CFL/XFL Exploring Alignment

[Noeller]

I'm curious what exactly you'd have them do to change? And it's not like they aren't trying to bring in new PBP guys. There's a chance Dustin Nielsen from Edmonton turns into a good one with more experience. 

The problem with your idea about changing stuff is that people generally prefer familiarity. They want what they already know. Change is scary and people are easily spooked. I know you hate Rod Black for whatever reason, but he's stuck around this long for a reason. Hopefully they eventually audition another younger broadcaster, as they've done with Dustin. Honestly, there's a chance Derek Taylor comes back to TSN eventually if he shows well on CKRM... 

[SpeedFlex27]

36 minutes ago, Noeller said:

I'm curious what exactly you'd have them do to change? And it's not like they aren't trying to bring in new PBP guys. There's a chance Dustin Nielsen from Edmonton turns into a good one with more experience. 

The problem with your idea about changing stuff is that people generally prefer familiarity. They want what they already know. Change is scary and people are easily spooked. I know you hate Rod Black for whatever reason, but he's stuck around this long for a reason. Hopefully they eventually audition another younger broadcaster, as they've done with Dustin. Honestly, there's a chance Derek Taylor comes back to TSN eventually if he shows well on CKRM... 

You see other networks deploy the latest technology. TSN's broadcast other than the Grey Cup seems stuck in the 90's. We need better & more camera angles & the roving automated camera to show the game like pre snap formations & highlights from above.

TSN needs to show more information onscreen so it is available to fans. Like up to date real time stats for rushing, passing & receiving as well as defensive stats for tackling etc. They must do more with the coloured markers on screen for red zones, first & ten, down & distance & even directional arrows for fans who are clueless. This would include new Canadians who don't understand the game or the language. There is no innovation.

Yes, I know it's expensive to upgrade but TSN doesn't have much else for properties to broadcast other than the World Junior Tournament over Xmas. No idea why they can't do more getting the info out & improve the broadcasts.

TSN has to eliminate the many glitches during games that affect the broadcasts like power failures, loss of audio &/or video signals & pixelation.

Have a 15-30 minute post game show instead of immediately jumping to a sportscast no one really cares about.

Personally, I believe the only reason Rod Black is there is because of seniority I'd imagine. Not because he is any good. 

Edited April 1, 2021 by SpeedFlex27

[Mr Dee]

The death of the CFL as we know it...

 

 

[JCon]

8 minutes ago, Mr Dee said:

The death of the CFL as we know it...

 

 

It will be back tomorrow, after April 1st. 

[Bigblue204]

Friend sent that to me. Not gonna lie I could feel my blood pressure going through the roof. Lol then I realized what day it is.

Got me!!

[blue_gold_84]

[wbbfan]

14 hours ago, Noeller said:

I don't buy any of this stuff about the TSN panel. You need former players who are young enough to not seem super old, but old enough to have played the game at a high level and therefore have expertise. And on top of that, they need to be good speakers... Good communicators. Exactly how long a list do you think it is that checks off those boxes?? Trust me, it's a short list. 

I think the panel is pretty good, the color commentary is a whole other matter. I also feel like the direction is pretty dated. 

[wbbfan]

https://3downnation.com/2021/03/31/matt-sekeres-reporting-on-potential-cfl-xfl-partnership-has-been-insufficient-so-far/

Pretty on point. That said no one from TSN to 3downnation is really breaking any stories. They make wild claims, some contradictory and offer nothing of substance. They just seem to be vying for clicks and doing the bare minimum to get the traffic. 

[Noeller]

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

https://3downnation.com/2021/03/31/matt-sekeres-reporting-on-potential-cfl-xfl-partnership-has-been-insufficient-so-far/

Pretty on point. That said no one from TSN to 3downnation is really breaking any stories. They make wild claims, some contradictory and offer nothing of substance. They just seem to be vying for clicks and doing the bare minimum to get the traffic. 

every CFL beat writer in Canada was upset about that on Twitter yesterday....

[JCon]

15 minutes ago, Noeller said:

every CFL beat writer in Canada was upset about that on Twitter yesterday....

But didn't really have much of a defense. It is what it is. 

[HardCoreBlue]

12 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

You see other networks deploy the latest technology. TSN's broadcast other than the Grey Cup seems stuck in the 90's. We need better & more camera angles & the roving automated camera to show the game like pre snap formations & highlights from above.

TSN needs to show more information onscreen so it is available to fans. Like up to date real time stats for rushing, passing & receiving as well as defensive stats for tackling etc. They must do more with the coloured markers on screen for red zones, first & ten, down & distance & even directional arrows for fans who are clueless. This would include new Canadians who don't understand the game or the language. There is no innovation.

Yes, I know it's expensive to upgrade but TSN doesn't have much else for properties to broadcast other than the World Junior Tournament over Xmas. No idea why they can't do more getting the info out & improve the broadcasts.

TSN has to eliminate the many glitches during games that affect the broadcasts like power failures, loss of audio &/or video signals & pixelation.

Have a 15-30 minute post game show instead of immediately jumping to a sportscast no one really cares about.

Personally, I believe the only reason Rod Black is there is because of seniority I'd imagine. Not because he is any good. 

The part I always enjoy is when they have former coaches on providing their analysis of the game at hand. I really liked when they had on Lapo and Benevides going at each other from an offensive and defensive perspective and how they would try to counter each other using the specifics of the game to argue what adjustments need to happen. Very entertaining imo.

[Noeller]

from Dave Naylor: 

https://www.tsn.ca/dave-naylor-status-quo-may-be-the-most-treacherous-road-for-cfl-1.1616719?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

If you want to know what’s driving the Canadian Football League towards an integration with the XFL, you can start with a simple understanding.

Unless the league comes up with a vision that gives all nine teams reason to push into the future, its very existence is in jeopardy.

So, if a potential injection of cash and a new business model built around collaboration with the XFL can guarantee that all nine teams stay in the game, then that’s what the CFL has to do.

And that’s exactly why the league is pursuing this direction.

The CFL is a unique mix of three publicly owned and six privately owned franchises that operate with minimally shared revenues, in what amounts to an every-team-for-itself kind of operation.

Without a season in 2020, every team suffered significant losses, with the publicly owned Winnipeg Blue Bombers recently reporting a $7 million deficit, a figure that’s likely to be reflected in the year-end statements of every team, both public and private.

The nature of public ownership among Winnipeg, Saskatchewan and Edmonton means they will almost surely find a way to survive, or at least will be given the opportunity to adapt to the new reality. Their businesses were solid if unspectacular before COVID-19, and each team has a significant presence in its respective market.

They aren’t going anywhere, for now.

The same can be said of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, where owner Bob Young had built his team into a stable business before the pandemic.

Young, who bought the Ticats out of bankruptcy in 2003, has both the wealth and the apparent wherewithal to see his team through the league’s darkest days. The Ticats were one of the teams that pushed to play last summer. And for Young, CFL ownership has always been more about passion than profit.

The CFL’s Ottawa and Calgary franchises are owned by parent companies invested in other local sports properties. Each has been able to operate its CFL franchises without taking on great losses.

Which brings us to the CFL’s three biggest markets, starting with the Toronto Argonauts – long the league’s greatest source of concern and by far the weakest link in a Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment family of teams that also includes the Maple Leafs, Raptors, TFC and Marlies.

Bell, Larry Tanenbaum, and later full MLSE ownership, bought the Argonauts in 2015, anticipating that a move to intimate BMO Field on the shore of Lake Ontario would change the team’s image in Toronto and bring people back to the stands.

It hasn’t. Instead, amid record-low announced attendance figures, the losses have piled up.

That’s never going to sit well in a company that is all about driving revenues and franchise values. It’s going to sit even worse when MLSE hasn’t taken in ticket revenue from the Leafs or Raptors in more than a year.

MLSE is believed to be among the CFL owners most bullish on the idea of an XFL collaboration, presumably seeing it as a way to turn their football asset into something of value. It’s not hard to understand why they might rather roll the dice on an XFL venture than continue funding losses under a business model that hasn’t worked in Canada’s biggest city in 30 years.

So what if MLSE concludes that, under current conditions, the Argos just aren’t worth it under the traditional CFL business model? Would there be such a thing as a next owner of the Argonauts? Logic says the white knights disappeared the day the league allowed David Braley to own two teams.

And what then of Montreal? Gary Stern and Sid Spiegel took over the team in January of 2020 at the urging of CFL chairman of the board Dale Lastman, a boyhood friend of Stern who happens to sit at the right hand of MLSE chairman Tanenbaum.

If MLSE decided it wanted out of the CFL, would Stern and Spiegel remain committed to Montreal? It took the league a full year and a boatload of money to find the current owner of the Alouettes. How hard would it be to find someone else who wants to own the Als under the current business model?

And then there is Vancouver, where the estate of the late David Braley owns the Lions.

It’s believed Braley left the team enough money to see it through at least a couple of seasons. But does the pandemic change that equation? And how on earth could the league even begin to negotiate with potential buyers when it’s impossible to know what’s being sold?

Is this B.C. franchise part of a nine-team CFL? An 18-team CFL-XFL? Or a seven-team CFL? And what’s the business model for any of those?

Is there another owner waiting to invest in the Lions under the CFL business model? Or would the league be more likely to attract investment as part of a much bigger league, one on American television with big-money U.S. investors behind it?

The answers to any one of these questions about Toronto, Montreal and B.C. are critical to the future of the CFL.

That’s why the league needs a plan that gives all nine teams a way to see beyond the limitations of the current business model; a reason to believe that funding teams through the current pandemic-driven crisis is more than just an exercise in staving off the inevitable.

That’s where the XFL comes into the picture.

There are endless questions about how a CFL-XFL joint venture will work, but at the very least it will be different.

There will be a new business model to test and new sources of revenue to potentially tap.  

CFL teams may have been forced to open their minds to the XFL collaboration out of fear of the status quo. But emerging from dire circumstances is a broad enthusiasm about trying something new, of exploring a way for the league to reinvent itself for the future.

Make no mistake, there is going to be plenty of risk associated with an XFL-CFL venture, given all the dynamics and leaps of faith involved.

But if such a collaboration holds enough promise to keep all nine CFL franchises committed to the future, that’s going to be inherently less risky than trying to steer forward with the status quo.

[Bigblue204]

And this is just the perfect article to put out there right after your colleague calls you out for insufficient reporting. This says....exactly what everyone already knew. Congrats on wasting everyones time Naylor.

BREAKING NEWS!!!

CFL IN FINANCIAL HARDSHIPS. CHANGES NEED TO HAPPEN OR IT WON'T SURVIVE!!

There...TSN hire me.

Edited April 1, 2021 by Bigblue204

[Noeller]

I really feel like Naylor has been a typical Toronto attitude throughout this. Very "nobody cares about the CFL, so we have to do this in order to make people care", except that it's really a Toronto-only attitude. I saw a thing from Duthie this morning talking about how there's really two modes of thinking about the potential merger: The Toronto view, and Everyone Else....

[SpeedFlex27]

The reality is less people care about 3 down football in the 3 biggest markets in the CFL. All 3 are close to NFL markets, surprise, surprise. You guys can call me names but don't shoot the messenger as it's fact. The CFL business model has to change. That's what this is about. There's not a chance the CFL will survive the way things are going & if it doesn't change. It's not Toronto-centric. That's the reality of the situation, unfortunately. 

[wbbfan]

4 hours ago, Noeller said:

every CFL beat writer in Canada was upset about that on Twitter yesterday....

Im glad they are calling it out. Tbh the entire sum of my exposure to twitter is what ever i might see on the corner ticker on this site so I kinda miss a lot of stuff like that. 

[TBURGESS]

Naylor's article is another in a long line of stringing a bunch of 'what ifs' together then ending it with a conclusion. It's weak. Maybe it's right. Maybe it's wrong. It's the kind of thing that most of us could write.

Nothing has worked in Toronto for the last 30 years. That's the number 1 problem and an XFL merger won't fix it. We need 6 Bob Young's and David Braley's. They don't exist. The Pandemic is a huge problem that will eventually go away. Of course companies that own CFL teams want to make money. That's their whole reason for being. The CFL ignored young folks for generations. They can't be surprised that younger folks follow NFL instead of CFL football.

None of the above is fixed by an XFL merger. If it's doesn't fix anything then different is just different, it's not better.

[SpeedFlex27]

Well, I feel that the league is doomed the way it's going. I'm willing to try to find out if this would work. I'd rather go out with a bang than a whimper. 

[JCon]

TSN has a financial incentive for the CFL and XFL to merge. You can bet they'll continue to push the narrative that nothing can work. 

[SpeedFlex27]

28 minutes ago, JCon said:

TSN has a financial incentive for the CFL and XFL to merge. You can bet they'll continue to push the narrative that nothing can work. 

The terrible thing about this entire situation is that it'll go on & on & on.... with speculation. Hey training camps are supposed to start in 6 weeks & our Commish has said nothing about it. What a waste of space Ambrosie is. He just crawls under a rock & hides. 

[Noeller]

In fairness to Ambrosie, he did say after the news first dropped that there would be a long stretch of silence. There won't be any news for a long time. 

[SpeedFlex27]

2 hours ago, Noeller said:

In fairness to Ambrosie, he did say after the news first dropped that there would be a long stretch of silence. There won't be any news for a long time. 

we need to be talking about the upcoming season. 

[TrueBlue4ever]

10 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

we need to be talking about the upcoming season. 

Who’s stopping you? You have gone on about the merger rumours as much of not not than anyone here. Take a break from this thread and jump to the other ones. 

[JCon]

1 hour ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

Who’s stopping you? You have gone on about the merger rumours as much of not not than anyone here. Take a break from this thread and jump to the other ones. 

There has been no information on the start of the season. The players are reporting in month or not or ???

We don't know. We don't even know under what conditions they need to get it going. 

[TrueBlue4ever]

41 minutes ago, JCon said:

There has been no information on the start of the season. The players are reporting in month or not or ???

We don't know. We don't even know under what conditions they need to get it going. 

Training camps open in early May. Pre-season starts May 23. Regular season starts June 10. That information has been out since December. 
 

Of course I know that is not what you mean, but that is the information and as of now it is current. League has been up front about it being dictated by health regulations and subject to change, but so far they have not changed that target, despite the rumour mongering from the media and the impatience on the message boards. So just accept those dates as gospel for now, and if/when Health Canada declares the red alert lockdowns extending into June you, I, Randy Ambrosie, and everyone else will find out together. My season tickets have been renewed as of March 15 by the club (at least they took the money off my credit card) so I am sure they won’t forget to tell me if there is an alteration.