The new cfl

[JQK]

Eastern Provincial Football Conference

Toronto

Montreal

Hamilton

Ottawa

Syracuse

Western Canada Football Conference

Saskatchewan

Edmonton

Winnipeg

Calgary

British Columbia

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New Team In East: To give the league balance. Syracuse, NY, or another suitable eastern city should get a CFL franchise. This is not a road to expantionisim, just a one shot deal to bring balance.

14 Game Regular Season (2x divisional, 1x all other teams, one extra game, scheduled every year as league sees fit)

Playoffs: Top 2 teams make playoffs in each conference. Higher seed gets home field.

Grey Cup: No longer at neutral site. Grey Cup held at home of team with the better record. If teams records are tied, head-to-head results are used to determine host. If Teams head-to-head record is tied (it can happen with the extra game), A coin flip will decide who hosts.

[Mac the Knife]

The CFL won't be returning south of the border anytime soon. The 90's experiment burned the league almost to the point of extinction, so I don't see that happening again. If they expand beyond 9 teams (which they've talked about for years now), look for a Halifax, Quebec or similarly sized Canadian city to get the nod.

You'll also never see the league reduce its regular season schedule to 14 games, nor intentionally give a team home-field in the Grey Cup.

In the case of the regular season, the league and its teams simply can't afford the loss in revenue cutting 4 games would result in. In the case of the Grey Cup, its become a heavily structured event for the host city in recent years, similar to the NFL's Super Bowl. Having it be a transient game (with the site not determined until a week before) would be disastrous for the CFL from both a logistical and revenue perspective.

The only significant change I'd make is to realign divisions, and to modify the playoff and scheduling formats slightly.

Eastern: Hamilton, Montreal, Toronto.

Central: Ottawa, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg.

Western: British Columbia, Calgary, Edmonton.

Playoff Mods: 3 division champs and 3 wild-cards, playing a format identical to the one the NFL uses to determine the American/National Conference champions.

Schedule Mods: Each team plays the other 2 teams in its division three times each (for 6 games). Each team also plays the league's other six teams twice each (for 12 games, or 18 total).

One other thing: I'd find a way, even if I had to give the rights away, to get the CFL on a United States television outlet that has nationwide viewer saturation (ESPN/ESPN2, Spike, TNT, or some other network) greater than AmericaOne or whatever the name of that 'network' they're hooked up with has.  While US expansion may not be in the cards, having exposure south of the border would definitely help the league with potential corporate partners and advertisers.

[yh]

Actually, I like the idea of having a northern U.S. mid-market team like Syracuse in the league.  I think the CFL learned its lesson in trying to saturate the U.S. market, but one team in a geographically proximate market might actually help, especially with TV if a regional FOX Sportsnet outlet broadcasts the games.  My question is whether the CarrierDome is large enough to fit a CFL field.  My understanding is that the place is just big enough to fit an NCAA football field.

[CC97]

I heard rumours about teams in Syracuse, Portland, Boise, Fargo, in years past... I think that would be a smart US expansion.

But it'll likely never happen.  I would count on future CFL teams going to Halifax, Quebec, London, and Saskatoon... in that order.

[GMac]

S'toon???? I think not... lets face it even though they are at the bottom of your list CC there is no chance of them having 2 teams in Sask... practically everyone (with a few exceptions such as my dad and brother who are bomber fans yeah it gets violent come labour day) in this province is a Rider Prider and I know people who drive almost 4 hours for every rider game then drive back... hell, to test out the stands for grey cup 6% of the provinces population was at that game... i dont think there is room for 2 teams with a population this small...

[NJTank]

The CFL on the blue turf in Boise would be perfect

[JQK]

Boise would be cool, but they need an eastern team.. Halifax or Quebec would be perfect, i just figured if they get one american team, they can try and just peek inside the American conscienceness, and try to at least get a cult following down here... nothing big, but have it known...

The problem they had a few years ago is they went BIG TIME into the American market, and as the XFL taught us, as the USFL, WFL have taught us, if you try to go too big, too fast, you'll die... and they almost did. (San Antonio Texans: Best Logo)

[habsfannova]

The CFL on the blue turf in Boise would be perfect

I'll be for having an American CFL team when we have an NFL team.  Until then, it shouldn't happen.  Same argument for not having HNIC:  American pressure will ruin the sport.

My CFL dream?  Massive expansion:

East

Montreal

New Brunswick

Nova Scotia

Quebec

Ontario

London

Ottawa

Hamilton

Toronto

Praries

Winnipeg

Saskatoon

Saskatchewan(Regina)

Moose Jaw

West

Kelowna

Calgary

BC

Edmonton

17 games, 3 against teams in the division, 4 against teams in the other confrence division, 1 against all the other confrence.  Three preseason against division.

It's a dream, hopefully it might come true.

[Phil]

with a few exceptions such as my dad and brother who are bomber fans yeah it gets violent come labour day

See... I knew there had to be at least 2 intelligent lifeforms in that province! J/K...

As much as I love both leagues, I hope the NFL never comes north and the CFL never goes south. Why's this? Well, then the next step would be to make it official and call it the NF2, or something ridiculous like that. One single expansion into the Atlantic provinces, and the CFL, as a 10 team league, would be perfect.

As a sidenote... the Atlantic provinces, with all their powerhouse football universities (St. Mary's, St. F-X, Acadia, etc), don't have a CFL team? Halifax is the answer.

[habsfannova]

with a few exceptions such as my dad and brother who are bomber fans yeah it gets violent come labour day

See... I knew there had to be at least 2 intelligent lifeforms in that province! J/K...

As much as I love both leagues, I hope the NFL never comes north and the CFL never goes south. Why's this? Well, then the next step would be to make it official and call it the NF2, or something ridiculous like that. One single expansion into the Atlantic provinces, and the CFL, as a 10 team league, would be perfect.

As a sidenote... the Atlantic provinces, with all their powerhouse football universities (St. Mary's, St. F-X, Acadia, etc), don't have a CFL team? Halifax is the answer.

If a stadium comes.

ALSO, the major issue with Halifax is TICKET PRICES. Remeber, this isn't the richest city in the world, and the AHl was kicked out for the cheaper QMJHL (Better hockey in the Q if ya ask me, but that was the main reason)

And one more thing for improvement:

GET THE GODDAMNED ADS OF THE FIELD!!!! It looks so bush league.

[JQK]

As much as I love both leagues, I hope the NFL never comes north and the CFL never goes south. Why's this? Well, then the next step would be to make it official and call it the NF2, or something ridiculous like that.

If i'm not mistaken the NFL has an interest in the CFL... and call me crazy, but ifthere is one thingthe NFL knows, it's tradition, they wouldn't change the name.....

[habsfannova]

PS, for those who havent' heard, the league is considering adding a 10th team officially now

It's gonna be in Quebec City or Halifax, prob whichever builds a stadium first.

http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/news_story.asp?id=60502

[hockeyzealot]

I admit I'm not a big football fan...and as someone living outside of Canada the CFL is even lower on the radar, but my interest in this thread was piqued by the following quotes:

Actually, I like the idea of having a northern U.S. mid-market team like Syracuse in the league.

The CFL on the blue turf in Boise would be perfect

I just about fell out of my chair...seeing as how I've lived in both cities and I never imagined that I'd ever see the two mentioned in the same breath.  Personally I'm not sure how that would work out, both cities have pretty die hard football fans, and I'm not sure how well they'd take to another football organization moving in.  Granted its been six years since I've lived in Boise and eleven since Syracuse, so alot may have changed...but when I was there both schools had alot of community support.  Also with Boise flights in and out can get a bit expensive since its not a major hub, and driving north/south through the state can be tricky since the major road becomes very narrow (only one lane both ways) and subject to mudslides, fires, etc.  All the same, Boise is a beautiful city with an active community that is great for pro-sports (go Steelheads!).

[hockeyzealot]

Oops...double post

[Roger Clemente]

I had a dream that Nova Scotia got a CFL team, but split all home games. Halifax played host to 5 games in a regular 35,000 seat outdoorsy stadium like Ivor Wynne or Talyor Field.  The other four home games were played in some bizarrely unlit black stadium located deep in the woods outside Sydney.  The only lights in the 30,000 seat dome were focused on the field and the only lighting in the stands were from the sort of Xmas lights going down the stairwells (like in movie theatres.)   Very bizarre, but, dare I say, prophetic.  Think B.C. Place only much more cramped and practically pitch black inside (except for the well lit field.)

--Roger "Time?" Clemente.

[Discrim]

i heard rumors of a Milwaukee team before all the american teams folded, but i ain't countin on it now.  i did always wonder why the CFL never expanded past Montreal.

[Brian in Boston]

Back in the early 1980s, the CFL was gung-ho about expanding to the Maritimes. The plan was to put a team in the Halifax area of Nova Scotia. They even went so far as to line up a preliminary ownership group (The Maritime Professional Football Club), name the team AND design the logo. The problems then were the same problems that seem to exist now: No suitable stadium and little public sentiment for financing one. Either a public-private partnership has to be developed between the provincial government, the municipal government and potential team owners... or said owners had better have mighty deep pockets.

The team was going to be known as the Atlantic Schooners and their logo was a stylized "A" with a silhouette of a schooner in the center of the letter and stylized waves at the base. The name and logo were trademarked by the MPFC in November of 1982, then abandoned in January of 1984. Interestingly enough, the last time I was on the Canadian Intellectual Property Office site (similar to the USPTO), I think I read that Labatt Brewing Company had obtained the rights to the name and logo.

Brian in Boston

[habsfannova]

Haha, Roger, being a Sydney native, most people there care about as much about football as they do about palm trees.

Hmm, interesting, the Schooners sounds just like the Argo's old logo.  VERY lame name.

[CC97]

I find it very odd that this thread was posted just 24 hours prior to the CFL announcing they will expand to either Quebec or Halifax shortly.

[NJTank]

MAybe JQK has ESP I mean he already has the letter EP in his avatar.