Three divsions, three teams....

Hi CFL fans!

This has been kicking around in my mind for awhile...although with Ottawa not in the league this year, it won't work for now. But once 9 teams are restored, why not have three divisions with three teams? It would create some natural rivalries and create more of a chance for each team to claim a top spot. For the playoffs, you would take the three divsion leaders, then the next two best teams as wild cards. This way the league rewards teams that do well, not a 3 and 15 team that ends up in second place because their divsion is weak. The two wild cards would play each other in week one of the playoffs, then that winner would play the best overall team, while the other two would do battle. The winners then play for the Grey Cup. The divsions could look like this:

West:
BC
Edmonton
Calgary

Central:
Saskatchewan
Winnipeg
Hamilton

East:
Montreal
Toronto
Ottawa

What do you think?

I think you must be cheering for a team that has no chance of finishing atop of its division by just playing better than its rivals.

Maybe we could create eight divisions so everyone would finish first in its division.

Interesting idea, but no. Maybe if you put Ottawa in the same division as Winnipeg and Saskatchewan, but putting Toronto and Hamilton in seperate divisions would not be a good idea.

Ok, makes sense…lets move Ottawa out and Hamilton in. Ottawa seems to be a bit a vagabond franchise anyway.

Er, I’m a Roughrider fan…well, this setup would preclude a team with a worse record getting in a head of team with a better record for the playoffs. I think it makes the league look better and it is more fair to fans.

Actually it doesnt. The first place team could have a worst record than a second place team who was not one of the 2 best 2nds!

Why am I not surprised ! I don’t see how it would make the league look better to change the number of divisions. Especially to add a division. It would just be a different way to do it but basically with the same result.

There are two opponents in the Grey Cup game. Having two divisions makes more sense because you at least have a way to relate with one of the finalists. But three divisions means at least one isn’t represented…

If a change needed to occur, it would make more sense to put all eight teams in one division and have the top six to make the playoffs.

It’s not fairer for the fans to create a division so that one more team can finish in first place. You want your Riders to finish first? Then get yourself a GM that has a two-years plan instead of one who still works on an eight-year one. And get the players to work harder. First place is something you earn, not something you get by trafficking the divisions.

8 teams and top 6 make the playoffs? Why even have a regular season then?

I think three teams/three divsions would create more fan interest and that’s what the CFL needs. The league is on the verge of folding each year, there has to be some change!

That’s exactly why almost all teams make the playoffs. Playoffs games = money.

You play the regular season not only to eliminate the bottom feeders but also to establish who will get the opportunity to make money in the post season.

The league is in charge of the playoffs games, so it’s usually the league who gets the money. However, teams can buy off the rights to their home game, like the Lions did last year. They paid 1 million dollars to the league to get the rights to the Western Final. The league made money by selling the rights, and the Lions made a profit out of the game because they organized it well and sold a lot of tickets.

You claim to know what the fas want. This fan here wants to see as much football as possible. Seeing six teams in the playoffs gives me five post-seasons games, and I am plenty happy with that.

You claim to know what the fas want. This fan here wants to see as much football as possible. Seeing six teams in the playoffs gives me five post-seasons games, and I am plenty happy with that. [/color]
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Agreed, more football the better, but so many teams in the playoffs dillutes the value of 18 games of regular play. The 3/3 gives you 4 games, sted of 5, so not so bad! Anyway, just seems like the CFL needs a bit of a skakeup, something outta the box.

You're not related to Kanga are you??? LOL

I'm happy with the way it is. 3 divisions with 3 teams just seems, well, (lets be polite) different. Now, if some day we have a population explosion and we get up to 12 teams, then we might be able to talk.

I'd leave things as they are for now.

The problem with your three division set up is the rivalries and eventually the East vs West will be lost.
Maybe as a shake up for one year only trial basis, we do the all teams in one division. So we have either all eight or nine if Ottawa comes back. With six teams making the playoffs and how about the first round being home and away like in the 60's involving total points.
You will end up with three winners and then we do the "wild card", that being the best of the three loosing teams. How you determine same, let's use the best point spread in the loss.
Again, have the 2 game toal poins for the semi and with the winner meeting in thd GC.
Overall there will be 5 weeks of playoff football, instead of the current three.

Another problem with 3 divisions is that I think it would create more meaningless games for fans. Right now I watch all east east games with a great interest because of how it will affect the standing. A east west game is just as exciting as far as standing go because it will affect them. West west games for me are not as exciting because it changes nothing in the east.

With 3 divisions there will be more games I that interest me less

West west
Cent Cent
West Cent.

I really think it will lower ratings!

maybe if there were more teams it would work. especially since i dont think ottawa can return.

By any chance are you related to Kanga?

I agree with your first comment. CFL does not and prob will never have enough teams to make 3 divisions work.

As for your second comment … tsk, tsk. They will return.

BTW: Mark, this idea was tossed around here a few weeks back. Nothing wrong with thinking of a way to improve CFL.

Unfortunately the trouble with 3 divisions is that it screws up natural/geographical rivalries and makes determining playoff spots a royal pain. You’d need 14-15 teams to make 3 divisions work.

BTW: Mark, this idea was tossed around here a few weeks back. Nothing wrong with thinking of a way to improve CFL.

Unfortunately the trouble with 3 divisions is that it screws up natural/geographical rivalries and makes determining playoff spots a royal pain. You'd need 14-15 teams to make 3 divisions work.
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The CFL is a great league, I think the 3/3 would be a nice change, while keeping the intergity of the league.
While it might tamper with "natural/geographical rivalries" it's hardly a case of the league thriving, so why not tinker. Playoffs would seem simple: the top three teams, then two wild cards...to me it works. But, that said, maybe it's more cosmetic than anything else...and two divisions, one division or three divisions won't make a difference anyway in terms of league success.

This might work, but maybe in a generation (20 yrs) or so. Add 6 teams to CFL.
West Division:
->Vancouver Island (Victoria, BC)
BC Lions
Edm. Esks
Cal. Stamps
Sask. Roughriders
Central Division:
Wpg. BlueBombers
->Windsor, ON
->London, ON
TO Argos
Ham. T-Cats
East Division:
Ottawa, ON
Montreal Als
->Quebec City, QC
->New Brunswick (Moncton)
->Halifax, NS

Have an 18 games sched. with each team playin H & A with their division=8 and 1 each with Non-Divisional teams=10, rotating H & A each year.

In playoffs Quarter-Finals: Have the top 2 teams in each division and 2 wildcards seeded #1-8. Have the lowest seed play the divisional winner at their home and the 2 remaining seeds play at the higher seeds home. Semi-Finals: The Q-Final winners at highest seeds home. Grey Cup: The top two finalists at pre-determined site!

:roll: 8)

as much as I feel for Ottawa fans and agree they deserve to have a team, I think, I disagree that we need to have 9 teams in the league. As I have stated elsewhere, we already support more teams per capita than the NFLUSA does. They, having 10 time the population as us, would have to support 80 teams to equal us now. Who thinks they would support an 80+ teams NFL? If not, then why do we expect to be able to support a 9 team CFL. We are doing well to continue to support 8 teams. Unless we are prepare to dilute the talent pool, we cannot expect to suport more teams. If we has say 12 teams now, we would have to reduce salaries and expenses to keep all teams going, thereby reducing the level of talent we can pay for. Then again, it should finally put to rest any talk of comparing the talent between the two leagues.

i like the idea of three divisions, guarentees the bombers 1st in their division every year if they're lumped in with the roughriders and loser-cats