I looked at the title of the thread with a quick look and Thought bubble tea is cool in a box . Then realized it’s about sports .
Changed the title to be clear to anyone who cares 
Mod edit:
Moved all the posts to this similar thread in the CFL section. Sorry they a get posted at the end like this, but it is what it is.
Exposing your talents and then moving up seems to be one of the reasons people don't like the CFL today .
Stability of rosters and making the league different with even more unique rules that removes it further from it's US version is the safest path for the CFL .
Speed up the game with increasing the quickness of time for plays in and make it a even faster game is the way to go . Try to reduce the game down to two hours is what I would advise the CFL to do and make the three down game a more unique sport from the US version to make greater inroads globally and maybe a bigger audience down south as they see it more like a Aussie rules game and stop comparing the games in their heads and just enjoy the entertainment for what it is and NOT a minor league of the NFL .
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So some form of guaranteed contracts if players are willing to sign longer term? Fans would probably be more willing to buy a player’s jersey if they knew he was going to be on the team for three years.
Speed up the game with increasing the quickness of time for plays in and make it a even faster game is the way to go . Try to reduce the game down to two hours is what I would advise the CFL to do and make the three down game a more unique sport from the US version to make greater inroads globally and maybe a bigger audience down south as they see it more like a Aussie rules game and stop comparing the games in their heads and just enjoy the entertainment for what it is and NOT a minor league of the NFL .
The CFL tries too hard in order to fit in with the other “big” leagues. But does the league really need such things as coaches challenges and video review when entertaining football would suffice? Would also save them some cash if they didn’t feel obligated to spend money on the latest technology and a video review crew. And could it also made it harder for fans to relate to the league? Big global CFL sounds good, but it could also push some small and folksy fans away.
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I agree that this has to be of the highest importance. We need more excitement-per-minute in the on-field product. Change and discard rules, make the play clock run non-stop, whatever it takes.
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If they can get the game under 3 hours, I'll be happy with that. I would like to see the clock run inside 3 minutes per half, the same as the rest of the game.
Keep the 3 minute warning as a timeout for last commercial break. After that the games can't drag on
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Instead of two 3 minute warnings at the end of each half the league could try one 6 minute warning at the second half. Fans should be invested in the game by then that it can be slowed down if needed to review plays, etc and they would be more willing to sit through commercials.
That way you would only need to get the game to a good steady pace in the selected time period when fans are more likely to get bored or change the channel.
I think CFL games are already consistenlty under 3 hours. But if we can get them down to around 2hr30min, we’d be better for it.
All the TV timeouts really slows the pace for people in the stadium, and I think commercials could be shown via split screen without losing much from the broadcast, especially considering how much time there is between plays–I mean we don’t really need full screen views of the ball being placed by officials as the teams huddle up. Get in 15-30 second ads during those breaks and get rid of the TV timeouts.
The league could also work on the time clock rules to get that moving a bit more quickly between plays.
So many new ideas out there that I can see improving the game .
The sitting around with non action on the field is a big problem for some new comers to the game . I think football guys accept the stats quo even though we know it’s not good for in stadium viewing .
Somewhere in another post someone or even me had the action watched versus non action in a three hour game and it was huge gap from football to the more active sports like hockey , basketball ,rugby and soccer .
I have heard that actually reducing the players to 10 on the field would be a good way to change things up and increase the game’s scoring and play action . It also helps high schools field teams as numbers wane .
. Getting rid of TV timeouts and going with split screen advertising as a way of moving the game speed up is another option .
This season stoppage is the best opportunity to fix the problems financially and come up with an approach that takes advantage of the time away .
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Shortening the game significantly or using split screen for commercials would end up with the league getting less money from broadcasters.
In any case, I do not believe that length of game time has much effect on general interest in the league
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I agree with you FYB
Length of game is probably a good indicator of how much dead space there is between plays in a game.
If it wasn’t a big deal the XFL wouldn’t have been promoting so much how they wanted their games under three hours.
You have not gone to a game in person for awhile I see . The game in person can at times reduce any emotion of the game by constant stop in play with zero action on the field . It turns people off in the stands they boo here all the time it happens .
The stagnation and waiting for them to play has come with boos and negative reaction here all the time .
The money is based on time on screen , exclusivity of ad ,position of the ad and if you can get more with less you are succeeding .
Advertising has changed everywhere it’s moving fast to the changing market with technology .
It is cross branding and rights deals that are replacing the bums in the seats .
With technology today you can do more with less .
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Three hrs as the expected time to getting it done under is one thing. Cutting it down to be consistently 2.5 or 2 hrs is quite another.
I know the networks (TSN) make an effort to match commercial breaks with breaks in the action as much as possible. Most breaks in action are not avoidable. Injuries, measuring for first down, discussing penalties and marching them off, change of possession, etc. Sure they could and should find away to cut down some of the excess situations but I think end result would still be longer than 2.5 hrs.
I think maybe if they still want the same TV income, then they would have to agree to games taking 3 hrs of TV time and we might just get more commercials.
I guess that is what cheerleading teams are supposed to be for, entertaining fans during breaks in action.
Maybe part of the solution is to find something else to do that better.
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I would be able to live with it if the product on television was a little behind in real-time than the live product, but I would be quite upset if the action suddenly became smaller and I had to squint to see it cause of split screen ads.
Most people just record and skip the ads anyway.
For the CFL not to make changes before coming back we are left with the same old same old is it going to die negative story .
It’s bad FYB real bad in the stands . The unrest is felt and needs to be understood as huge negative with the stagnation level of non action on the field . The TV game we see is different live .
I like cheerleaders as much as anyone else but they can only shake it so much .
They review a play it is awful live entertainment waiting for some reviews to end .
Changing from the ground up to marketing and branding will work if it’s done well and in good taste .
Also the game needs to change a bit for safety sake and trying to keep the financial burden here at the grass roots level and at the CFL pro level within a fair burden .
After watching the same rules wth less players live I see an opportunity to make changes to reduce costs and increase the entertainment level .
A fresh approach is needed and I would be disappointed if the CFL didn’t come up with a better , cleaner , stronger , growing Canadian league that keeps it’s roots but changes with the times in terms of marketing , reducing costs and adding revenue streams .
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Shortening the game to me is about getting the same number of plays off in less time so that fans are more interested. And I think that does have an effect on both viewership and attendance.
The idea of shortening quarters to 12 minutes (which some GM suggested in the last year or so), I think, would not help. It would shorten the games but at the same time reduce the number of plays. Thus, there would be just as many lulls in action/minute of game time.
The effect of split screen ads is tricky to guess at, I think.
On the one hand, advertisers want the full attention of viewers, so they pay for full screen commercial slots. However, many viewers mute and/or switch channels during full-screen commercial breaks, so the advertisers lose that attention. Furthermore, too many commercial breaks might mean fewer viewers overall, so the advertizers would lose that attention.
On the other hand, split-screen ads don’t get the full attention of viewers but viewers are less likely to mute and switch channels if they can see the refs resetting the ball and the players huddling and moving to the line of scrimmage. And with more plays per minute of broadcast, viewership might increase.
I don’t know what the relative values of split-screen ads vs full-screen ads are, but it would be interesting to see those numbers for other sports that use both types.
You can see it the early 70’s and 60’s did it . They were ahead of their time . There are many ways to do it with todays tech with on field tech ads or running screen there are so many options .
it really isn’t bad today played on a 42 inch screen now . They seem to only sell the big screens today .
I’d only want the split screen ads during the breaks between plays, not during actual action. Football has a lot of down time between plays that is usually filled with the chatter of the pbp and colour guys. I say replace some of that chatter time with ads and replace the TV timeout breaks with game action.
The NHL shouldn’t get freebie. If I’m Ontario and Alberta. I’d charge the NHL a COVID tax of 32 million dollars to offset the the Health shortfalls the Provinces are currently going through. A lot of Canadians sacrificed a lot to flatten the curve. The Canadian tax payers should be compensated for their actions