What it'll TAKE to make me a CFL fan.....

As a lifelong fan of the NFL and American college football here in the States, I’ve always had the potential to indeed be a CFL fan. What has PREVENTED this ‘potential’, however, from ever being fulfilled is the simple fact that there are only…EIGHT teams in the entire league but even WORSE…SIX of those eight teams MAKING THE PLAYOFFS (and sometimes a below-500 team actually MAKING IT TO and even WINNING the Grey Cup); ridiculous!! Knowing and respecting that football as I know it did indeed originate in Canada and not the US, I certainly hope that the CFL will never die out. I’m SO against even the THOUGHT of, say, the Buffalo Bills moving to TORONTO and the domino-effect it would indeed have on the collapse of the entire CFL. I’m also against CFL expansion into the States as well (such as that lame short-lived expansion in the mid-90s - keep both leagues in their respective countries). All that said, the only way that I can ever become a serious fan of the CFL, or care for its survival, is if the darn league can simply EXPAND to at least TEN teams and LESS THAN HALF those teams being able to make the post-season! No, it wouldn’t get me into it as much as American ball being that I grew up with it, but it would definitely stand crystal clear in the NFL & NCAA’s rear-view mirror every late-summer/early autumn. As for keeping the season at 18 regular season games, and keeping the post-season at 3 rounds (division semis, division championships, Grey Cup), FOURTEEN teams would be needed! Seven teams in the West, seven teams in the East, each one playing each other in their division twice (that’s 12 games) and playing 6 of the 7 teams from the OTHER division just once (the 1st place teams from the year before not playing the last place teams, the 2s not playing against the 6s, no 3s vs 5s, and of course no 4s vs 4s). Now THAT, to me, would make for what I’D call CFL Perfection and a shoe-in to me being a bigtime fan! As for what cities should be ADDED on to this 14-team format? Here’s what I think would be the most-likely, make the most sense…

WEST: British Columbia, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg (in the West where it belongs), and…LONDON & WINDSOR (yes, both on the other side of the Lakes but pretty much an instant-rivarly with the latter’s fan-base perhaps getting help from ‘you-know-who’ across the river)

EAST: Toronto, MISSISSAUGA (hey, it’s growin more and more and would pretty much be to the ‘Big Bad’ Argos what, say, the Brooklyn Dodgers were to the Yankees back in the day), Hamilton, Montreal, QUEBEC CITY, OTTAWA, and HALIFAX (or, perhaps, the ‘Atlantic Schooners’)

GO CFL EXPANSION!! This American is WAITING to be a FAN!!

Good post are you american or canadaian, if you are canadian living in the USA then i can see your point if you are and American i can sse your point, but if you are Canadian living in canada all your life , you just happen to be a NFL fan because of there popularity , get a life, b ut if you like the NFL because you like football well. the last time i checked CFL IS FOOTBALL TO ,AND REMEMBER THIS the Canadian Football was what brought football to north america was invented in canada all though i agree that we need more teams, we will get more teams, it will happen , i say buy 2014 we will have 10 teams. but we are not as weathy as the NFL ( infact no other proffesional sports league is ) we can onlty what we can only do
what we can do but it will happen. I do like the NFL too but i could say there are too many teams in the NFL .

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Nice to hear from a fellow football fan.

I think you'd have a hard time finding a CFL fan who thinks expansion would be a bad idea for the league. I think the league has realized this and also realized that the time is now to aggressively pursue expansion. Ottawa will be added in 2013, and given the demand for this year's Touchdown Atlantic, the league will likely put an annual game in Moncton in order to drum up support out in the Maritimes. If all goes according to plan, we could be at 10 teams as early as 2013.

At the same time, Canada is not the United States. There are only so many cities capable of supporting a healthy football team. Some smaller centres like Regina and Hamilton are able to support their teams due to a rich history and a deep attachment in the community. A brand new expansion team wouldn't have any of that in their favour, and would have to rely on many potential fans to put in the seats. Outside of the current prospects, there are not a whole lot of candidate cities. Quebec is the only obvious one, with only London, Windsor, and Victoria as the other "maybes".

Finally, I don't think having only 8 teams precludes anyone from enjoying the game. It makes for more intense rivalries. It's very easy to wind up dead-last in the league, so it puts a tremendous amount of pressure on non-playoff teams to improve. Finally, I don't mind having so many teams make the playoffs. I like a lot of uncertainty going into every game. You never know when that darkhorse team will suddenly get hot and steal a Grey Cup.

How many different teams does each american college team play in a season?

He wrote that he grew up with NFL and NCAA and he wrote “This American is WAITING to be a FAN!!” at the end of his post, so I think the he is an American living in the USA.

Canadian Football was what brought football to north america was invented in canada
And he acknowledges this near the beginning of his post.

Welcome. Well Ottawa will be back and there's a good chance a tenth team is added. Aside from that I don't see in the foreseeable future new teams. It's nice to see an American poster with respect for the sport...

I wholeheartedly agree. Winnipeg should be in the west. Windsor/Detroit and London would make great expansion cities, even better than Quebec and Atlantic which should be added also. Toronto's market is big enough to support two teams. Have the Argos continue to play out of Skydome and add an outdoor team in Mississauga. Build it and they will come! :thup:

While it would be terrific to add more teams, I don't believe the league should be ignored or criticized because it's small or most teams make the playoffs. This is a Canadian tradition with hockey and other sports. The NHL thrived for generations with only 6 teams with 4 making the playoffs. When the NHL expanded, 16 of 21 teams made the playoffs. This was fine with most fans, and now 16 of 28 teams make the NHL playoffs.

While in America, their leagues are chintzy with the playoff teams, a la MLB and NFL, but moves are being made to expand playoff teams in those leagues. While it should be a privilege to make the playoffs, it is the most exciting time of the year. Few CFL fans will complain that the division champion gets a bye and the 2nd and 3rd place teams playoff.

It is a tradition...and CFL playoff games are the best entertainment man has ever invented. :rockin:

I think that whoever believes that they'll give a team to both Windsor and London.. truly don't understand how this league works.

not going to happen. maybe 1 both definitely never both.

this league at the most, in present day can handle 10 teams.

Of course not being from Canada I certainly would not be as in-the-know as to whether both Windsor AND London could each get a team. I simply thought to throw it out there being that maybe London can generate their own fanbase and maybe Windsor, with the big help of Detroit, can pitch tent as well (perhaps promote the team in BOTH towns and even 'tighten' things by naming it 'Windsor/Detroit'). Was just a thought either way and didn't even CONSIDER the possibility of Victoria. I've been there (and to Pamela's hometown, Ladysmith) already as well as Vancouver. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to have a team there. Lived in northwest Washington state a little while back just south of the border and considered seeing a Lions game at the stadium where the Goddess herself was first discovered. Since being a kid reading the sports pages and actually seeing CFL stats listed as well as knowing they showed games in the early days of ESPN, I pretty much 'picked' BC as 'my favorite' CFL team for what it was worth (liked the name, 'British Columbia', lol). If QUEBEC CITY were to get a team, however, it would be tempting to pick them upon becoming an official CFL follower (hey, new fan rooting for a new team, why not? plus, I've BEEN TO QC and can't say I wasn't impressed; same with Montreal). MISSISSAUGA would be another consideration! Root for the brand spankin new 'little guy' in the 'shadow' of....well, you know.

Not a Cowboys-fan in the NFL, WON'T be an Argos-fan either, lol. DO love my YANKEES though! The only 'most-popular' team I root for in any sport. Go Pittsburgh Steelers btw and go FLYERS tonight to tie things up!!

11-14 depending on conference championship, bowl games and whether the season is 11 or 12 games.

It's all about stadiums. Even more than owners because communities can effectively own teams in the CFL. Whichever city gets its act together and builds a stadium first will be the city that finds itself with a CFL expansion team. We're seeing this now in a limited way in Moncton.

I'm all for a team in Windsor, but again it comes down to a stadium. Playing its games across the river would be complicated because the import rule.

I think Windsor and area has the population to support a team, especially if they could attract people from Detroit, but I don’t think there are enough people with the right attitude there. Right now, South Western Ontario probably couldn’t support more than one team. London and Windsor are the two best candidates, and among those I’d place my bets with London.

I think it's all about being able to adopt a team, and geography is a huge equation. You're more likely to be an Argos fan if you were living in Mississauga as opposed to San Diego.

I'm a big CFL fan who lives in Vancouver, and I manage to get to a few Seahawks games and cheer them on. Before that, I'd be hard-pressed to choose any NFL team. For a time I would cheer on whoever Flutie played for!

Great post to all and welcome "PleaseExpand" from also this fellow American football junkie and NFL fan also into the CFL and the game from which they both originated, rugby union, and also of soccer the original football.

From also some feedback from Canadians on another thread on here regarding expansion but not that massive thread of that name, it would seem like 4 out of the following 5 cities/areas would have a realistic chance this decade, with at least their positive factors, to expand the league to 12 teams:

Ottawa
Quebec City
Another Team In Ontario, which from the sounds of it below, London over Windsor
Atlantic via Moncton
Victoria BC

I read that Quebec City had tried to get the venue secured in the past but failed, but QC still at it as is Moncton in succeeding in getting an actual game (and all tickets sold!) to be played there this season (GO ESKIMOS!).

Also I heard an excellent case made demographically and logistically for Victoria BC by a BC Lions fan, but any more feedback?

Also won't there be a team in Ottawa long before in London or otherwise in Ontario? Wouldn't the league turn to Ottawa to re-field a team plus Atlantic plus Quebec City BEFORE allowing a 4th team in Ontario in London?

I am sure there are others with more feedback on these matters beyond what has been stated below.

I am not sure where any efforts are for London ON or Victoria BC though logistically both make great sense from what I have read on this forum.

Xvys is on point yet again and to be fair on this matter, this is not an exclusive Canadian sports practise from the way I am seeing matters trend down here as well.

We’ve had the NBA with 16 teams in the playoffs for years even before Toronto was in the league, as is too many notwithstanding the unnecessary early best-of-seven format, also when you examine especially how this year’s playoffs have gone in also the 2nd round. And then there are the apparently very low TV ratings for such games but for the Lakers and the Cavs/Celtics when they are not blowouts.

And then there was that stupid NCAA basketball tournament expansion idea to 96 teams that appeared imminent but was derailed righteously for at least another season.

Also though they are not playoffs, we have too many stupid NCAA Div I/FBS college bowl games to keep track of any more as well but there they go adding some more because I guess some think we can never have enough homers in the stands for such poorly-rated games.

With only 8 teams compared to those leagues as well, there is no need to get on the case of the CFL I say. However even if the league went to 12 games I would NOT want to see more teams make the playoffs than 6 as is the case now.

If anything you want more teams making the playoffs, not less. Look at Major League Baseball, teams like Pittsburgh or Kansas City or even Toronto are out of contention before the weather turns warm. If youre more likely to make the playoffs, that keeps the fans interested which keeps them coming out to the stadium, and in a gate driven league like the CFL this means more money. If say only 4 teams got in, youd have at least 1 or 2 teams seemingly eliminated before August or September. Not the right way to do things.

actually, what it would take to make anyone a cfl fan, is recognition and appreciation of the best football on earth.

what it will take for me to become an NFL fan;

the league to become smaller and lose some teams that i feel dont belong in the NFL. teams that i feel are arena league. i dont care if some of the teams on my list are really good right now or not, they are not teams i think of when i think of the NFL.

when i think of NFL football, i think of;

the 69ers, dolphins, raiders, chiefs, redskins, cowboys, bills, jets, giants, colts, patriots, steelers, eagles, vikings, packers, bears, lions, browns, broncos and the saints.

if, every sunday, there were matchups of any combination of the teams in the list above, i might actually watch.

i dont want to see any of the following teams;

ravens, bengals, texans, jaguars, titans, chargers, falcons, panthers, buccaners, cardinals, rams or seahawks.

these teams do not strike me as NFL football teams....i don't know if they are expansion or fairly new teams, i just dont want to see the texas texans vs jacksonville jaguars...sounds arena league to me.

by week 4, in an NFL season, you can say half the teams have no chance at the playoffs. by week 6, you can pretty much say only 6 teams in the league have a legit chance at winning the championship...which is probably why, most canadians don't watch the NFL until the playoffs...the NFL season is a bunch of lambs vs lions to pad records...not until the 2nd round of the NFL playoffs do lions play lions.

( this isn't JUST and NFL thing...i have lost interest in the NHL, and would love to see the league go back to 20 teams for the NHL to recapture my interest...dont care about the hurricans vs thrashers for example)

...the 69ers, lol...

hehe :lol: