Pick only 1 American expansion franchise, and the reason why

Wait for Anchorage to build a dome stadium then a CFL would operate there. Currently Anchorage has a small outdoor, but 40% of the State resides in the city.

Now Hawaii is different. If Hawaii is desperate for a pro team and willing to offset traveling costs of Eastern CFL teams. I say go for it.

Hawaii wants to attract pro sports teams. They are replacing the Aloha Stadium, it’s rusting because the steel structure is eroding to the sea water environment. The Hawaii Senator took issue and refused to pay the NFL 5 million dollars to host the Pro Bowl game a few years ago. That 5 million would be the cost of an expansion fee. Hawaii could operate as a community based team like Saskatchewan is. Hawaiians have adjusted to Eastern TV times when the Rainbow Warriors play stateside

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Why dome stadium in Anchorage? they have a fairly mild climate compared to Edmonton or Saskatchewan, it’s on the coast. It’s not like they would play in Dec or Jan. Any stadium built in the US is not going to fit a CFL dimension field.
You say that Hawaii is desperate for a pro-team? who is that? investors? the people? if they are that desperate why hasn’t anyone approached the CFL?

I watched a football doc on high school football in Alaska, the town was located on the north part of the state, it’s the most northern located settlement in the World. It got the wet snow storms by September. Anchorage would also get wet snow storms(the worst since everything is freezes up)since it is situated on a coast. A dome would be necessary if they ever want to host a Grey Cup if they get a CFL franchise

The NFL will never go to Alaska. Anchorage is better off hitching their wagon to the CFL or 3 Down Football. Alaska is trying to get a state college football program going for years. The NCAA football teams don’t want to trek that far up North. An Alaskan college would benefit playing in the Western CIAU football conference, less travel, grows 3 down football in an US state. It would be a tradeoff since we lost Simon Fraser to a US Football conference several years ago

I watched a YT video on a Senator from Hawaii. He was inquiring sport federations and leagues to have a franchise on the island like UFC, Australian Rugby and Soccer leagues. The Senator was a mayor or council member that wanted Hawaii to branch off being a tourism destination citing high unemployment, civic pride and morale. Hawaiians love Football. They watch the Hawaii Rainbow Warrior College program intensely. They would embrace CFL football because the league came to them. A Hawaiian CFL expansion would need a an investor private or community owned

Didn’t know that Anchorage was interested in getting a CFL franchise
Their climate is not that cold, no need for a dome.
It’s milder than Edmonton and Edmonton doesn’t need a dome

https://www.rssweather.com/climate/Alaska/Anchorage/

Hawaii in November. Not sure it will ever happen, but that would be one hell of a Grey Cup trip. Mahalo

Alaskans are interested in Football. I believe CFL Football would satisfy their yearning for Football. I forgot to mention that they had indoor football and it folded. Does that indicate that they want traditional football instead of fly-by-night gimmicky football? Until a rich investor wants to pony up for a CFL team, we might never know.

The Hawaiian Senator(name escapes me, I came across him on a google search on US Senators that oppose Trump’s immigration) definitely has interests for any pro sports league set up shop on the island. The travel logistics would be cumbersome, the visiting CFL team that plays on the island would need a bye week to recover from jet lag.

It is also a term linked to the RCMP who have always trained in Regina. A quote from the RCMP Heritage centre states.
“Did you know?..
Throughout the history of the RCMP, the Force has always had Rough Riders. They even have a Rough Rider badge - in the form of a spur, that is awarded to officers of the RCMP who train both horses and riders for ceremonial parade duty and the Musical Ride.
The original Regina Rugby Club, that precedes the Saskatchewan Roughriders (Go Riders!) had a membership that was primarily made up of members of the North West Mounted Police (Go Mounties!).
Little mystery: the original RCMP Rough Riders were headquartered here in Regina; Regina is the home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders - coincidence? Today, Regina is home to both RCMP Academy ‘Depot’ and the SK Roughriders (Go Regina!)
What else do they have in common?
‘Teamwork’, ‘Discipline’, ‘Leadership’ and ‘Service’ are qualities that are highly valued and exemplified by both organizations.”
It made perfect sense for the team to adopt this name.

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I've spent a lot of time in Anchorage over the years. They pickup CBC on their cable packages and I watched many CFL football games back when CBC carried the games.

They are attuned to Canada, they understand our geography, there is a huge sporting culture ... highschool, NCAA, and even pro (they've had pro hockey, indoor football, etc). And they even bid on the Olympics at one time. And as others have pointed out, the weather is quite mild.

However, the CFL's opportunity likely closed forever after the price of oil tanked.

Back in the day though I always thought adding Anchorage and Hawaii (to give them both a natural rival) was a real opportunity, no owners and/or stadium aside. :slight_smile:

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Edmonton does need one if they want to host the Grey Cup in November.

Instead they are advocating moving the schedule up for their needs at the expense of every other team.

Didn’t know that, all I can find on google is Roosevelts Rough Riders

NO. We went through this entire process when the league did expand. Baltimore won Grey Cup with zero Canadians.

That was one off. That franchise won a few more Grey Cups with Canadians on their roster when it moved to Montreal

That is correct. In Montreal the ratio could be enforced but not in the US.

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Alliance of American Football (now defunct) had a territorial ratio. I believe this to be a fair alternative if U.S. expansion was ever visited again. I apologize if this was covered earlier.

Baltimore. They really took to the CFL, even had some Montreal fans after
The Stallions moved there.

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Champaign, Illinois. It located smack dab in the triangle of football markets of Chicago, Indianapolis and St. Louis. The college stadium where the Red Birds(nee Fighting Illini) play could fit a CFL field, but it would be a tight fit, not as bad as Memphis when the CFL went there

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Rules and legalities aside - I would go with a team in Michigan and maybe Milwaukee. Boarder towns who like their football. Detroit or Michigan is close enough to Hamilton and Toronto while Milwaukee would be close enough to Winnipeg and Saskatchewan.

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I hate these hypotheticals, a US expansion team is not going to happen.

Somewhere West as the CFL could very well be the Western Canadian Football League next year if it doesn't make changes.

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I think Portland has a stadium that would fit the CFL field and would be an instant rival with the Lions.

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