CFL expansion

[ujju2]

US Teams - didn't work the first time, keep the CFL in Canada.

As for Canadian Teams...

1. Halifax. They deserve another shot at a CFL team. Bring back the Atlantic Schooners.

2. Quebec City. Be a good rivalry with Montreal.

3. London or Victoria, maybe Thunder Bay?

I seem to agree...

[DS729]

US could work, but it would need to be medium-sized markets with hardly any football of any kind (including college and minor american football leagues) Portland, Rochester, Salt Lake City, and Grand Rapids could all be options. All have over a million metropolitan population and no really major football teams.

[randyc]

THIS THREAD IS USELESS! This is not what the concept forum is meant for.

The description even says, "Got a sports logo or uniform design to show off to the world? Looking for some constructive criticism? This is the place to post it."

Posts like these are becoming too frequent around here.

Oh how times have changed in the concepts forum, and not for the better.

[shark]

Agree with previous comments here that (1) the expansion should be left to Canadian cities only and (2) some logo concepts...no matter how good or poor...should follow soon to keep the thread topical.

Having said that, wanted to take a quick shot at the 16-team CFL with a proposal that first moves to a 12-team league to reduce risk and test expansion concepts before moving to 16 teams. Relied heavily on other posters' knowledge of Canadian markets for adding cities and teams below.

PHASE ONE:

After Ottawa, would add an additional team to the Toronto and Vancouver areas to test plausibility of multiple teams in an existing market. Out East, worth adding back the Atlantic Schooners--but perhaps with a twist. Split it between Halifax and Moncton with a portion of home games at each city to create scarcity and allow for one market to take over should the other fail to provide financial support (think of it as a Green Bay/Milwaukee split that existed throughout the 80's). For the division idea below, had to temporarily break up Toronto and Hamilton to help provide stability of three existing franchises in each division (e.g. Toronto with Mississauga for city rivalry someone mentioned). For what it's worth, I'd call Victoria the Victoria Victors. Couldn't resist that one.

• WEST - Victoria, British Columbia, Edmonton, Calgary
• CENTRAL - Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Mississauga, Toronto
• EAST - Hamilton, Ottawa, Montreal, Atlantic

PHASE TWO:

Would go with newer markets like Quebec City, London, and up and coming Kelowna to broaden the footprint of the CFL. With one more team needed to reach 16 and balance the divisions, went with a suburban Vancouver team people were talking about (could reduce travel costs in division). Realigned divisions restore the Toronto/Hamilton rivalry.

• PACIFIC - Victoria, British Columbia, Surrey, Kelowna
• PRAIRIE - Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg
• UPPER - London, Mississauga, Toronto, Hamilton
• ATLANTIC - Ottawa*, Montreal, Quebec City, Atlantic

* - Yeah, Upper as well, but had to break out someone.

Feel free to run with any of the ideas here. Thought it would be fun to take a shot at this with all the ideas of cities others proposed and create something based on a multi-phase approach.

[burgundy]

THIS THREAD IS USELESS! This is not what the concept forum is meant for.

The description even says, "Got a sports logo or uniform design to show off to the world? Looking for some constructive criticism? This is the place to post it."

Posts like these are becoming too frequent around here.

Oh how times have changed in the concepts forum, and not for the better.

Thank you Randy.

This is not a concept, and the original poster has no intention of creating a concept. Asking others to come up with ideas, as well as designs, is not a concept. That's not how it works. Do the work yourself. It doesn't matter if you have talent or not, what matters is that you put forth the effort. If it sucks, people suggest how to make it better. Little by little, concept by concept, you learn and improve.

[dmoney]

I don't believe trying to expand to the US would be smart since they've tried and failed in the mid 90's, but I definitely think there's room for expansion within the country.. the CFL has massive potential since it's literally the only B-league or tier II for the sport of gridiron football.

All of these cities would have enough corporate support and population to fill a stadium of at least 24,000 (which is the minimum requirement for the CFL)

Mississauga - often overlooked because of it's close proximity to Toronto, the city's population 713,500 reaches up to 1.3 million including the northern suburb of Bramption. The common argument of invading Argonauts territory (which is already struggling to fill their stadium) is a weak one.. with the Greater Toronto Area population reaching almost 6 million.. adding a team could in fact create a great rivalry between the two cities. With a brand new downtown, a dense skyline with multiple skyscrapers, and plenty of major businesses/corporations (Walmart, Target, Microsoft, GE) Mississauga should be considered as one of the top cities for expansion.

Halifax - adding a team for the atlantic provinces is long overdue. Halifax being the largest of the maritime cities with a metro population of 413,700 is twice the size of Regina (Roughriders) with the province reaching a population of almost 1 million, all within close driving distance. Halifax is the economic hub of the maritimes. Halifax Common/Emera Oval could provide space for a new stadium in the inner city.

Quebec City - metro population of 765,000. The university team Rouge et Or is one the best in Canada and has averaged crowds of around 20,000. Plenty of room at the University to upgrade or build a new stadium.

London - metro population of half a million. Plenty of room to upgrade the TD Waterhouse stadium at the University of Western Ontario

Other future expansion teams could include Scarborough/Markham and Laval

c-Toronto Argonauts 1 970 000 (metro 2.6m)

c-Mississauga Warriors 720 000 (metro 1.3m)

c-Hamilton Tiger-Cats 520 000 (metro .8m)

c-London Westerns 370 000 (metro .5m)

c-Scarborough 630 000 (metro 1m)

e-Montreal Allouettes 1 650 000 (metro 2.1m)

e-Ottawa Redblacks 880 000 (metro 1.2m)

e-Quebec Force 520 000 (metro .8m)

e-Halifax Rainmen 390 000 (metro .5m)

e-Laval 410 000 (metro .5m)

w-Calgary Stampeders 1 100 000 (metro 1.3m)

w-Vancouver (BC) Lions 950 000 (metro 1.2m)

w-Edmonton Eskimos 820 000 (metro 1.2m)

w-Winnipeg Blue Bombers 670 000 (metro .9m)

w-Regina (Sask.) Roughriders 190 000 (metro .2m)

Mississauga skyline:

Halifax skyline:

Quebec skyline:

London skyline:

Scarborough skyline:

Laval skyline: