Re: Expansion Commissioner

I am just shocked that US expansion is still even considered.

However, slimj is correct .

I will go a step further. SJ pointed out just a couple of transitions that would take place.

After begging US cities to join our CANADIAN league, we would have to accommodate all of their wishes.
That is ok. I am sure many love the exciting fair catch as opposed to a run back. ( SARCASM ).
Also remember no US team would ever have to adhere to the import ratio rule.

Beyond fields/stadiums (covered elsewhere) the issues would be:

  • US-based teams could not be required to have a certain number of Canadians (restraint of trade for American players; neither would some sort of “regional” restriction on US team rosters.
  • No requirement for Canadians means budget savings; top-Canadians that northern teams would have to sign get “overpaid” compared to comparable Americans and greater depth of American talent pool drives down “Internationals” salaries.
  • US-based teams likely could not be banned from signing top Canadian players (draining talent pool for Canadian teams)
  • the only well-run US-based team in CFL history went to the Grey Cup and won the Grey Cup in their two seasons. Because of what I cited above, new US-based teams would quickly climb into the CFL elite if they hire the right coach and GM
  • US-based teams not likely to “create” US television revenue as they would logically be in smaller markets and would add little to Canadian TV rights

A 10th team somewhere in Canada is the most the CFL can logically consider.

:thup: it's just not a good idea to go south of the border unless it's [b]Billionaires [/b]getting teams in New York , Chicago ,LA and even then it's still a really [b]bad idea [/b].

Now that everyone has had their say, can we drop this US expansion idea ?

Not gonna happen and is just pointless. :roll:

http://www.hark.com/clips/mddtlyfsnz-i-have-a-dream
and it applies equally well to those who won’t give up the idea and those of us who wish they would

I know that St. John's, Newfoundland is probably too small to support a CFL franchise and there is little history of football there, but I wonder if their geographic isolation would make football the ideal sport for the area. There seems to be little competition, sports or otherwise, for their entertainment dollar. If government built a stadium, perhaps an NCAA-like party atmosphere could be created. Maybe they could make a go of it.
[url]http://www.thetelegram.com/sports/2017/2/3/with-hockey-unclear--whats-ahead-for-mile-one-.html[/url]

You need to see the next television deal. As soon as the TV deal crests 10 million per team both QC and East coast become viable and little harm can come to any CFL team at that time. When this happens the league should introduce some form of revenue sharing agreement to protect all. Who out east has the money and interest to own a team. Sask and Manitoba took it upon themselves to help fund these stadiums as there is an underlying culture benefit to do so, provincial pride and the benefits to this can not be overlooked. I think the East Coast must do something to help this situation. Hamilton got lucky with funding of their stadium but it also started a complete revitalization of the city. The North end where my Dad grew up and heavy industry took hold is now waterfront parkland. Now people are moving back into the city and construction and renovation is everywhere. Imagine this on a Provincial level. Happened in Ottawa, Happening in Regina.

An exhibition game on the Rock would be a good idea . Not sure why it can't be done if Fort Mac can do it I am sure NFLD can at least host one exhibition game . Spread the game around the country .

I have always said that I thought a Newfoundland team would be awesome for the CFL…truly coast to coast then. I think of a team like the Riders…the fans they have at games everywhere and I just think that Newfoundland would be much the same because like Saskatchewan (especially years 30-40 years ago) so many people spread out from home so the team was always something from home to hold onto. I have little doubt they would flock stadiums across the country…question I have always had is how they would fair out at home. An exhibition game seems to be where to start…but there really isn’t the facility.

King George V Park is the only one…and it is soccer specific. being the oldest soccer stadium in NA I think you would be in for a major fight to do this…even for 1 game.

There is zero football culture in Newfoundland. It's the only province that has never hosted a CFL nor a Canadian University football game. I don't see that one as viable.

not that it is a great gauge, but have been there a couple times and had some football banter with people…so the fact it has come up in casual conversation and people have shown interest kinda say difference. Is there enough serious interest to be viable…who knows

there is also enough interest that there is the first league ever started and it has tripped in players in 3 years:

[url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/don-power-football-nl-growing-1.3563716]http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundl ... -1.3563716[/url]

When you see a grassroutes movement to get a new sport going now a day it is pretty tough to say there is no interest. Now if they had another pro team of some kind…yea…forget about it. there are not however going to be a pile of pro options outside of the CFL potentially going there…so that is why it might get embraced.

no stadium is a hurdle that likely never gets overcome of course.

Bunch of malarkey. The new stadium in Hamilton did not start a complete revitalization of the city.

back in 2008 stadium plan was north end Hamilton. it forced discussions on how best to redevelop the land. HTC football club wanted a different location but no one could agree and they went back to the old civic stadium location. That has sparked a redevelopment in that area. That triggered yet to be built development in the area of the stadium along with a new school. sports complex and renovations of architecturally significant older buildings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww0VMSs6vvA

point was government spending on a stadium does spark redevelopment. Ottawa and SSRs Taylor field are examples. My point was something needs to spark development and it is usually, at first, government spending.

[url=http://www.thespec.com/news-story/6515732-hamilton-s-ambitious-development-plan-down-by-the-bay/]http://www.thespec.com/news-story/65157 ... y-the-bay/[/url]

But it was OSEG that sparked the redevelopment in Ottawa not taxpayers. The city does own Lansdowne but they were willing to it sit and let it deteriorate because they did not want to spend taxpayers money to build or re-build the stadium. OSEG’s proposal was that they build condos/restaurants/stores etc on the site and the city would not only get some rent but they would get property taxes. You could call it a private/public partnership but with the private sector (OSEG) mainly financing it. They did it with no provincial or federal involvement.
The same thing at BMO in Toronto, the stadium would never have been built or expanded without the 90% MLSE funding.

The City was in the midst of an initiative to to redevelop the land as a public place/park, without a stadium, not let the whole thing deteriorate (although they did do nothing either way for years … too afraid to dump the stadium … too afraid to spend the money to fix it). OSEG leveraged the CFL franchise to chnage the process to include significant commercial/residential development

Don’t believe the City gets “rent”, I believe that OSEG got a decades long lease for next to nothing. There is some sort of profit-sharing element, if OSEG ever shows a profit on that part of the deal.

As for property tax, it all goes in to general revenues. One can say it offsets the City paying the bill to renovate the stadium, but that then means that all other tax payers are “paying for” the OSEG tenant’s share of other City funded services (which is what property taxes are for).

GREAT business move by OSEG, great for Ottawa Football Club fans, pretty run-of-the-mill shopping mall for everyone else. Decent park in the alloted area, but then that was the original plan anyway, just bigger.