Who eles thinks the CFL season is too long?

But you can argue every game is meaningful in a 16 game schedule. No room for slow starts. 18 games with 10 teams will be fine , just need to pack the stadiums!

kasps

Owners will not give up big $$$ which they get for more games less regs eason games will just mean more play off games as for no reward the top 4 would be home teams.

That’s the nature of games. If we only played each team once, they would be even more important! And then we could start and finish the season in Sept and Oct, thereby avoiding the summer lake season and also ending before the cold sets in!

The amount of games also allows a team to possibly turn it around… Look at the Lions from 2011… Started 0-5, then turned things around and went 11-2 the rest of the way and won the Grey Cup.

We’re also forgetting the other partner here… TSN wouldn’t go for fewer games either. Thank God. I love going to games and having one less home game a season would be brutal. It already feels too short.

It's good the CFL is moving towards that dream of 10 teams . 8 was getting stale. Playing a team 4 times , is just to many !

I dont care if they play each other 10 times, every game is different and the more the better. I watch for the plays, dont care as much about end of season standings or who is playing who when. Just give me more football.

If they would televised each teams practices, I would watch as much as I could.

I love the GAME. The GAME is what matters. I am a fan of the CFL GAME. There can never be too much under any circumstances.

Even with a 10 team league, 3 or 4 of those teams will be crap. Win now. Win for today. And when week 16 comes up, and the remaining 6 or 7 teams are just in the thick of it, thinking, geez, I wish we had another week or two, too bad suckers, its over.

Let’s end it at 5 this year and just crown the Riders Grey Cup champs then. :slight_smile:

The CFL has been the best it has ever been and going back to 16 games would be a step backwards. with 9 teans eliminating the 4 game series and have only 2 three game series will help a lot with attendance. With team ten looking godd by the end of the decade even better.
The weather affecting the Grey cup will be an issue to the newer modern fans and there will be the the call for more grey cups to be played indoors and the Riders have already gotten ahead of the game with the future of the new stadium having a retractable roof.
Montreal has also suddenly after years of nothing are talking new retractable roof for the Big O that would most likley come with other upgrades to the old stadium. Right now any kind of huge event that would be held in Canada Vancouver and Toronto have the advantage and Montreal will be looking to get back into the conversation.
This will place one enclosed stadium in each region West, prairies, Ontario and Quebec. Only the Atlantic region would be without.I said it before that the Grey Cup profits will most likley become a profit sharing do to this.
The CFL is succeeding because it is keeping up now with the pro sports league models and more Grey Cups being played in comfort for fans and weather not affecting the outcome of the game in a league known for its high powered passing offenses

As I have replied to all your recent posts on this topic… Ours although built to be able to have a roof added, likely will not have that change made. Furthermore, if you can figure out a way to make Grey Cup profit-sharing make up for lost bumps that season tickets and extra expansion capacity along with merch sales during a Grey Cup year brings for the Riders, I’m all ears, espeially since profit sharing outside of pure Grey Cup revenues (which the things I listed are) would automatically be a net loss for the Riders.

The Grey Cup has become such a success BECAUSE it rotates, not in spite of it. Removing the rotation will remove the draw and allure of it as cities and fan-bases may start to lose their connection to the event (not everyone can afford to travel much). The right to host it gives a huge bump to cities and has now grown to be part of the lore and tradition. It’s also one of the main reasons cities and provinces are actually supporting new stadiums (which if you haven’t noticed can be incredibly difficult in Canada).

Moral of the story, don’t mess with something that is now really working; keep the 18 game season and a rotating Grey Cup. Concentrating Grey Cups in the markets that would care the least about it (no offence to dedicated fans in Van, Tor, and Mon), would be a huge mistake and more of a slap in the face to markets that have really been pushing the league forward. Experimenting and losing the revenue of a home game when we really don’t know if people would actually attend fewer games more could also be a costly mistake. You could just end up with 8/9ths of the ticket and TV revenue (not incl pre-season) with nothing to show for it.

That turned into more of a rant than I was intending. My apologies.

The Grey cup rating have improved greatly over the last two season with the games being held indoors. This year will be out on the freezing prairies but will be loaded with Rider fans. Next season again back indoors.
Si in the future will we really see that an even rotating of the Grey Cup will garner these same numbers when the game is held indoors or out doors in Calgary or Edmopnton. Both Edmonton and Calgary both have much lower playoff attendance for playoff games than they do for the regular season especially Edmonton. So will rotating the Grey Cup evenly through the league in the future help or hurt the Grey Cup profits or will people who can not make it every year and go every other or every three years decide that they would rather not freeze there Azzes off in Edmonton when next season the cup will be in BC.
As for Hamilton they may get one for the new stadium but in reality how much $$$ will be pumped into the Hamilton economy when most people attending the Cup would probably be staying just outside of Hamilton in Toronto and Niagra so for the city of Hamilton to really want to get behind hosting the Grey cup it may not be worth it financially and therefore would never receive grey cup game revenue for the game. In fact under the current home team gets all of the profit system the Ti Cats may be better to host the Grey cup game but play it at Rogers center. They can have some big grey cup cerimonies in Hamilton but playing at RC there will not need any temp seats and the CFL would love to have another grey cup game being played in Toronto even if Hamilton is the host.
The Grey cup currently has not been rotated evenly with BC havingn the game twice in 4 years and I suspect with two teams in the GTA in Hamilton and Toronto it is a double bang for there buck as fans from both cities are very close by and RC could get the game again in 2016 after another butt freezing at Winnipeg in 2015. Ottawa in 2017 and who knows what the format will be after that.

In fact going from 2005 to 2014 BC place will have hosted 3 times and RC once and Olympic Once. So that would be 5 out of the last 10 seasons where the game was held inside could this possibility have something to do with the now sky rocketing record of revenue playing indoors, in the three biggest cities, in 3 out of the 4 biggest stadiums that do not need to add temp seat.
Another thing does anybody really want to see one of the hlf million dollar QBs forced to hand off or have the ball slip out of his hands many time do to frezzing cold or snow storm.
This may be something that the great old timers would love to see but the short attention span young modern sports fan will begin to fade if there are too many games like that.
Times have are and will change and the CFL will need to make some tough choices when it comes to Grey cups

CFL football is made to be played in the elements, including snow. Deal with it.

Ah yes, the NFL is so much much better than the bush league CFL in every way. :roll: Ever been to a Packers or Bears home game in December? Or home playoff game in January? But of course Chicago and Green Bay have mild winters so I suppose that’s not a fair analogy.

The extra 2 games have not “pushed” the Grey Cup game one day. The first 18 game season had the Grey Cup on 30 November and the previous 20 years it was held as early as the 18th and as late as 3 December, but on average the last week of November. You’re right though, having it on the 26th instead of the 30th of November makes a huge difference in weather conditions.

Please back up your attendance claims, because I find it hard to believe the league had better attendance in the 80’s (when it was literally on the verge of dying) than it does today.

There is nothing to support any of the claims you make here.

On the other hand, one can also argue that the CFL season may be too SHORT. Most real fans prefer to see more and not less. Compared to NHL hockey or MLB baseball, football leagues may not be maximizing their profit potential from more games? If CFL season is 36 games, shouldn't profits be greater?

I think the season is just fine as far as time, what I would like to see is three pre-season games, with one pre-season game being held at a nearby CIS school to help build the game and each team's region.

Haha. Change is sometimes hard to talk about but often is change for the better ask the record breaking TV audience watching on a Cable sports channel and not an over air major network

Right number of games. Just start the season 1.5 months earlier and have the GC in mid-October. Football is meant to be played in summer elements NOT winter.

I think that is the only issue with having an 18 game schedule is with only 8 teams made it stale especially as you mentioned with the 4 game serious.
9 teams will really help this a lot as now there will be only two three game series with an opponent so you may only have one shot at seeing a conference rival now will certainly raise the attendance for such games as if you miss it they wont be back until next year

The only problem with that is that training camps which are held on University Campuses using the dorms as housing and the Cafe for meals and the filed for practice each day would not be available as school is still in session until mid may.
Another would be competing with NHL playoffs

Record breaking audiences were in 2009 and 2010 (Edmonton and Calgary). Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal Grey Cups have actually underperformed the outdoor over the last 10 yrs:

2003 (Regina): 4.4 mill
2004 (Ottawa): 4.012 mill
2005 (Vancouver): 4.031 mill
2006 (Winnipeg): 4.012 mill
2007 (Toronto): 3.539 mill
2008 (Montreal): 3.654 mill
2009 (Calgary): 6.1 mill
2010 (Edmonton): 6.04 mill
2011 (Vancouver) : 4.6 mill
2012 (Toronto): 5.8 mill (special as it was the 100th)

Averages to non-indoor: 4.9mill, indoor: 4.3.

Change can be good (such as how rotating the Grey Cup seemed to bring it back to a national stage - the 1992 Grey Cup in Toronto was widely regarded as a big failure, which was interesting as it so closely followed the success of the 89 Grey Cup), but change just because you think it might work, even though recent history shows what is being done does work, can backfire.

Furthermore, ratings on CTV would probably outperform TSN. Look at hockey ratings on CBC vs TSN. CBC generally gets double.

Yup would be great to see CFL on TSN go up against the 2.5-3 mill ratings for the NHL playoffs on CBC. Would also really help the Lions, Argos, and Als tap their market more and become higher profile in the event that the Leafs, Canucks, or Canadiens make a run… (This could apply to the Stamps, Esks, and Bombers as they would take a back-seat too), not to mention the overall Canadian media would also be completely zoned in on it (more than they are now). I’m sure TSN and the CFL would be willing to take the ratings hit though right?