLSE also owns Toronto FC.

I’d have a team in San Antonio coupled with a team in Monterrey for a cross border rivalry. Much like I proposed that Vancouver has with Seattle in another post.

But need foreign owners that are dedicated football lovers and have deep pockets for any kind of expansion to happen

Totally agree, soccer is our backdoor to the world.

I really think San Antonio is lost, but Austin is viable if we can partner with the MLS team going there.

Monterrey and Mexico City should be brought online same time. Really lock down the country and give them a rival they can bus to. Plus increase Spanish-speaking media coverage.

A nice division would be, Oakland, San Diego, Monterrey, Mexico City and one other American southwest city preferably in Texas.

Nearly all with stadiums near ready to go with relatively inexpensive modifications and would open up two markets very quickly.

You combine that with us making rule changes to increase pace, such as keep the clock running but stretch play clock to 25 seconds. A faster pace game will attract more audience in the US and set apart more from the NFL giving us a better chance of retaining eyeballs once our seasons overlap.

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San Antonio is a good football market. They drew good crowds when the AAF played there. If the Alamodome is to old, the CFL could use the Toyota stadium for outdoor usage.

I'm not sold on Austin being a football market. They have a college team there and it's the fastest rising population in the Southwest, but the city prides itself as being liberal and uniquely weird.

If there is a southern international division, it could be comprised of San Diego, San Antonio, Monterrey or maybe Tucson Arizona. This division has to be close to the US/Mexican Border for the rivalries and travel distance. Mexico City is a little too far to my liking.

Renovations cost millions of dollars. Need more than coat of paint and screen doors to satisfy CFL specifications. Who pays for that? The new CFL owner or the property owner. It's going to be dicey on that matter

Sorry Dave but you have no idea what you are talking. Selling CFL football in NFL/Major College Football crazy America during their football season in the fall is a financial disaster waiting to happen. You will never get a TV deal since almost every single TV market in America already has an NFL team or a several college teams. The networks do not lack any programming material. A spring-summer CFL season might sell in the states but I doubt that also.

And you do?. Who needs a TV contract? Streaming us the way to go. Linear Broadcasting is going to way of the buggy whip. The CFL can easily get a deal with DAZN, Amazon Prime, Netflix to broadcast their product to households around the world. ABC, NBC CBS and FOX are losing ratings, viewers and money airing games in a pandemic age. with leagues shortening their schedule.

US Conservatives are feed up with the NFL’s stance on social ideas. People are cutting the cable and going to the internet for entertainment.

UFC’s Dana White has gone on record saying networks are dying for live sports. He advised the Rock to get his XFL on a Network quickly as possible. White would know the lay of the land on Sports Networks. Sport Networks can only show sport hi-lite clips for programming for a limited time.

A CFL season spanning from June to early November can survive in Canada and the US. Football is King in America and will follow the 2nd largest pro football league.

Americans do not give a crap about the CFL. Two thirds of the games are on the streaming service ESPN+ and probably average about 100,000 viewers at best. The last Grey Cup that aired on the linear channel ESPN2 barely attracted over 100,000 viewers. Usually, the most watched games of the year in America is some early season contest when there was nothing better on that night .

last thing I want to do is cater to USA conservatives.

That is why the NHL left ESPN. Bettman said the network never seriously promoted their league. The CFL was the long mainstay of ESPN when they first started out and stifled it presence on their network platforms now.

If the CFL went to the other linear networks like NBC, FOX, CBCS, they would be given a better chance of promotion and awareness. The CFL could help another fledgling network like Sinclair Communications, TNT expand their programming and broadcast area.

Give the Americans credit. There are a lot of Americans that are fans of the CFL. Some of them are posters on this site. The CFL has to cut through the hype of the NFL to maintain a foothold in the US.

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Exactly! There are US markets that will support CFL, there are, maybe not many there are even after the NFL season gets started. Look at the ratings decline of the NFL, did those folks stop liking grid iron or just stop liking NFL?

The NFL is going to focus expansion internationally and not domestic, likely maybe only 1 or 2 US cities out of the next 8. With only one maybe to a previous market. That leaves 2 in not 3 safe markets that fit the Baltimore mold, Americans love football and if they can tailgate for their own team in the fall they will show up.

It is important for folks to remember we only need them to show up to excellent CFL levels not even poor NFL levels. There is plenty of room for us and don’t need to be able to offer NFL level salary to get respectable talent.

There are also under served markets like Chicago and NYC, very large very football crazy but with very limited access for fans to attend a game. Plenty of room for a CFL team to snatch 20 to 30 thousand fans in October.

Mexico could be huge for us and support us well, besides enhancing our media market considerably. Overall American expansion can work if done right, Baltimore taught us that and so did San Antonio. They taught if you pick the right market and build it they will come.

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CFL has been on other networks besides ESPN. America One, NFL Network, and NBCSN. Nothing special happened with them either. Audiences for CFL games are just too low for TNT to even consider airing them unless the league is willing to pay Turner.

ESPN does not the stifle the CFL as there is no commentary from anybody in the US. All ESPN does is simulcast the TSN broadcast. Thus, all games are aired live in America.

NFL is not going to expand any further, especially internationally. Too many logistical issues. Not to mention that the owners are simply greedy and would not want to split the tv pie even further. NFL is just likes to occasionally drop hints of new cities so that local teams have leverage against local governments when stadium leases are about to expire.

And obviously, the CFL is not expanding into the US, Mexico, or any other global country. Right now, the global 2.0 initiative would be lucky to stay intact in 2021.

America One is a small network. I don’t know if they even exist anymore. The NFL network lost the CFL to ESPN and didn’t reach the number of households that ESPN reached. The CFL went with the network with the larger cable access. NBCSN was Versus. It just starting out before it got bigger with acquisition of the NHL and the Golf Network, never giving the CFL a chance in the US market.

Now ESPN has put the CFL behind a paywall with the ESPN+ and not airing games on ESPN2. It doesn’t help the CFL when ESPN owes a percentage of TSN and CTV/Bell Media limiting their avenues of broadcasts and financial resource. ESPN only uses the TSN telecast to save on production costs rather than using the vast number of football commentators that it employs. If ESPN used Dan Levy for CFL broadcasts like it did with Levy on XFL games, that would’ve helped the CFL in it’s coverage instead of Rod Black’s inane babble

If the Raptors can appear on two of Canada’s sports network, why can’t the CFL do the same. The NFL and XFL 2.0 have been able to appear on different networks, they get cross promotion. Despite the fact the XFL2.0 had to pay networks to broadcast their games. The AAF also paid CBS to broadcast their games.

The CFL should operate their own network sell their own advertising rates, pay-per-view certain CFL games like the Labor Day Classic, Canada Day and the Banjo Bowl. The CFL now has MLSE resources. Obtain Usport(including basketball and hockey during the CFL off-season)and CJFL games, coupled with weekly game previews, CFL Draft and Combines, interview shows, bios, gambling, fantasy shows and repeat of CFL weekly games. It would be a clone of the NFL Network, but with more live games

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There is also the schedule aspect, Friday night has lowest number of viewers of the followed by Saturday night in particular during summer.

Avg ESPN viewers is 163k, that’s ESPN 2 by the way so pretty respectable for CFL in country that doesn’t have a single team to be vested in and on nights of the week with traditionally low viewership in the US.

Put a couple of teams in the US and those numbers would rise dramatically. Schedule those games for Sundays offset from the NFL so we cover gaps in football coverage. They will come.

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CFL never aired on Versus. Channel had just rebranded to NBCSN when they showed CFL games.

ESPN2/ESPNews has never broadcast the entire CFL schedule. There was always a split where roughly 2/3 of the game are shown via streaming only. Instead of being included free with your ESPN subscription, viewers in the last 2 seasons had to pay an additional $30 for the 2/3. With a price increase, it is now $36 for a season.

All CFL games are already streamed and available worldwide. TSN in Canada. ESPN to countries that have the channel, and Yare to everybody else.

People seem to think that the league is holding itself back by not choosing other tv partners or by keeping the ratio which (to them) prevents the CFL from expanding to the US. Why would the CFL refuse additional money if all these imaginary scenarios were actually feasible? More likely, the league's current choices already gives them roughly as much revenue as possible.

For a league with limited resources, the best way to increase revenue is for them is to have media partners paying them, not create their own network and incur more expenses which they have no money for.

People in America just do not give a crap about the CFL. Putting teams where nobody cares about you is not going to get you a paying tv contract that justifies your presence there.

There is such a small audience in the US that the CFL had to cherry-pick that 163k number. The figure only includes 19 games aired on ESPN2 in 2018. Not counted were games on ESPNews and ESPN+. Conveniently included was Johnny Manziel's debut which drew a record 406,000. In most years, the league would be lucky to draw a single game over 200,000. If we were to average viewership for all games in the season, I suspect the number would be under 100,000. We could be talking even lower, perhaps around 75,000 per game. If the CFL drew half decent ratings in America, I am sure they would have a press release saying so. They released nothing related to 2019 numbers.

Chances of the XFL ever returning decreased since they obviously have no tv contract and would need to finance this venture essentially from scratch again. Vince McMahon was willing to lose hundreds of millions of dollars to prove everybody was wrong about the XFL. I seriously doubt the same applies to the new owners.

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what drew you to the CFL , okie?

I get the feeling okie is drawn to many football leagues. He was one of the few who joined me in following developments in the LFA this spring before covid hit.

:football: :football: :football: :beers: :beers: :beers:

The XFL did not pay to air its games, the networks fronted the costs of production ($350-400k) per game and kept the advertising money. With that being said the CFL has been shown on nearly every sports channel here in the U.S. Sports fans in the states are aware of the CFL, they’re just indifferent towards it. The 2 games I attended in Montreal while vacationing there in 2016 and 2017 was unfortunately the same. I remember walking into a sports memorabilia shop and asking the guy for some AL’s shirts. He (a 20 something male) looked at me like I had 2 heads.