CFL Schedule Change a Bad Idea

[WBBFanWest]

I'd have no issue with starting in mid June, but for me, the Grey Cup has to be played in November.  As someone else mentioned, they should peg it to the first Sunday in November.  New things are good, but so are traditions like the Cup in November.

[SpeedFlex27]

6 hours ago, Jesse said:

I honestly don’t see a down side in moving the schedule. Cold games keeps fans away, and the conflict with baseball early in the season can’t be worse than conflict with hockey late in the season.

The notion that November football is a ‘distraction’ from the cold weather prior to the holiday season is poetic, I guess, but it’s never crossed my mind.

You'd have the SC playoffs conflict at the beginning of the season as well as the start of the NHL season  & World Series at the end. The CFL would be buried. Dumb idea. 

Edited December 8, 2017 by SpeedFlex27

[Jesse]

20 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

You'd have the SC playoffs conflict at the beginning of the season as well as the start of the NHL season  & World Series at the end. The CFL would be buried. Dumb idea. 

There is never a time when there aren't any conflicts. This slightly changes which conflicts.

 

[Bigblue204]

4 minutes ago, Jesse said:

There is never a time when there aren't any conflicts. This slightly changes which conflicts.

 

Id 100% rather go against the NFL reg season than NHL playoffs.

[SpeedFlex27]

Edit

 

 

Edited December 8, 2017 by SpeedFlex27

[Bubba Zanetti]

Im all for moving it up, even if its just 2 or 3 weeks. June is being wasted. There is nothing finer than sitting outside on a nice warm day watching some football as opposed to freezing in a snowstorm and having the weather dictate the outcome of a Grey Cup. Screw the NHL playoffs. The NHL season should be moved up too. Hockey in June is ridiculous.

[SpeedFlex27]

Once the NHL season starts (even training camps) the CFL is pushed back to page 3 or deeper on the sports pages around the country. How many media people in Winnipeg or elsewhere would be covering training camp or pre season games? if they started the season the first or second week of June there's be little fanfare on the start of the season. Once our playoffs & GC were played in October then we're dealing with MLB & the start of the NHL season. These are huge conflicts that would make the CFL irrelevant. The GC wouldn't get the national exposure it gets now.  The CFL needs MORE & not less coverage.

[SpeedFlex27]

2 minutes ago, Bubba Zanetti said:

Im all for moving it up, even if its just 2 or 3 weeks. June is being wasted. There is nothing finer than sitting outside on a nice warm day watching some football as opposed to freezing in a snowstorm and having the weather dictate the outcome of a Grey Cup. Screw the NHL playoffs. The NHL season should be moved up too. Hockey in June is ridiculous.

Why would the NHL do that? They won't. 

[Bubba Zanetti]

Just now, SpeedFlex27 said:

Why would the NHL do that? They won't. 

Not saying they will. Im saying they should.

[SpeedFlex27]

Just now, Bubba Zanetti said:

Not saying they will. Im saying they should.

But they won't so how does saying they should change anything? The CFL will still have to go up against the Stanley Cup playoffs & final.  It would be a ratings disaster. 

[Bubba Zanetti]

If they moved the season up 2 weeks they would just barely overlap and i really believe the majority of true CFL fans would rather watch their teams season opener then watch a Lightning/Kings playoff game. Obviously if their team was in it that would be different but were only talking about 1 game a week in the CFL as opposed to every 2 days in the NHL playoffs.

Edited December 8, 2017 by Bubba Zanetti

[FrostyWinnipeg]

The biggest knock to moving the season up is conflict with Stanley Cup playoffs not MLB where there's only a 1/30 chance of a Canuck team being in it.

I'd like to see it moved up a month just to see something different.

 

Edited December 8, 2017 by FrostyWinnipeg

[Bigblue204]

People who want it to interfere with the NHL playoffs know this is Canada right? NHL is king here. Regardless of who is playing in the cup finals.

[Mr Dee]

Maybe it’s just me, but hockey in June is pathetic, and I love watching hockey. The beginning of the NHL playoffs is exciting and creates lots of excitement, but as each series goes on and the warm weather arrives, I’d much rather be sitting around a campfire than a TV set. Talk of football and roster moves. There’s nothing like it. 

Besides, there’s always the PVR.

 

[wbbfan]

21 hours ago, ALuCsRED said:

Looks like the article is an opinion piece rather than a true news article.  Is there an actual interview with Ambrosie where the commissioner actually states wanting to move the dates?

This is a good point. I seem to recall this idea being attributed to him but can not link it with ink. I hope its not true. 

[wbbfan]

5 hours ago, Mr Dee said:

Maybe it’s just me, but hockey in June is pathetic, and I love watching hockey. The beginning of the NHL playoffs is exciting and creates lots of excitement, but as each series goes on and the warm weather arrives, I’d much rather be sitting around a campfire than a TV set. Talk of football and roster moves. There’s nothing like it. 

Besides, there’s always the PVR.

 

agree 100%. Its been a long time since i was much of a hockey fan. But even out side the nhl fan base the play off schedule is a head scratcher. My none fan 2cents would be to put the pedal to the metal. Have the first rounds go much faster with several games on at once. (ala march madness) And then slow it down with say the conference championships. 

[Mark H.]

As someone who works with teenagers - I can tell you that even the most devoted fans would rather be doing something else by the time the cup final rolls around. 

[Eternal optimist]

On 12/8/2017 at 2:42 PM, Bigblue204 said:

Id 100% rather go against the NFL reg season than NHL playoffs.

This.

[WBBFanWest]

I think that we need all the people of Saskatchewan to write Gary Bettman and threaten that if he doesn't shorten the NHL season to the end of May they will refuse to support their NHL team.   Oh wait...  Never mind.

[Jaxon]

From my perspective, I'd prefer to leave the timing of the schedule as it is.

1.  One of these years, a Canadian team will make it to the Stanley Cup finals, and that will attract all of the media attention.   The CFL would be trying to kick off their regular season against that back drop, and that is a tough sell.    I too think that the hockey season is too long, but that isn't changing anytime soon.   Can you imagine the Bombers opening night while the Jets are playing the Leafs in game 7 of the cup final?  For me it's Bombers first, Jets 2nd,  but given that situation, even I  would likely be watching the Jets.

2.  Baseball's "World Series" takes a fair bit of media attention in October.   I don't want to see a Grey Cup game going up against a final involving the Blue Jays.

3.  There is no guarantee that he weather will be better in on any given night October than November.   Grey Cup 2016 was a very pleasant evening outdoors in Toronto.   In fact, it was a more enjoyable Grey Cup experience than any indoor  Grey Cup game that I've been to.  (I go every year and have been going for decades)   Even being outdoors in Toronto  last year and Ottawa this year were superior to all of the games I've been to in the Skydome, the big Owe, or BC Place.

4.  Halloween on Grey Cup Sunday would be a bad mix.

5.  For the last number of years, Grey Cup has coincided with American Thanksgiving.  This is a minor point, but for many of the USA players, it makes it easier for their families to come up for the weekend as they don't have to worry about missing work.   For me personally, we do some business with American companies, and so the Thursday and Friday are slower days for me as I don't have any US calls to make.  This makes it easier for me to book these days off.

I don't pretend to speak for other people, but as a Grey Cup veteran, I'm quite happy with the timing as it is.

[Mark H.]

Ok, a Canadian team in the Stanley Cup finals would be an issue - once in 10 to 15 seasons, same with the Blue Jays in the World Series. However, what the about annual drop in attendance due to late fall / early winter weather conditions? Not the Grey Cup but the semis and the final. 

[TBURGESS]

The 'No Guarantee' argument is only valid if their is a guarantee on the other side of the argument. In this case, there is no guarantee that the weather will be better in October than November, but there's a much higher probability that it will be. There's no guarantee that the weather will be as good in November as it is in October either, so the argument fails.

[Mark H.]

20 minutes ago, TBURGESS said:

The 'No Guarantee' argument is only valid if their is a guarantee on the other side of the argument. In this case, there is no guarantee that the weather will be better in October than November, but there's a much higher probability that it will be. There's no guarantee that the weather will be as good in November as it is in October either, so the argument fails.

It makes sense go with the more likely scenario - we both no know which one that is 

[Jaxon]

On 12/11/2017 at 9:17 AM, TBURGESS said:

The 'No Guarantee' argument is only valid if their is a guarantee on the other side of the argument. In this case, there is no guarantee that the weather will be better in October than November, but there's a much higher probability that it will be. There's no guarantee that the weather will be as good in November as it is in October either, so the argument fails.

That's true to an extent, which makes the "better weather" argument somewhat moot.  The average temperature in Toronto for example is  3.85 degrees warmer on October 31 than November 21.  (ave high, 10.5 vs 6.3, ave low 4.8 vs 1.3)

source:  http://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_data/almanac_e.html?StationID=5051&period=30&searchMethod=contains&txtStationName=Toronto&month=11&day=21&timeframe=4&month=11&day=21#

IMHO I don't think that the this 3.85 degree difference means a hill of beans to the fair weather fan, and isn't worth the potential problems as previously outlined.  The sunny day in August fan isn't going to a game in either October or November.  (many wouldn't go in August if it is raining either.

Certainly if the discussion was solely about better weather, they would only hold the Grey Cup indoors in one of the three indoor stadiums.   I'm not sure that that has been proven to be a better game experience overall.  Generally speaking, my opinion is that the indoor games are more sterile, and less entertaining.  That being said, there are certainly exceptions.  (The 2011 Vanier cup was one of the greatest football games I've ever seen, and it was indoors at BC place.)

 The NFL had a very memorable game in a snow storm in Buffalo this past week which created more excitement than virtually any other game played this past weekend.  Sometimes those tough weather conditions cause a "wow" factor. 

[Jaxon]

On 12/11/2017 at 9:03 AM, Mark H. said:

Ok, a Canadian team in the Stanley Cup finals would be an issue - once in 10 to 15 seasons, same with the Blue Jays in the World Series. However, what the about annual drop in attendance due to late fall / early winter weather conditions? Not the Grey Cup but the semis and the final. 

I think you see that same drop from August to October for the fair weather fans.