Survey on the CFL & The Import Rule

Bad survey :thdn:
questions show too much bias

That was the year I played (we lost the Vanier Cup)... I just feel the CFL could benefit from better quality athletes. Canada should focus more on sports in general! US schools make so much $$ from sports it's ridiculous, it baffles me how Canadian Universities do not see the potential. U of Laval started doing it and look at how much school spirit they have.. in Montreal, McGill vs Concordia should be a HUGE rivalry (we were lucky to get 1000 fans).

Oh, and thanks for the criticism, the last set of questions are leading statements, I couldn't think of more feasible way to assess how people feel about the CFL's product. Any suggestions?

Kris.

I did the survey, I had no problem with getting access. American schools are privately funded thru alumni and benefactors. Our system is publicly funded, and that is he major problem. Govt needs to allow for more private funding, especially when it comes to athletics.

I’m sorry for the bluntness of my previous comment, I was short on time.

I am no expert on the subject, but I would guess that the easiest way to remove bias from the survey would be adding some questions biased the opposite way ( for example: The import rule is crutial for the development of Canadian talent.)

Thanks for your time.

If the import rules goes, you can kiss the CFL goodbye, and the league should do more to promote Canadian kids to play the game, cuz this is likely why the CFL hasn't gone to ten Canadian teams yet.

and I think the import rule should change in that the QBs should be treated like all the other players, and not segregated from the rest, as the current system does by letting the QB position be filled with American QBs and not giving Canadian ones a right chance to play QB.

I agree that the import rule should stay. I just feel it should be tweaked a little.
It should be reduced to a more reasonable number like lets say 10-12. Of those lets say 3-4 must start.(and they can't all be O-Lineman). That way you could still develop/preserve Canadian talent in the game while having a more realistic ratio

After thinking about this very complicated subject, I think that given the fact we just aren't going to see full athletic scholarships for 30-40 football players on CIS teams, just isn't going to happen, then I think that EastVanMark echoes my sentiments.
The fact is the CFL wants badly to have a better professional image than it does now and one of the best ways to do this is to make the talent competing for jobs more open. 10-12 with 3-4 starters sounds pretty good to me as a way to start this process, particularly when high shcools are dropping football around the country and less and less kids are playing the game so it seems.

Grey Cup contenders should exist more because of the overall talent rather than who has the best Canadians, as many believe is the case now, which tells me there aren't enough good Canadians depth wise for the league.

Yup and rigged as well

Although I sympathize with you guys in terms of giving opportunities for Canadian football players, I don't think the CFL would die if the Import Rule was abolished. Look at the European soccer leagues, most local teams barely have any local players. Then again, they don't have a salary cap either and all have national teams... I wouldn't want to see what Team USA would do to Team Canada in football!

Also, unless people start taking more interest in sports (especially in our FAT nation), there will always be a need for an Import Rule because Canadian athletes will never stand a chance. In the end, it'll only make us look bad, like with Ricky W.

Twisted

Biased, a little... providing questions that test the opposite makes sense, but rigged??? you'll have to explain that one.

t-t

First of all
Are you saying that RW is making us look bad?

  1. your question about American football experience........Not interested in Canadian football experience? it is a Canadian league
    2)Thinking about American football.....see question 1
    3)how can a layman ever know if the league had rejected qualified players only the coaches know
    4)valued as human beings? What kind of question is that?
    5)Respects the dignity? Every country has rules about citizen employment. Are they respectful?
    6)A fair employment process? See number 5
    7)easy to explain and justify? see number 5
    8 )provides proper explaination to all involved parties? Seeing how we have never been cut because of the rule....how can we answer?
  2. clear and understandable? see 8
  3. underrepresented groups? Its sports!!

Should I go on?

ro1313,

Thanks for the comments, they will help me build a stronger discussion in my research report!

Most of the questions you're balking at are actually taken from a previous study that looked at peoples' attitudes towards various affirmative action programs in terms of three justice constructs: interactional (dignity, etc), procedural (fairness of the process), and distributional (fairness of the allocation process). My original goal was to see if previous findings hold up in an actual setting because it is pretty hard to find quotas-type affirmative action in business (the CFL import rule). So for example, women and minorities should be more acceptant of this policy than white men (who tend to value meritocracy). Then, we see how preceptions of justice impact on peoples' willingness to work for a company using a similar policy and how these perceptions impact on their evaluation of the company's product. I know it seems a little obvious but in research, the smallest behavioral interaction can be quite complex.

Next, what I'd really like to do is to study the actual players and see if they stigmatize each other in terms of being an import vs. a non-import. For example, does an American player think his Canadian buddy on special teams is as qualified and competent as he is -- and how does this affect the team's development/morale/performace. What do you think?

As for Ricky... well,.. he does sell tickets but I think as a league, taking the rejects of the NFL is not worth it in the long run. Everyone knows his history, don't you think it's degrating to allow him into the league knowing he's 1) unpredictable 2) a known substance abuser, and 3) only around for a year

twisted.

Well, you won't be getting my answers submitted, that's for sure.....you are asking people to questions that most are not qualified to answer, having never played in the pro ranks.....and your demanding people submit their ethnicity didn't exactly win me over. Thanks.....I'll pass.....

The MAIN reason why the Import Rule exist and is successful is because it's called the CANADIAN football league. If there's no Canadians playing, then it's not the CFL is it.

The survey is about seeing if you can have this kind of affirmative action in a company and be successful. Not the same thing. Unless like BET does the same to guarantee it's culture stays that would be okay but not sure if it would work in a regular company.

So I guess the easy conclusion is, if your business is based on a certain culture, it makes sense to try and keep the people working there with the same culture.

Would you go eat at a Chinese restaurant run by Greeks?
Would you watch a Canadian league filled with Americans?

MartyMix, according to your logic, the Canadian Football League would be the equivalent of a Jamaican Bobsled team.. why would I want to watch Canadians play American football???

Alright, enough beating the dead horse. I enjoyed some of the comments, others have absolutely no clue how research works...overall, it was a great learning experience (my 1st scientific contribution)!

I think the main issue here we can all agree on is there needs to be more focus on sports in Canada in general, especially in schools and universities so we don't have to resort to questionable methods such as affirmative action (in some states, what the CFL import rule does is ILLEGAL)..!

twisted_t

Sorry twisted but I dont agree.
First what is wrong with watching Canadians play American football.

Second is that research/surveys tend to give the results that the researcher wants them to.

MartyMix, according to your logic, the Canadian Football League would be the equivalent of a Jamaican Bobsled team.. why would I want to watch Canadians play American football???
Because it's CANADIAN FOOTBALL NOT AMERICAN! Geez, have you even read the rulebook, it's not the same. The CFL is actually like 100 years older than the NFL which is AMERICAN FOOTBALL. Get a clue before you start "research".

Is it Canadian only because the players are Canadian? Or, is it Canadian because of the teams, the history and the rules?

If the game is Canadian because of the Canadian players, then, how many Canadian players are required to ensure that it is Canadian?

Right now, approximately 50% of the players in the league are Canadian. If the league expands to 10 teams, and if the number of non-imports is reduced to 10 players per team, would the league still be Canadian? In theory, the league would have the top 100 Canadian football players. Is this enough?

Some people think that the Stanley Cup is a Canadian trophy of sorts. But is it really? I don’t think so.

The thing is, I hear morons like John Nunziata say the CFL is bush league 2nd rate Junior B football because it has NFL rejects, as he says, but I don’t hear the John Nunziata’s say it is this because of it’s Canadians. My point? I don’t know, the naysayers will always have something negative to say about the CFL regardless so we should just do what is best for the league, regardless.

Do we want to see the best players play or not. Come on, we have a great game but it's not fun to watch players fumble, drop passes, and screw up all the time. Let the best players play.