- Feb 26, 2016
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The CFL will have continual trouble staying alive. You can only afford to support a certain amount of teams with your dollar.
Toronto -- has terrible attendance ( compete with Leafs, Raptors, Blue Jays, and soccer. ) I don't know why anyone would want to own the Argos -- "unless your a masochist."
Montreal --same thing ( Habs, and soccer is growing)
BC -- same thing ( Canucks, and soccer is growing) A lot of the population in BC is Asian, and they don't seem to like the CFL .
People only have so much money, and they want to see the best talent in the world play. They will support the NHL, and some will support the NBA, and now soccer is cutting into the entertainment dollar. Something will give here at some point. You can only stretch the dollar so far, and your average family man or woman only makes around $ 50 K, and half goes to income tax.
The CFL is only surviving on it's "tradition", and with that being said, if they can't get attendance up in the bigger markets, we just may see the CFL fold -- which would be a shame, for the smaller cities that support it and love it.
It's all the "smaller market" cities like Regina, Calgary, Winnipeg etc. that support the CFL. It's really quite a mess. I certainly wouldn't put my money into a CFL franchise.
_____________________________________________While it is true that you can only stretch a dollar so far in regards to supporting sports teams in your city, one would still have to question why the support for a CFL team is still lacking in the 3 largest Canadian cities. The CMA population of Toronto is 6 million with that of Montreal being 4 million followed by Vancouver at 2.5 million. Those cities are huge in comparison to the other CFL markets and aside from the NHL and MLS, the only city of the Big 3 that has an NBA and MLB team is Toronto.
Is there any reason that Montreal and Vancouver should have difficulty supporting a CFL team based on population? Toronto should also have no problem being able to attract a larger number of fans to Argos games as well because even though it has teams in the NHL, NBA, MLB and MLS, the population is roughly the combined amount of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba altogether.
The question really isn't one of stretching the dollar to support a CFL team but rather one of having the interest in supporting one. Clearly the population is there. However, the most likely reason is that the CFL is viewed by the Big 3 the same way the AHL is viewed in Winnipeg. With that being the case, it does make one wonder about the long-term outlook for the CFL and how it may look 15 years from now.
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I agree with your thoughts on this issue Booster. The "interest" doesn't seem to be there in the big 3 cities. I guess in order for the CFL to survive it may mean ticket prices will have to fall quite a bit, and also player salaries, and playing to smaller crowds. This is what it may come down to , in order to survive long term. This isn't really the case in smaller cities like Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg etc. where attendance has been increasing over the years.
Even in the USA, there have been several football leagues that have tried to start up, and they can't seem to stay financially solvent. There is one right now on the brink of folding up-- I believe.
I hope the CFL can survive, as it's been part of my life since I was a kid, but I do question if it's long term viability is realistic ?
I have noticed that cities like Montreal, will come out and support the team if they have a winning team on the field.
The answer might come into bringing other smaller cities into the league like Moncton, Halifax etc. , and maybe some smaller northern US cities, ( Madison, Wisconsin etc) where they don't have a professional sports club to follow and root for.
Let's hope the CFL somehow survives -- but attendance will have to pick up in the big 3 Cities-- I would think.
Was that last sentence really necessary? Did it add anything to the discussion? You make a lot of good points and then put people off by being unnecessarily rude to close things off.
Deleted it but it's the same ****ing discussion every few weeks for the past 10 years, despite the mountains of evidence of the CFL getting more and more and stable.
Blind spot? I don't know. He's average, 4/5th best QB in the league. I think if they could find anything better they would replace him. The Walters regime has done some good things but finding QBs isnt one of them. For the love of god we had Brian Brohm for 2 years and I think every Bomber fan knew what we had after the first game or two with that guy.The bombers are going nowhere with Nichols. Why do they have such a blind spot to the most important position in any sport?
Bennett got cut from the Riders too. Maybe it's not the team that is the problem.I'm not surprised by Simonise washing out. There was talk of him not putting in the effort in practice. Coaches see that. All the physical tools in the world won't get you success if your head's not in it.
As for Bennett, I am convinced this organization is incapable of developing a starting QB. This revolving door of backups over the years just boggles the mind.
Seems like when you think the Bombers brass likes a player it's the touch of death for their career.Dislike cuts of Simonise and Bennett. I certainly wasn't convinced McGuire was better in pre-season. Simonise has ridiculous potential. Played well on a ton of ST last year and is a backup, type of player you need to groom, IMO.
While i agree the CFL isn't going anywhere you have to agree when you see all the empty seats in Toronto and Vancouver on TV , it looks bad . People in Toronto especially think they are a NFL city and the CFL is beneath them . Then they see all the empty seats and don't go to games , tough cycle to change .Deleted it but it's the same ****ing discussion every few months for the past 10 years, despite the mountains of evidence of the CFL getting more and more and stable.
______________________________________________While i agree the CFL isn't going anywhere you have to agree when you see all the empty seats in Toronto and Vancouver on TV , it looks bad . People in Toronto especially think they are a NFL city and the CFL is beneath them . Then they see all the empty seats and don't go to games , tough cycle to change .
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I agree with your thoughts on this issue Booster. The "interest" doesn't seem to be there in the big 3 cities. I guess in order for the CFL to survive it may mean ticket prices will have to fall quite a bit, and also player salaries, and playing to smaller crowds. This is what it may come down to , in order to survive long term. This isn't really the case in smaller cities like Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg etc. where attendance has been increasing over the years.
Even in the USA, there have been several football leagues that have tried to start up, and they can't seem to stay financially solvent. There is one right now on the brink of folding up-- I believe.
I hope the CFL can survive, as it's been part of my life since I was a kid, but I do question if it's long term viability is realistic ?
I have noticed that cities like Montreal, will come out and support the team if they have a winning team on the field.
The answer might come into bringing other smaller cities into the league like Moncton, Halifax etc. , and maybe some smaller northern US cities, ( Madison, Wisconsin etc) where they don't have a professional sports club to follow and root for.
Let's hope the CFL somehow survives -- but attendance will have to pick up in the big 3 Cities-- I would think.
Good trade for the Bombers!In actual you know football news Simonise has signed with his hometown Lions. Meanwhile it looks like Bombers will be adding Winnipegger Anthony Coombs. Which is good they were razor thin at national WR after the Simonise cut.
I know more people who have Seahawks season tickets than Lions season tickets. People will play more for a better product.I swear the issue in BC is purely around insanely high ticket prices. 100 bucks to sit between the 20 yard lines. Given the high cost of living, its entirely out of whack..
Moncton never been an expansion candidate. Halifax has been working on getting s stadium deal done for 2 years. They have been scheduled to begin play in 2021 for a few years but it's hard to say with stadium deal still not 100%.
_____________________________________________I think you could be right that the CFL may have to scale down in regards to ticket prices and player salaries in order to combat the smaller crowds occurring in various markets. Like you, I have watched the CFL for a very long time (in my case since the early 70's) and have seen the ups and downs of the league over the years.
While it may be true that tv viewership has been strong in Toronto for the time being, it may begin to diminish as the crowds continue to decline at BMO Field. Nothing turns off viewers more than seeing empty stands. For those that say things are just fine and that the league is stronger than ever, I'm sure that both of us recall the days when the Argos were drawing crowds over 50,000 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, the Alouettes were drawing well over 60,000 at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, the Eskimos were averaging 60,081 for a number of seasons at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton and the Lions were drawing 59,000 to B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver. The crowds in those CFL cities over the last few years are nowhere near what they used to be. If the league was currently stronger than ever, the stadiums would be full like those for the NFL.
Some have pointed out that the CFL has been around for a long time and because of that it will always be there. Yes, the league has been around a while and the Winnipeg Football Club (Blue Bombers) were founded in 1930. However, there was also a retail giant in Canada the was founded in 1869 which no one would have believed would cease operations either but that is what happened to Eaton's in spite of the fact it was owned by very rich people as well.
The future of the CFL is perplexing in the sense that it is fairly well supported in the prairie provinces, modestly supported in Ottawa and Hamilton and not so well in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. It is also still unclear what the stadium situation is for Atlantic Canada. Will any government out there be willing to invest in a stadium? There is still no solid commitment at this time. Should the CFL consider some smaller markets across the border? I'm not sure. While it's good to look at things in a positive way, there's nothing wrong with being genuinely concerned about the future of the league and the direction it should take.
I agree. The CFL game is a much better product.I went to a Seahawks game at that monstrous concrete garbage can they had. Honestly, the game didn't look much different from a CFL game, and nowhere near the hype it gets from Canadian NFL fans. It's the quality of the TV broadcast that makes it look better. Put Rod Black in an NFL booth and you'd soon be switching channels.