I only suggest Saturday afternoon for after HINC starts and only as an alternative for the CFL if they don’t want to compete with the NHL. Personally I say go head to head with the NHL, it’s only for the first month of the NHL season when the CFL is in it’s playoff run.
I think the Thursday night games have gotten better ratings than other nights in the USA on ESPN2. Last week Edmonton - Montreal on Thursday drew 175,000. The Saturday Ottawa - Calgary game - 93,000. And other weeks the Thursday game ratings have been usually better than Friday games down there.
Though I don't think we should be designing our schedule around the preferences of American viewers.
Yeah, I'm a much bigger fan of the Friday, Saturday Double Header, Sunday way. What I would be a bigger fan of would be a 10th team so we always had Thursday, Friday, Saturday Double Header, Sunday.
:thup:
Exactly. I can remember 10-15 years ago, lots of fans (especially in S. ON) complaining about weekend games in the summer.
Besides, Thursday night games in the summer are nothing new–we’ve had 6 of them (not including pre-season) in each of the last 3 seasons, for example. The only thing that’s really new about them this year is the TSN branding of them as TNF, trying to replicate the success they’ve had with FNF in making it a known weekly event.
It would be nice if the league could plan these games to take place in markets in which the fanbase wants Thursday night games, but if the league and teams promoted themselves a bit better, I don’t think attendance would be such an issue.
I don't think the NFL is a factor in CFL scheduling. The league will routinely schedule games on Thursday or Sunday against the NFL. Up until last season the CFL ratings normally topped the NFL on Sunday, Saturday, Thursday or any other day. While TSN doesn't promote CFL Sunday games which compete with NFL on CTV, the CFL Sunday ratings are traditionally very good.
Many fans enjoy both brands of football but most will choose the CFL if they run head-to-head. Last year was a bit of an anomaly with NFL ratings on CTV shooting up substantially, especially when the Seahawks were playing (which is the home team in B.C. & Alta, a football hotbed in Canada which drive the ratings.)
I like Thursday night football as I enjoy watching the games on TV. Having a game on Thursday after work is something to look forward to. Then Friday and Saturday night football. I like games on Sunday too, as do most fans who have the day off. I know many dual fans get angry when the CFL schedules Sunday games ("how can they be so stupit?") but the NFL holds little attraction for me (a little too contrived, constricted and robotic compared to Canadian football), about on par with the NHL...which are pretty low on the fanometer (but at least above MLB, NBA or soccer). 
If the league really wanted to sell a CFL Thursday night package to ESPN:
THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: SUMMER EDITION
Maybe I’m saying this with a hopeful bias - since I am a Bills fan - but there is possibly reason for hope for the Bills for the first time in years with their off season moves - and they drive CTV NFL ratings in population rich Southern Ontario. Pre-season buzz for the Bills is huge in these parts and a good sized chunk of their record 60,000+ season tickets this year are held by people from Southern Ontario.
[url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/football/buffalo-bills-selling-season-tickets-at-record-pace-surpass-60000-sales/article26085187/]http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/f ... e26085187/[/url]So you may very well see some very good NFL ratings again this year driven by the Bills - most of their games the early Sunday time slot. With many of Seattle’s games in the 4:00PM ET time slot that could give the NFL on CTV quite a strong doubleheader many Sundays this year. Yet another challenge for the CFL this year to go along with the one the Jays are delivering.
I think every CFL fan should email the CFL schedulers their work and holiday schedule and let them work around that , this way everyone will be happy.
Thursday night, Saturday afternoon, Tuesday night. They are all good to me if there is a football game I can go to. What's up with you fans? There are only 9 games in a year !!!! No excuses for not getting out to a game. NFL plays on Thursday nights and I don't think I have seen any half empty stadiums there. Oh ya, they have real fans.
I can't recall if it was Braley or Skulsky, but one of the two said Thursday Night Football was implemented as the league's studies showed it was the best night for the 18-34 demo the league so covets. BC was to get one Thursday night game, but the league was in a bind so requested they take a 2nd Thursday game, which they did. They've now fulfilled both Thursday obligations - thank God.
Personally, I think the league should try to appeal to Millennials / Gen Y, by all means, as they're more appealing to advertisers. But don't pander to them. My philosophy is that you should do everything you can to draw in kids. Lots of them. They're the future season ticket holders. However, there's a dormant phase in which 18-34s don't think the league is cool. But over time, they outgrow this phase and come back to the game.
The league may be trying too hard to tap into a segment of the market, the majority of whom will never openly admit to being a fan of, at least not publicly, and certainly not in the bigger cities. But if you hook them when they're young and create fond memories, they'll eventually come back to the game when they're a bit older. IMHO.
I am confident that Thursday night games before Labour Day would do well (as "well" as it gets here) in Toronto.
It would allow the cottage crowd to take in the game before heading to the cottage on Friday for the weekend, and would provide an option for those looking to socialize before heading out of the city the next day.
Hopefully the Argos can try this next season when they have more scheduling options at BMO Field.
With lots of empty Ex grounds until late August they should be able to plan more pre game events around the stadium which would definitely help especially for Thursday and Friday night games.
Pregame events that a lot of fans won’t be able to get to midweek due to traffic. By the time that we get home from work, feed the kids and fight traffic again we can barely make a 7:30 midweek game. Unless it’s the summer and we happen to be off that week. And at BMO Field we don’t even have the option of taking the Subway from Finch.
As I suggested earlier the Thursday games should only be pre LD and kept to a minimum in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
There are streetcars going right to the Ex grounds and the GO train stops there and pregame events would be with every game. The Argos can have a home game and actually have the space to plan something worth showing up for. Fans can drive and park on the Ex grounds and tailgate within walking distance of BMO.
I was no fan of moving to BMO, but that’s where they are going and everything taken into account it is a far far better option than the Skydump. I may actually go to a game next year.
https://goo.gl/maps/IJBm9
I dig it. Four nights of football every week is pretty sweet.
It’s not your suggestion, it’s reality - ALL the Thursday night games are in the summer, except for one game in Ottawa on Oct 1st. After Labour Day all games go back to weekends only, I doubt that will change next year when the Argos move to BMO. The Argos have one of them Tuesday night games this year too but that won’t happen next year.
It will be easier to drive to BMO too, there are 5,000 parking spots in the CNE grounds, so if you say 2 people per car then that takes care of 10,000 fans. Lots of spots in Liberty village too. Fans that would not go to the RC because of parking woes will be able to drive to BMO and find lots of parking. I wouldn’t waste my time taking pubic transport
‘Easier to drive’ of course being a relative term. In VERY congested Toronto these days - transit is still by far the better way for many if not most to get to BMO. As somebody who has taken the GO Train to BMO for TFC games from Hamilton many times and have seen the Gardiner backed up for miles so that fans who have driven are still streaming in halfway through the first half. Or before that when I lived in downtown Toronto and for evening games (Wednesday night in the case of TFC games - but this would very much be the case for any Thursdy or Friday night games at BMO) zipping along the dedicated Streetcar Queens Quay lane from Union Station to the Exhibition grounds flying past backlogs of traffic on Queens Quay and Lakeshore and sometimes being at the stadium as much as 20 minutes ahead of friends driving from somewhere in the downtown core - I suggest using transit if you can.
(All kinds of discussion of Red Patch Boys about how ridiculously early people have to leave if driving if they hope to be in their seats by game time. )
And many of those thousands of parking spots aren’t all there for much of July and August between other events at the Exhibition like when they are setting up for the Toronto Indy and for all of August because of set-up for the CNE.
And again love the excuses for poor Argos crowds at RC. ‘Fans would not go to RC because of parking woes’. Yet somehow Jays fans apparently don’t have those parking woes? :roll:
Agreed, if I ever need to get out of doing something , I just come on here and get the excuse of the day,for why people can’t attend games . 
The amount of excuses were the same for Ivor Wynne Stadium why never a packed house but on Labor day all of a sudden the same problems were not there ..and then the same problems disappeared for the new stadium ..
Just excuses