Is Now The Time???

[Goalie]

To go from 2 divisions to 1? 

The last several years now the West has taken a crossover spot from the East and it looks extremely likely again this year.. 

Is it time to scrap the East West stuff and just go to 1 division with the best teams making it? I mean its probably not gonna happen but the riders could very well end up with more wins than the 1st or 2nd place team in the East and miss the playoffs.. Is it time to just go to 1 division and the top 6 make it regardless of west or eastern based? 

Its at the point now where it seems every year a western team crosses over 

First 2 teams get a bye.. 3 vs 6 4 vs 5.. 

Then.. 1 vs lowest remaining seed and 2 vs the other? 

 

 

[Blueandgold]

The apathy toward the CFL in Eastern Canada will be stronger than ever I fear if they decide to go that route.

From a football standpoint it makes perfect sense.

[Goalie]

3 minutes ago, Blueandgold said:

The apathy toward the CFL in Eastern Canada will be stronger than ever I fear if they decide to go that route.

From a football standpoint it makes perfect sense.

Only apathy is in Toronto... Thats a dead market. 

[Blueandgold]

2 minutes ago, Goalie said:

Only apathy is in Toronto... Thats a dead market. 

Montreal has sparse crowds themselves and Ottawa has bailed on the CFL twice. The risk is too great for the CFL to go that route.

[Jpan85]

Let the cross over team host  semi final game if they have a better record. Better question why would the Bombers ever agree to move back to the west division.

[Booch]

Nah...it's cyclical, tho lately seems like a long cycle.

It's better this way I think for western teams anyway because you would never have all 5 teams in the west with better record than all eastern teams. Cant happen.

And really how often is there the cross over anyway?

[BigBlue]

This might be sound good, more fair, reasonable, professiinal and all that but 2 things:

1. The status quo gives the lower attendance east a better hope  especially in getting to a lucky Grey Cup (see Ottawa and regular season % last year)

2. Long standing east west tradition and that still means something (see also about TV stuff)

I believe going to a top 6 would affect attendance for the perennial weak sisters in the east where there is so much else to do ... could even cost a Toronto or someone to drop out and kill the league

Better is to  concentrate on adding three new franchises in Halifax, Quebec City and Saskatoon:  they will all sell out 25K+ stadiums ... A 12 team league is very doable future

[Blueandgold]

6 minutes ago, Jpan85 said:

Let the cross over team host  semi final game if they have a better record. Better question why would the Bombers ever agree to move back to the west division.

Keeping the Bombers in the East would've definitely been the better option.

[Atomic]

Absolutely not.  The divisions must always remain.  The crossover takes care of any imbalance and makes it fair enough.

[SPuDS]

Not a fan of this idea.. when we do expand, we would have to split it again.   I'm too much of a traditionalist to want to see it happen either.

[Jpan85]

2 minutes ago, SPuDS said:

Not a fan of this idea.. when we do expand, we would have to split it again.   I'm too much of a traditionalist to want to see it happen either.

10 team league means everyone would play each other twice. Unless they would only play the opposite division once a year.

[Atomic]

9 minutes ago, Jpan85 said:

10 team league means everyone would play each other twice. Unless they would only play the opposite division once a year.

I'd fiddle with it so there would be 10 games in division and 8 games out.  More fun that way.

[JCon]

37 minutes ago, BigBlue said:

Better is to  concentrate on adding three new franchises in Halifax, Quebec City and Saskatoon:  they will all sell out 25K+ stadiums ... A 12 team league is very doable future

Very doable? I doubt that.

Halifax: Someone on the east coast would need to build a stadium. Is Halifax interested in sinking ~$200M into a stadium?

QC: They just build a huge arena that doesn't have prime resident, yet. Want to compete with the NHL when it returns? Bombers already have a solid base but probably saw a lot of potential revenue go to the Jets instead.

Saskatoon: They just built a brand new (huge) stadium in Regina. Who's going to build one is Saskatoon? Not a single Rider fan that I have ever spoken to has ever said that they would support a team in Saskatoon, even those from Saskabush. They are Rider fans. It's a provincial thing.

[Atomic]

6 minutes ago, JCon said:

Very doable? I doubt that.

Halifax: Someone on the east coast would need to build a stadium. Is Halifax interested in sinking ~$200M into a stadium?

QC: They just build a huge arena that doesn't have prime resident, yet. Want to compete with the NHL when it returns? Bombers already have a solid base but probably saw a lot of potential revenue go to the Jets instead.

Saskatoon: They just built a brand new (huge) stadium in Regina. Who's going to build one is Saskatoon? Not a single Rider fan that I have ever spoken to has ever said that they would support a team in Saskatoon, even those from Saskabush. They are Rider fans. It's a provincial thing.

With teams gravitating more and more towards stadiums of 25K or fewer seats, could we possibly target smaller, less traditional cities?  THF in Hamilton holds 24k and was built for roughly $145M.  Could cities like Windsor, Kelowna, or Sherbrooke be interested?  Could they drum up support for a CFL team?

[SpeedFlex27]

No. 

[JCon]

1 minute ago, Atomic said:

With teams gravitating more and more towards stadiums of 25K or fewer seats, could we possibly target smaller, less traditional cities?  THF in Hamilton holds 24k and was built for roughly $145M.  Could cities like Windsor, Kelowna, or Sherbrooke be interested?  Could they drum up support for a CFL team?

I was thinking that too but the only viable one I would make sense would be Halifax, IMO.

Maaaaaybe QC finds the desire to build a 22-25K stadium and partners with Laval. That might be doable.

I just can't see it in Saskatoon. It would always be the poor little sister of the Riders, especially with a 'little' stadium.

Windsor? I'm not sure. Are they CFL or NFL fans there?

Kelowna? Is there a big enough population base now? That would be interesting.

[mbrg]

19 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

No. 

A bit long-winded, but I agree.

[BigBlue]

40 minutes ago, JCon said:

Is Halifax interested in sinking ~$200M into a stadium?

I believe they will eventually in a joint maritimes partnership ... what is lacking is a strong private owner like the McCain family

[JCon]

1 minute ago, BigBlue said:

I believe they will eventually in a joint maritimes partnership ... what is lacking is a strong private owner like the McCain family

But that's just one problem. You still need a stadium and a location. You need corporate support and support from NB and NS.

There are a lot of hurdles.

If they found a champion, someone with lots of money (like the McCain family) who's willing to spearhead this, then it might work.

I don't see that champion yet.

[BigBlue]

27 minutes ago, JCon said:

Maaaaaybe QC finds the desire to build a 22-25K stadium and partners with Laval. That might be doable.

OR SOMEPLACE LIKE SHERBROOKE .... WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF GREEN BAY AS NFL VIABLE ... DENSE RURAL POPULATIONS CAN WORK OUT

I just can't see it in Saskatoon. It would always be the poor little sister of the Riders, especially with a 'little' stadium.

THEY WOULD FILL BOTH AND TRAVEL BACK AND FORTH TO WATCH BOTH CITIES AS LONG AS IT ALTERNATED WEEKENDS

Kelowna? Is there a big enough population base now? That would be interesting.

A LOT OF CALIFORNIA PEOPLE GO THERE AND THE REST ARE PENNY PINCHING RETIREES ... THIS PLACE WOULD BE MORE OF A SPECULATIVE LOCATION

THE POINT IS THERE IS A MARKET FOR HIGH QUALITY ENTERTAINMENT ESPECIALLY WITH SOME NATIONAL PRIDE THROWN IN ... THIS STUFF IS A TEN TO TWENTY YEAR PROJECT AND REQUIRES A RICH  VISIONARY TO BREAK THE STATUS QUO

[Atomic]

5 minutes ago, BigBlue said:

THE POINT IS THERE IS A MARKET FOR HIGH QUALITY ENTERTAINMENT ESPECIALLY WITH SOME NATIONAL PRIDE THROWN IN ... THIS STUFF IS A TEN TO TWENTY YEAR PROJECT AND REQUIRES A RICH  VISIONARY TO BREAK THE STATUS QUO

Holy **** BB take it easy man

[SpeedFlex27]

1 minute ago, Atomic said:

Holy **** BB take it easy man

 

1 minute ago, Atomic said:

Holy **** BB take it easy man

No, this is great. He has an opinion. He's getting worked up. All good. 

[Taynted_Fayth]

not a fan of 1 division.

From a player standpoint there would only be CFL all star or nothing, so a lot of bonuses wouldn't be hit for players as I believe being named a division all star likely part of the incentives in many contracts.

From a team POV the eastern teams would never get a home playoff game, or very rarely with the way things have been going, which is revenue lost for those franchises. 

That being said if we were looking to add franchise or relocated this is what I would do;

 

1. QC as the 10th. They have a population slightly bigger then Winnipeg, so getting 25-30K a game shouldn't be hard and split the territory with Montreal (like Northern Quebec, New Foundland and Nova Scotia belong to QC, montreal gets southern Quebec, PEI and New Brunswick)

2. Move the Argos to Kitchner or London.  both are down the street from the GTA so you can still attract your couple dozen argo fans there and both have a population almost 2x that of regina

If the QC expansion didn't pan out I'd give Halifax a shot before going back to 9 teams

[SpeedFlex27]

I can't believe they can't find ownership or the will to build a stadium &  put a team in Halifax.  IThe Laval owner (yes they have an owner) would never allow a CFL team to use their stadium... They'd have to build a new one for any team in QC. I don't think there's the political will in the Province of Quebec to do that. They already built a hockey arena in QC to get the NHL back with no luck so far & there's a huge push to finance a new baseball stadium in Montreal to get MLB back. The CFL is low in priority. 

[Guest J5V]

11 hours ago, BigBlue said:

THE POINT IS THERE IS A MARKET FOR HIGH QUALITY ENTERTAINMENT ESPECIALLY WITH SOME NATIONAL PRIDE THROWN IN ... THIS STUFF IS A TEN TO TWENTY YEAR PROJECT AND REQUIRES A RICH  VISIONARY TO BREAK THE STATUS QUO

Why are you yelling at us?