CFL: The CFL Thread: Part V

hoglund · May 3, 2020

LeHab said:
CFL looking for up to $150m in bailout.

CFL asking federal government for up to $150M in financial aid - Sportsnet.ca

They should give 30 million and hopefully they won't need more if they have a partial season. The CFL won't survive playing games with empty stadiums because of the pandemic. If the CFL was dying because of poor attendance then the bailout should be a no, but it's because the government is forcing them to shut down and like other Canadian businesses they were given a bailout of some sort.

John Price · May 7, 2020

John Price · May 7, 2020

CFL commissioner: Canceling season most likely scenario

hoglund · May 8, 2020

Roman Fell said:
CFL commissioner: Canceling season most likely scenario

This sucks, I'm a season ticket holder for the Hamilton Tiger Cats and was ready for them to win the Grey cup this year. I'm not sure the league can survive with a cancelled season.

RussianRacket · May 8, 2020

I loathe the CFL's rules as it makes for incredibly boring football 90% of the time. But I hope it doesn't get killed by COVID-19. Would be a huge loss for prairie Canada.

Of course in a financial crisis it isn't feasible, but I would love to see the Lions move out to Langley or Surrey in an Empire Field-like stadium. I don't think the CFL is sustainable in massive stadiums like BC Place (with the Edmonton one maybe being the exception). Save it for the Grey Cup. I know they just spent a wad of cash on the stupid new roof, but I hope eventually they tear it down entirely. Horrible stadium. See if we can't coax the MLB here? Fantasies, I know. As long as it doesn't get replaced with more f***ing condos.

Rhaegar Targaryen · May 9, 2020

RussianRacket said:
I loathe the CFL's rules as it makes for incredibly boring football 90% of the time. But I hope it doesn't get killed by COVID-19. Would be a huge loss for prairie Canada.

Of course in a financial crisis it isn't feasible, but I would love to see the Lions move out to Langley or Surrey in an Empire Field-like stadium. I don't think the CFL is sustainable in massive stadiums like BC Place (with the Edmonton one maybe being the exception). Save it for the Grey Cup. I know they just spent a wad of cash on the stupid new roof, but I hope eventually they tear it down entirely. Horrible stadium. See if we can't coax the MLB here? Fantasies, I know. As long as it doesn't get replaced with more f***ing condos.

As someone who prefers the NFL over the CFL, the CFL rules make the product more entertaining. Way more entertaining.

RussianRacket · May 9, 2020

I believe you are very wrong, but that conversation isn't important here.

StreetHawk · May 9, 2020

RussianRacket said:
I loathe the CFL's rules as it makes for incredibly boring football 90% of the time. But I hope it doesn't get killed by COVID-19. Would be a huge loss for prairie Canada.

Of course in a financial crisis it isn't feasible, but I would love to see the Lions move out to Langley or Surrey in an Empire Field-like stadium. I don't think the CFL is sustainable in massive stadiums like BC Place (with the Edmonton one maybe being the exception). Save it for the Grey Cup. I know they just spent a wad of cash on the stupid new roof, but I hope eventually they tear it down entirely. Horrible stadium. See if we can't coax the MLB here? Fantasies, I know. As long as it doesn't get replaced with more f***ing condos.

In a perfect world, they would have sold off bc place and torn it down while also giving the green light to Kerfoot to build the stadium at the water front for the caps. Maybe the Lions could have shared it with them

sabremike · May 9, 2020

CFL is a great live product but a bad TV product.

NFL is a great TV product but an awful live product.

Didalee Hed · May 10, 2020

There is no danger of the cfl disappearing. The league will be ruled historically significant to the country and kept alive.

Kyle McMahon · May 13, 2020

The sad reality is, the federal Liberal government could not give less of a shit about the CFL's main demographic: Males over age 30 who are not part of visible minorities, many of whom live in Alberta, Sask, or Manitoba. There's no cheap political points to be scored, and bailout or not, very few people who fit that description are going to vote for them in the next election, or really ever.

RussianRacket · May 13, 2020

Kyle McMahon said:
The sad reality is, the federal Liberal government could not give less of a shit about the CFL's main demographic: Males over age 30 who are not part of visible minorities, many of whom live in Alberta, Sask, or Manitoba. There's no cheap political points to be scored, and bailout or not, very few people who fit that description are going to vote for them in the next election, or really ever.

You are reaching a lot and looking for conspiracies that aren't there.

The Liberals tend to fund and encourage Canadian content, including sports, a lot more than the Conservatives. Now I wouldn't be shocked if this came with some kind of a stipulation that the CBC gets more CFL content, but seeing as how TSN is owned by a Canadian company I don't think it will happen.

robertmac43 · May 13, 2020

hoglund said:
This sucks, I'm a season ticket holder for the Hamilton Tiger Cats and was ready for them to win the Grey cup this year. I'm not sure the league can survive with a cancelled season.

I'm in the same boat. Will feel really strange not having games to go to this season, been a staple in my Summer plans for as long as I can remember.

I also hate that the last game we played will remain that unfortunate GC last season, would love to erase that from my mind sooner than later.

Kyle McMahon · May 13, 2020

RussianRacket said:
You are reaching a lot and looking for conspiracies that aren't there.

The Liberals tend to fund and encourage Canadian content, including sports, a lot more than the Conservatives. Now I wouldn't be shocked if this came with some kind of a stipulation that the CBC gets more CFL content, but seeing as how TSN is owned by a Canadian company I don't think it will happen.

Seems to me the government is digging in its heels. Which they should, in priciple, but they sure haven't dug in their heels on a whole bunch of other shit that just got rubber stamped through. You ring up a bailout bill in the several hundreds of billions, many of these billions sent overseas, and you can't spare relative pocket change to help out a 100 year old Canadian institution that millions enjoy as a primary form of entertainment during the summer months? Maybe I'm looking for a bogeyman that isn't really there in this particular instance, but this government has done nothing to earn the benefit of the doubt from me.

RussianRacket · May 13, 2020

The CFL is, and ought to be, pretty low priority for the Federal Government. Don't worry, it will come. I would actually be more concerned for the CFL if the Conservatives were in government, they tend to be less protectionist of Canadian culture and facilitate American cultural creep in Canada.

Holden Caulfield · May 13, 2020

Screw it I don't need to get involved here. Deleted my response as well.

Kyle McMahon · May 14, 2020

Holden Caulfield said:
Sorry this is just wrong. For one thing the Liberals have shown time and time again that they've placed importance on need and helping people over "political points" throughout this crisis and even before as they've stepped up FAR above and beyond for places like Alberta and Saskatchewan where they have little support. They've done far more for the prairies than the Conservatives, even in the face of increasing opposition for no reason from those areas.

2nd much of family has traditionally voted Conservative. Alot of them are white males above 30. Almost all voted something other than blue in the last election. They are seeing how this federal government is actively trying to improve life for everyone over racism, misogyny, anti-science, anti-climate agenda the Conservatives have fallen towards. GOP style tactics don't work in Canada, and it's showing. The Conservatives used to be a legitmate party, Harper and his IDU trying to turn everyone into Americans is not going to fly in Canada. Just because I'm a white male above 30 does not mean I can't have compassion, empathy, and unselfishness, can't want everyone in the country to prosper rather than just myself. I for one hope the Conservatives expel the far-right/facist elements and once again be a Canadian party working for their own vision to help govern rather than trying to rule. I will never be conservative, but I see the value is good debate and checks and balances on government but partisanship can be counter productive.

Sorry that you think helping everyone is a bad strategy when helping should only be for older white males, but luckily for you older white males is part of everybody and will be helped as well. Even the top %1 that may suffer will likely find they are better off with a more stable prosperous population around them even if they are only worth 450 million instead of 500 million.

I have no doubt that the CFL will be getting something and we will see the CFL survive. I'm not worried about that at all. These things take time. It is certainly a political hot potato right now so it needs to be handled with care. Many many companies, bigger and smaller than CFL have asked for aid. CFL gets headlines since it's sports is all. This will work itself out. Much like the rest of the world, it may not be exactly the same as we remember when we come out of this, but the CFL is not going anywhere.

I have no idea how a different governing party would be reacting, nor is it relevant. All I know is that the current one had no problem stroking massive cheques to the Wuhan virus lab, foreign students, and the f***ing WHO of all things. If we have so much money that we can piss billions away to foreign interests, surely we have a bit left over for Canadian interests. Should the CFL be at the top of the priorities list? No, certainly not. But it should sure as hell be ahead of anything that exists outside our own borders.

sabremike · May 14, 2020

Holden Caulfield said:
Sorry this is just wrong. For one thing the Liberals have shown time and time again that they've placed importance on need and helping people over "political points" throughout this crisis and even before as they've stepped up FAR above and beyond for places like Alberta and Saskatchewan where they have little support. They've done far more for the prairies than the Conservatives, even in the face of increasing opposition for no reason from those areas.

2nd much of family has traditionally voted Conservative. Alot of them are white males above 30. Almost all voted something other than blue in the last election. They are seeing how this federal government is actively trying to improve life for everyone over racism, misogyny, anti-science, anti-climate agenda the Conservatives have fallen towards. GOP style tactics don't work in Canada, and it's showing. The Conservatives used to be a legitmate party, Harper and his IDU trying to turn everyone into Americans is not going to fly in Canada. Just because I'm a white male above 30 does not mean I can't have compassion, empathy, and unselfishness, can't want everyone in the country to prosper rather than just myself. I for one hope the Conservatives expel the far-right/facist elements and once again be a Canadian party working for their own vision to help govern rather than trying to rule. I will never be conservative, but I see the value is good debate and checks and balances on government but partisanship can be counter productive.

Sorry that you think helping everyone is a bad strategy when helping should only be for older white males, but luckily for you older white males is part of everybody and will be helped as well. Even the top %1 that may suffer will likely find they are better off with a more stable prosperous population around them even if they are only worth 450 million instead of 500 million.

I have no doubt that the CFL will be getting something and we will see the CFL survive. I'm not worried about that at all. These things take time. It is certainly a political hot potato right now so it needs to be handled with care. Many many companies, bigger and smaller than CFL have asked for aid. CFL gets headlines since it's sports is all. This will work itself out. Much like the rest of the world, it may not be exactly the same as we remember when we come out of this, but the CFL is not going anywhere.

I am not going to bother going into this whole political diatribe (which reads like a Titina McGrath Twitter post) because the subject is frowned upon but I can note the irony that the most left leaning place in the entire country (Toronto) would not relieve themselves on the CFL if it was on fire because they feel it (the one uniquely Canadian pro sport) is beneath them and they only care about the NFL whereas the CFL is best supported in places where they are "trying to turn everyone into Americans".

tacogeoff · May 14, 2020

The CFL should not be bailed out by the Feds. Each team should receive relief from the Cities which they are based in.

That being said hopefully the league survives this pandemic but the reality is that its not a league that has a massive following in Canada.

JMO. obviously not a popular one on a sports forum lol.

Holden Caulfield · May 14, 2020

tacogeoff said:
The CFL should not be bailed out by the Feds. Each team should receive relief from the Cities which they are based in.

That being said hopefully the league survives this pandemic but the reality is that its not a league that has a massive following in Canada.

JMO. obviously not a popular one on a sports forum lol.

Last year's Grey Cup was BARELY edged out in ratings by Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final. The ratings the CFL gets in Canada is comparable to the NHL. Nearly 10 million of the countries ~33 million people watched at least part of the Grey Cup live last year. And remember that it was overall not a great Grey Cup for neutral fans as it was a blowout.

CFL is very consistently ranked as the 2nd most followed, 2nd most attended, 2nd most popular sporting league in Canada.

I just don't buy "doesn't have a massive following" argument.

If you wanna say CFL doesn't measure to NHL in popularity, sure. But nothing ever will, much like NFL in the US.

It'd be like saying "I don't think MLB has a massive following in the US". I mean sure it doesn't compare to NFL, and maybe not even NBA but it's still a ridiculous thing to say.

tacogeoff · May 14, 2020

Holden Caulfield said:
Last year's Grey Cup was BARELY edged out in ratings by Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final. The ratings the CFL gets in Canada is comparable to the NHL. Nearly 10 million of the countries ~33 million people watched at least part of the Grey Cup live last year. And remember that it was overall not a great Grey Cup for neutral fans as it was a blowout.

CFL is very consistently ranked as the 2nd most followed, 2nd most attended, 2nd most popular sporting league in Canada.

I just don't buy "doesn't have a massive following" argument.

If you wanna say CFL doesn't measure to NHL in popularity, sure. But nothing ever will, much like NFL in the US.

It'd be like saying "I don't think MLB has a massive following in the US". I mean sure it doesn't compare to NFL, and maybe not even NBA but it's still a ridiculous thing to say.

I enjoyed the Grey Cup as it was an Epic end to an almost 30 year Grey Cup drought for the Bombers.

The CFL has a following but its not "massive" due to our lower population size (in comparison to our neighbor and your MLB comparison) which in turn effects a smaller leagues revenue as we now see. I am just saying that I believe the Cities/Provinces these teams are in should be helping them through this crisis and not the Federal Government. that is just my own personal and unfounded view/opinion the matter at hand.

On a side note and a friendly/healthy debate...….why? bc Covid boredom.

is the CFL still viewed as the 2nd most followed and popular sporting league by Canadians? Attenance would be obvious as it is a Canadian based league.

A study (2018 vs 2014) has shown a shift towards the NFL being more followed and popular in Canada. The 18-54 age group category polled follow the NFL more by a healthy margin and this is something the CFL has to address and get younger sports fans back onto the wagon. Obviously polls are not 100% accurate but they give you a basic read on a subject and how things are trending.
http://angusreid.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/2018.08.30_CFL_NFL.pdf

If we are talking Canadian television viewership the Superbowl is consistently in the top 5 viewed broadcasts in Canada since 2010 being only beaten as the number one sports broadcast by Olympic sports (hockey/an ice skating event) and the NBA finals last year.
Round 1 of the NFL draft on tsn had 917k Canadians tuning in while 428K watched the CFL Draft. What’s more, TSN’s NFL draft viewership numbers exclude Canadians who watched instead on free basic-cable channel ABC, or on pay sports channel NFL Network — whereas TSN was the sole viewing option in Canada for the CFL draft.

It would be interesting to compare merchandise sales in Canada of NFL vs CFL but I cant find that info.

I would think NHL would be the most followed and the NFL would debatably have a solid case to be the 2nd most followed sporting league by Canadians.

Kyle McMahon · May 18, 2020

tacogeoff said:
I enjoyed the Grey Cup as it was an Epic end to an almost 30 year Grey Cup drought for the Bombers.

The CFL has a following but its not "massive" due to our lower population size (in comparison to our neighbor and your MLB comparison) which in turn effects a smaller leagues revenue as we now see. I am just saying that I believe the Cities/Provinces these teams are in should be helping them through this crisis and not the Federal Government. that is just my own personal and unfounded view/opinion the matter at hand.

On a side note and a friendly/healthy debate...….why? bc Covid boredom.

is the CFL still viewed as the 2nd most followed and popular sporting league by Canadians? Attenance would be obvious as it is a Canadian based league.

A study (2018 vs 2014) has shown a shift towards the NFL being more followed and popular in Canada. The 18-54 age group category polled follow the NFL more by a healthy margin and this is something the CFL has to address and get younger sports fans back onto the wagon. Obviously polls are not 100% accurate but they give you a basic read on a subject and how things are trending.
http://angusreid.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/2018.08.30_CFL_NFL.pdf

If we are talking Canadian television viewership the Superbowl is consistently in the top 5 viewed broadcasts in Canada since 2010 being only beaten as the number one sports broadcast by Olympic sports (hockey/an ice skating event) and the NBA finals last year.
Round 1 of the NFL draft on tsn had 917k Canadians tuning in while 428K watched the CFL Draft. What’s more, TSN’s NFL draft viewership numbers exclude Canadians who watched instead on free basic-cable channel ABC, or on pay sports channel NFL Network — whereas TSN was the sole viewing option in Canada for the CFL draft.

It would be interesting to compare merchandise sales in Canada of NFL vs CFL but I cant find that info.

I would think NHL would be the most followed and the NFL would debatably have a solid case to be the 2nd most followed sporting league by Canadians.

Some of these things aren't exactly equivalent circumstances though...

I care way more about the CFL than the NFL, but I only watched the NFL Draft. It's a big event where a franchise can appreciably alter their future outlook based on the actions they take that evening. The guys getting drafted, or at least the offensive ones, are recognizable college stars. The CFL Draft is basically teams filling out their Canadian depth. The biggest stars aren't even drafted sometimes because teams know they'll get an NFL contract and it would be a wasted pick. The draft is just not as important since most of the guys drafted aren't going to become impact starters.

I'm sure when it comes to merchandise the NFL ranks far ahead due to having 32 teams versus 9. People can be fans of multiple NFL teams. I like the Carolina Panthers, but there's lots of other teams whose jersey I'd put on if they had a particular player I liked or something. Joe Burrow Bengals jersey?Sure, chances are he'll only be a rival to my team's success one game every four years. The small nature of the CFL means you're a rival to some extent with most of the other teams. You could conceivably have a playoff game against every other team in the league in a five year window. I don't know one single CFL fan that wears hats or jerseys from multiple franchises. Just how it is.

Mightygoose · May 20, 2020

CFL announces Grey Cup change, pushes start back to at least September - TSN.ca

No Touchdown Atlantic this year

Grey Cup in Regina has been moved to 2022.

CG this year will be in the city of the division winners with the best record, unless a hub city model is used.

Earliest the season will start in September

sonic92 · May 20, 2020

Mightygoose said:
CFL announces Grey Cup change, pushes start back to at least September - TSN.ca

No Touchdown Atlantic this year

Grey Cup in Regina has been moved to 2022.

CG this year will be in the city of the division winners with the best record, unless a hub city model is used.

Earliest the season will start in September

I'd be down for an 8-game schedule that starts on Labour Day with no East vs West games.

spintheblackcircle · Jun 3, 2020

Police brutality ended his career, but Bowen didn't quit on his community - CFL.ca

CFL: The CFL Thread: Part V

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