You be the commish! - CFL changes

[johnzo]

On 2021-10-31 at 9:56 PM, SpeedFlex27 said:

Get rid of the 18 game schedule. Go back to a 16 game schedule with 2 exhibition games. Only have one bye week & then only after the 8th game. Start training camps May long weekend. Have a controlled scrimmage with ahnother CFL team. Season starts last week of June /July long weekend & GC second or third week of November.

I agree that early byes are dumb, but how do you schedule games for nine teams in a single week without making one team play twice?  I think one team has to have a bye every week so long as we have an odd number of teams in the league.

[SpeedFlex27]

56 minutes ago, johnzo said:

I agree that early byes are dumb, but how do you schedule games for nine teams in a single week without making one team play twice?  I think one team has to have a bye every week so long as we have an odd number of teams in the league.

Yes, never considered that.

[Eternal optimist]

3 hours ago, johnzo said:

I agree that early byes are dumb, but how do you schedule games for nine teams in a single week without making one team play twice?  I think one team has to have a bye every week so long as we have an odd number of teams in the league.

Well it's either that, or we develop a few games a week that require three teams to play... or one team to play.

[SpeedFlex27]

I'd like to see the CFL consider London, Ontario as a potential expansion city so we can get to 10 teams. Having 4 teams in Ontario & all 5 Eastern teams in the same time zone would be beneficial for scheduling as well as rivalries. That & the fact that London already has a 10.000 seat stadium in place that I think can be expanded to 25,000 makes it a much better choice than Halifax. The economy is better than Halifax & London as well as Southern Ontario has the population base to draw from.  Metro London has a population of 500,000.

 

Edited November 2, 2021 by SpeedFlex27

[bearpants]

11 hours ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

I think a big reason that today’s player is less engaged and loyal to a team long term than back in the 1970’s is how big the NFL has gotten. Remember that the Argos outbid the NFL for Rocket Ismael when he signed with them, no way that will ever happen again. And the teams don’t have guaranteed contracts, so where is the incentive to sign for more than one year? So players who are looking out for their bottom line are not going to lock themselves in to a long contract if no one else is going to commit to them. 
As for ticket prices, I certainly agree that Grey Cup prices especially are out of hand now. I wonder if the league would go back to considering local blackouts for games not sold out 48 hours in advance as a way to lure fans back to the park. It used to be if you wanted to see a home game, the only way was buying a ticket. Could that work again?

I think the problem with that suggestion is then you lose casual fans who were never going to the game anyways but might tune in on TV just because football is on...

Also, it penalizes long term season ticket holders who have to miss live games due to other commitments... then they have no opportunity to watch the game...

[Pete Catan's Ghost]

Any combination of initiatives that engage the younger fan has to be explored.  In a perfect world it would be ideal to have a student section for high school kids that allocated a set number of seats for specific high schools that rotate on an annual basis. It would be up to each school to dole out the 25 seats per game. If I was in that age group, I would definitely want to go with my buddies. If not for the game, then to see the girls from the other schools.

[SpeedFlex27]

6 hours ago, Pete Catan's Ghost said:

Any combination of initiatives that engage the younger fan has to be explored.  In a perfect world it would be ideal to have a student section for high school kids that allocated a set number of seats for specific high schools that rotate on an annual basis. It would be up to each school to dole out the 25 seats per game. If I was in that age group, I would definitely want to go with my buddies. If not for the game, then to see the girls from the other schools.

The Stamps used to give seats to every  pee wee, bantam & HS team in Calgary. They all sat in one section. Four seats per team. We'd give them out to players who either played well thee game before or for the kids who practised the hardest. Then suddenly the tickets were cancelled. That section where kids sat & filled now sits virtually empty every game today. The Stamps do little, if nothing here to engage youth football. All they're doing is shooting themselvess in the foot to spite their face. 

I can also tell you how clueless some CFL owners are & totally out of touch with their fanbase. The year before these tickets were  ultimately cancelled, one of the Stamps owners at the time was a great high school & U Sport basketball player when he was young & before he became a multi millionaire. He wanted to take the tickets away from young footballers & give them to basketball teams instead. 

Edited November 2, 2021 by SpeedFlex27

[Jesse]

On 2021-11-01 at 10:55 PM, TrueBlue4ever said:

. I wonder if the league would go back to considering local blackouts for games not sold out 48 hours in advance as a way to lure fans back to the park. It used to be if you wanted to see a home game, the only way was buying a ticket. Could that work again?

100% no - for a lot of reasons.

Biggest being that TV contracts depend on that viewership. 
 

Toronto would never see a Toronto game. The TV contract would then cease to exist.

 

Also, blackouts are stupid.