Saturday is for college or small events. Grey Cup is always a Sunday game. Are Olympic big events on Sundays? yup.
Super Bowl? yup.
Never a Saturday
I have no idea if Canuck Cowboy was good or not.
I hit the mute button. If I want to hear hayseed music, I will turn over to CMT.
Music acts can be booked during GC week.
Just get on with the game.
If the intent is to " broaden" the CFL audience, this is not the way.
He is just as out of place as 2012 Justin Beiber.
Main point , was the argument for scrapping divisions has no cred after the last 2 nail bite GC's.
I’ve been a fan for 40 years. I’m a very vocal proponent of scrapping the divisions. Not for my own satisfaction but because I feel it is good for the integrity of competition and for the league as a whole.
And I’m pretty sure that Calgary would have rather had a bye to the final, especially since they earned it according to their record.
It’s not about any competitive divide between the divisions, it’s about the reality of competitive fairness. You’re right, the gap between east and west will (and did this season) close, but how often is it that there is a perfect split between divisions? How often is it that the 1st and 2nd best teams are from different divisions? That’s not competitive disparity that’s the law of averages.
First year of the crossover was 1997 and BC crossed to the east because the 3rd place Bombers were a pathetic 4-14, however the two best teams in the league came from the east (Toronto 15-3 and Montreal 13-5). So 1997 saw the same inequities in the seeding we had this year except the top 2 were in the east instead of the west. It goes both ways, but why does it have to happen at all.
What exactly is the point of the regular season when all it does is eliminate 3 teams and penalizes teams for unfortunate geography.
ok first off, this will never happen. the CFL will not drop this ever.
Was a time they said the forward pass would never be allowed. They have had all western Grey Cups (1990, 1992, 1993, 2007 and 2011) so that’s not a problem. Playoff formats have changed many times over the years and just this year they changed that old tradition of kicking the extra point from the 5 and no one died or even got upset.
A few old timers here in this forum who hate change of any kind refuse to accept that the current format is both unnessary and competitively unfair.
X2 :thup:
What exactly is the point of the East - West divide anymore? Back when the league started and teams got around by train and the country seemed larger, maybe it made sense. Modern transportation and communication systems (this website being the perfect example) have made the world and country a much smaller place. The only reason that the league maintains it now as far as I can tell is that they're worried that a Hamilton, Calgary playoff game or an Ottawa, Montreal Grey Cup in Edmonton for example won't sell tickets. In other words they're motivated by fear, not a great strategy moving forward. I think that having the very best teams playing in the Grey Cup would be a strong selling point and could be very effectively marketed.
The East-West divide is really for the regular season. Part of what having divisions in any sport is to maintain rivalries as they would meet eachother more often in crucial games downs the stretch plus meeting more frequently in the playoffs.
The Ti-Cat/RedBlack rivalry was enhanced this year, which would be much harder to do with a single table. My near hatred of the Als during the Calvillo era would have been mute if we're not in the same division and we would likely not have faced each other nearly as often in a single table setting.
We kind of had a taste of a single table in 1995 in the 'old' north division. Games vs. the Ti-Cats just seemed to have less meaning that year.
The Grey Cup already sells with the current format as we've seen this past weekend and doubt a Stamps-Esks would have seen better ratings. The regular season needs to be sold and marketed. No economical reason to change it.
That’s because it’s not about economics, it’s about competitive fairness. The Ottawa - Hamilton games would have been just as important in a single division because they, along with Toronto, would have been fighting until the second last weekend for the right to host one of the 2 first round playoff games.
East teams will still face each other as often. I’ve said this several times every time this comes up, the schedule does not have to change at all. Each team plays each team twice (home and away) and the remaining 2 games are played against rivals and within their geographic area. That’s the way the schedule is done now and no need to change it. The only thing that would change is the teams would sit in one 9 team division and seed for the playoffs based on regular season performance and not geographic fortune (or misfortune).
If Edmonton is to meet Ottawa in the Grey Cup then let it be because they fought their way through the playoffs based on thier standings not because they were lucky to be in a division that didn’t have the top 2 teams.
Well we know any decision the league makes will be based on economics $$.
But finishing first in the division, giving the bye is a bigger prize than just the right to host a playoff game. The Ottawa-Hamilton series would have had less meaning down the stretch IMO.
Based on the points totals, the same teams would have made the playoffs. Only major difference of course being Calgary gets the bye instead of Ottawa but there doesn’t seem to any foul being called by the Stamps about competitive imbalance.
Now if the Esks finished second in the west with the same scenario happening. Maybe there will be grounds for change…the Esks organization seem to have a ‘special’ relationship with Mr. Orridge on league matter :lol:
I don’t think Orridge is smart enough to figure out what to do even if the Eskies told him what to do and did it for him.