i hate to say this, but I'm getting bored of seeing the same teams playing each other every few weeks. The CFL should really consider expanding. A few cities are ready and willing for teams, QC is ready and i read Windsor is as well. Also Ottawa should be taken into consideration again. I'm not sure what's Halifax's status, but i am sure a few western cities can support teams as well. And if worst comes to worst, Rochester New York should be taken into consideration.
Iqaluit Icemen
oh brother, here we go again
If you scan the forum, you'll see that there is a new ownership group in Ottawa led by Jeff Hunt and 3 local businessmen; Hunt told the CBC's Brian Williams that he's hoping to get a conditional franchise granted by the time of this year's Grey Cup.
Funny how the people against expansion already have CFL teams to cheer for?
But it is time for the league to expand. It will mean more fans for advertisers to advertise to, thus more TV money.
I too am getting tired of every year seeing two or three good teams, two or three bad teams, and on lousy team.
Expansion will happen. Its a matter of time.
We're not talking to Hicksville, USA. We're talking to Canadian cities that know the league and want a team.
It would make the league truly national. It would bring in new fans and add excitement to the league. How could it not work?
i love the tiger-cats, i'm not bored by them, well i am because they have been losing the last 5 years, but i just want to see something new and exciting, i'm bored of seeing teams play each other every few weeks
NO US EXPANSION!
Teams playing each other too often? this issue is scheduling not the amount of teams.
Teams should be playing each other twice a year. Now the problem is that there are home/homes, instead of a balanced schedule.
It wouldn't really be hard to change, every week should have all season series should be played over the entire season.
Labour day + Labour day re-match being the ONLY home/homes allowed throughout the entire season.
so BC/EDM/CAL/SSK should visit WPG/MTL/HAM/TO in both the first half of the season AND second half of the season.
This year I don't beleive a single team had their schedule spread over the entire year.
the season should start with 3 straight weeks of intra divisional games followed by 3 straight inter divisional games and should end in the same way(just reversed)
That solves 2/3rds of the schedules(12 weeks) the middle 6 weeks would be a mix of inter and intra division games weekly. this is IMO the best way to do it and make the end of the year more exciting(4 point games)
The CFL should not be like the NFL in which some teams don't play each other for years.
How often to Green Bay play Atlanta or San Fran?(yes 32 is a big difference from 8)
the second issue is the pre-season, that should be changed.
the league should divide into three(by timezones really) during the pre-season.
Canada East(HAM/TO/MTL)(play each other 1 time over 3 weeks)
Canada central(SSK/WPG) (play each other twice)
Canada West(EDM/CAL/BCL)(play each other 1 time over 3 weeks)
for west and east it's:
week 1: team A vs. B
week 2: team A vs. C
week 3: team B vs. C
the CFL had a 3 week pre-season for some reason this year anyways so that is not a change
could also just pair teams up inter divisionally so everyone see's each other atleast 3 times instead up like HAM/WPG or TO/MTL played 6 times this year(pre-season + post-season)
all these issues are scheduling, yes it's annoying to see the same team 6 times in a year, but that is not because of 8 teams, it is because whomever made up the schedules decided to do so, the max any two teams need to see each other is 4 times right now.
and the problem will not be solved with 10 teams either, as divisional rivals should still be playing each other 3 times each and with playoffs + pre-season that could get up to 5 times in a singular year maybe even 10, because teams will likely pair off with their nearest rival so the Riders vs. Bombers could get up to 6 games if they meet in the playoffs.
i know I'm dreaming on this one, but the cfl should go for 12 and have 3 divisions. west, central and east. play everyone once and then your division twice more. then pick a team in another division that came in the same place you did last year and play them twice. then for the playoffs, 3 division leaders could make it with the 3 runner ups, then the teams with the 2 best records get byes. then theres 4 teams left after that week. makes for a much better season, because you play your rivals 3 times and still play every other team at least once.
As much as we all love the CFL, I too am getting tired of teams playing each other some six times during the pre season and regular schedule. But wait a 7th time possibility exists for the playoffs.
We need more teams, OK Ottawa is on its way hopefully but a 10th team in QC is also a must to follow in 09.
???
no pro sports league has true parody where all teams are equal.
NHL last year with Philly as the bottom feeder(or pheonix, Columbus, Florida) + Ottawa as the top dog(also detroit, New Jersey)
MLB with the Yankees constantly at top and say Kansas city the constant bottom feeder(over 10 years since they have finished top 2 in their division)
NFL - fairly even except Patriots have been a top dog for a good while now and Browns are pretty useless(when did they last make the playoffs?) also the lions haven't made the playoffs for 8 years.
NBA - Clippers have done pretty bad in the past decade(1 good year), Lakers have done pretty good over the past while.(with one bad year)
Same can go for the CIS(Laval as a top team), NCAA(Longhorns as the top team, Ohio state, michigan and bottom teams temple?)
Just trying to say it's not like the CFL is the only league that has the same teams as the top team, except the CFL doesn't at all have the same teams as the top and same teams as the bottom, 2 years ago yes Edmonton was always the top team, but now how is it always the same?
Right now there is no garantee who will or won't make the playoffs(except Hamilton should be eliminated now) But the Riders may finish first for the first time in... ever?(lol joking rider fans) Bombers will be in first place in the east since 2001.
As for Hamilton always being the worst team the made the playoffs just a few years back(2004?) so it hasn't been all that long and next year they may make a push although IMO Printers won't bring them to there(Williams could though)
if anything adding two expansion teams will garantee two teams won't make the playoffs for awhile(2-3 years) and after that it is the same as any league the teams which are run the best will be in the playoffs so trends will start.
And with 10 to 12 teams, making the CfL a truly national league, it would make the impact of an NFL team in Toronto even more miniscule.
I suspect the number of back to backs and the lack of east-west matchups spread over the season is in some way an effort to cut down on travel costs. But I can’t think of how thats the case atm, its just a conjecture on my part.
CFL should expand by 4 teams.
Ottawa, Quebec City, Halifax and London.
If it fails, go back to your little 8 team league.
But its not gonna fail. And CFL revenues will increase exponentially.
And with the way the NHL is shooting itself in the foot with these stupid new rules, the CFL could become our number one sport.
Either stay small and fight to survive from year to year, or be aggressive and bring the game to places that want it.
Only a fool would stay small.
first off, 12 teams is 5 years off at best, that would involve several stadiums getting built(atleast 1 in a non CFL city in western canada(Saskatoon? Sudbury? really no options saskatoon may be best) + 2.5 in non-CFL eastern canada cities)(Ottawa is the .5 + say Maritimes + QBC)
Step 2 - Huge TV deal, 48-60M per year(worded as to say 4M-5M per team, possibly with some revenue sharing)
But if this does happen(which would be amazzing and great) I would not be able to understand any reasoning for a 3 division CFL(or any league for that matter)
It doesn't make sense. there is either 2 divisions or 4 divisions, it should always be divisible by 2.
4 divisions would work fine.
Conference West:
Pacific division(BCL/CAL/EDM)
Prairie division(central)(SSK/SST/WPG)
Conference East:
Ontario Div(OTT/HAM/TO)
Atantic Div(QBC/MTL/Maritimes)
game format would be:(IMO)
6 intra divisional games(3 vs. each divisional opponent)
6 inter divisional games(2 vs. each non-division conference rival
6 inter conference games(1 vs. each in the other conference OR 2 vs. a rival non-conference division)
pre-season could be worked in two ways:
- pre-season stays 2 games in which 1 game vs. each divisional rival
2.Pre-season moves to 3 games in which 1 game vs. each team in a rival division(two divisions pair off)
Playoffs:
top team in a division plays the second team in their division(top team is home)
Winners of the division game play each other(by conference)(top team is home)
Conference winners square off at the grey cup.
This works for several reason:
- more playoff games = more $$ = happy CFL BoG + TV/sponsors.
2.No favoritism for any region, all schedules are equal
3.No more bye issue and about how to deal with it(like teams becoming soft or w/e)
yes alot of teams make the playoffs so what? it's not like other leagues? why should the CFL be like other leagues?
It would be three divisions of 4 teams.
West Divison- BC, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatchewan.
Central Division- Winnipeg, Tornto, London, Hamilton.
Eastern Division- Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec, Halifax.
Top team in each division makes playoffs and gets first round bye. Then there's 6 wildcard teams who play in the first round.
The three wildcard winners move on to play the three first place teams. And on it goes.
I say Cohen and friends should be pursuing this type of expansion. They might be already but are keeping things quiet. I hope so.
Sorry, my math was wrong. Maybe five wild card teams with no first round byes for first place teams, but they're gauranteed home field.
that would be a solid reasoning.
But I can't see any reason why it would cut costs, as all teams go home after playing their away games.
if they wanted to cut costs the only way to do that would be to play several games in cities that are close geographically.
so play in Edmonton on a sunday and Calgary on a thursday or friday the next week and say in Alberta the whole weekend, but I'm not sure if that would have any noticable effect on travel costs because it involves staying in a hotel for 5 days + coaches will bring more players out due to injury concerns and have to trade players he brought out for players left at home for either match-up or injury reasons.
in the end, doesn't lower costs.
I can't seem to think of a reasoning for a home and home.
Especially Edmonton/SSK home and homes. they don't even fly for those games they can bus it.
But Winnipegs season opened:
2 teams over 4 games(EDM/MTL/EDM/MTL)
including the pre-season 3 teams over 8 weeks. That is a boring start to the year. 8 weeks and the same 3 teams constantly??
Waiting until week 9(game 8) to play the first game vs. a divisional rival(TO)??
How hard is it to make a CFL schedule that has a balanced first half and second half?
as an example:(for Winnipeg)(same reg season teams played)
pre-season:
game 1: MTL
game 2: Hamilton
Seasons:
game 1: TO
game 2: MTL
Game 3: HAM
Game 4: BC
Game 5: EDM
Game 6: Cal
game 7: HAM
week 8: bye
Game 8(week 9): TO
game 9: SSK
second half:
Game 10 SSK
Game 11:BC
Game 12:EDM
Game 13:CAL
Game 14:HAM
Game 15:MTL
Game 16:TO
Game 17:HAM
Game 18:MTL
I don't care about home and away
but isn't that nice and spread out, only Labour day has a home and home, the closest to that is playing the same team 2 times over 4 weeks with two different teams played between games.
it would work as a league schedule why not have it for 08?
3 Division leaders + 5 Wildcards = 8 teams in the playoffs.
Why not just go to 4 divisions with 4 division leaders/winners + 4 wildcards(normally 1 per division)?
Why not keep Sask + Winnipeg together?
If any two teams should play each other it should be those two + the Alberta/ont labour day rivals.
Why not make 100 teams. You would have about the same chance. Where are all these new owners coming from. I agree I dont like the home and home games except for labour day.
You get to 10 teams and you wind up with one home and one away with each team. Works just fine. With the growth in minor football, the talent will soon be there to adequately stock 10 teams with Canadians quite easily.
A move to 12 teams would be possible down the road but none would come from the west. As much as the west supports the game, there is not the critical mass to support another team in any of the western provinces. I could see Ottawa and likely Quebec working out in the next couple of years. But after that the only real possibilities are the Maritimes (Moncton?) and London, Ontario.