Fixing the CFL

All that glitters is not gold.
- The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare

TSN tv contract killed the CFL is what I'm saying.

Not intentionally. It was done with the best of intentions.

But in the CFL's haste to get a better TV contract they gave up control of the league.
And so the league became a TV product and not a fan product.

Thus no attendance in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

When do they play? When does the CFL play its games?

You have no idea do you? Neither do I.

When the CFL was on the CBC it was generally a Saturday game and maybe the odd game on Sunday, but generally you knew what time the game was on.

And now? No idea. None.

And so the CFL's greatest marketing ploy - knowing when the games were on - is gone.

TSN wanted games on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday... blah.

Sure, tv ratings in Saskatchewan are terrific. Dedicated fans no doubt. The prairies love their CFL and God bless them. But outside of that market? Not so much.

If you're going to be a Canadian Football League then you need to bind the nation together on one day - and that was Saturday on the CBC. What fans the CFL had would be able to watch the other teams on Saturday and then their team play as well. And so you kind of knew who was the QB of Hamilton if you were in Vancouver. But now? No idea.

You made me work for it - and in big cities like Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto with only mild interest in the CFL - uhh, no thanks. I've got other things to do. And so it became not a league of Canadian teams - it became something on TSN.

And so people stopped showing up and downward spiral followed.

Not only that - Rogers - the largest sports network in Canada - gave the middle finger to the CFL for being solely on TSN, a Bell product - and stopped reporting on it. And the CBC stopped being involved and off the rails she came.

So job one - get off TSN and back to the CBC. One game on TSN, one game on Rogers, two games on CBC - play only on Saturdays.

Job two - expansion.

Anchorage, Victoria, Halifax, Quebec City, Kamloops, Mississauga, St. Johns - play at the local universities - setup some temporary seats - get 15,000 out to the games. Stop dreaming of 30,000 seat stadiums in cities. Not happening. Expansion will create interest in the game which is sorely missing. Get 5,000 fans on each side and 2,500 in the end zones. That's what the CFL is. Stop pretending you're more than that. (And yes, Anchorage is not Canadian but it might as well be and Americans love them some football so do it. They can be honorary Canadians and they'll bring a ton of life to the league and show us how it's done).

Job three - kill video reviews and coach challenges. You've got 2 hours. Get the game over and done in 2 hours. Don't pretend you're the NFL and can do 3 hours. You can't. Get fans in, get them out.

Job four - price. It's the PNE or CNE - it's a circus event - it's not a sporting event - stop thinking of it as anything more than the Calgary Stampede or Canadian wrestling. Get back to the roots get out of the professional ranks - drop the prices - get fans in the building.

Job five - Canadian quarterbacks - only Canadian quarterbacks. Stop giving the prime time job to Americans in a "Canadian" league. What's the point of joining football in Canada if you can't play anywhere? It's a stupid idea. You're selling Canada - make it Canadian.

Job six - Original uniforms - stop playing with them put them back.

Job seven - Get the advertisements off the field and off the uniforms - you're turning off fans who see the NFL and then that... and well.. it's minor league, isn't it?

Job eight - get rid of anything that kills offense, such as the extra import on defense. It's killing the game.

Job nine - salary cap of $80,000 per player maximum. It is what it is and for 18 games in five months it's a really good amount of money.

Now, can the CFL walk away from TSN and lose tv money? That's another story.
It would take great courage to think growing the game and walking away from a safe thing.

But if you're getting 5,000 fans in Toronto and Vancouver and Montreal to a game - you're toast anyways.

And that's what the CFL has to understand - it's toast. It's done. It's finished. And so desperate times call for desperate measures - and that's going back old school and getting back into the "Fair" business and out of the sports business.

Sell a good, affordable, quicky product that is easily digestible and looks half decent that is coast-to-coast. Stop thinking you can duplicate Saskatchewan around the country. You can't. There's too much to do in BC or Ontario etc.

That's not what the CFL is anyways.