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Post by tigermaskxxxvii on Sept 1, 2015 16:45:57 GMT -5
Off Topic (and now the FAN's World of Sport sub-board of Off Topic) has the NFL thread (that goes year round), Arena/Indoor Football thread, and the College Football thread. But I have never seen a CFL thread (despite having some Canadian posters). Which got me thinking, how popular is the CFL? I am an American who watches games when they show up on ESPN 2. Usually I do this in the summer as a way to get over my NFL withdrawals. Now obviously the CFL is at best a niche product here in the United States watched by hardcore football fans who don't want to wait for the fall to watch some gridiron action, people who watch it for the novelty of seeing football played on a longer, wider field, with an extra man, one less down and a completely different cast of characters, or Canadian ex-patriots (or Canadaphiles). But how popular is the CFL up in the True North? Obviously football, like anything else is gonna be in the shadow of hockey. But with that said, how popular is the CFL up in Canada?
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Post by Muskrat on Sept 1, 2015 17:03:07 GMT -5
They did a poll a year or two ago, and CFL came in 2nd only to NHL in percentage of the population who regularly watch the different sports. It's a pretty big deal here, especially in Saskatchewan where the Riders are like a religion
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Urethra Franklin
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Post by Urethra Franklin on Sept 1, 2015 18:34:43 GMT -5
It depends.
It's big in the Prairies and in Alberta. Saskatchewan is easily the most popular team in the country.
In Toronto and Vancouver, nobody gives a shit. It might as well be a high school sport for how little attention is paid to it in Toronto.
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Post by Nickybojelais on Sept 1, 2015 19:32:19 GMT -5
The thing which makes me uninterested in the CFL is the fact that you play more regular season games than the NFL and after that only eliminate 3 out of the 9 teams at the end of it.
We get quite a lot of coverage of it in the UK, but I really cant get into it. It also doesn't help that the latter half of the CFL season coincides with the NFL and College Football seasons.
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Lupin the Third
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Post by Lupin the Third on Sept 1, 2015 20:22:48 GMT -5
It's a fun game to watch, especially since a lot of the players from the IFL move up to the CFL.
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Post by HMARK Center on Sept 2, 2015 11:31:02 GMT -5
I've traveled quite a bit to Toronto in recent years, and I do notice during the summers that a lot of places at least have whatever CFL Game of the Week is on at the time on a given weekend night.
That said, I can see what a lot of the Canadian posters here are saying; not exactly much in the way of Argonauts gear being worn around downtown Toronto when I've been up there.
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Phil Parent
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Post by Phil Parent on Sept 4, 2015 23:58:04 GMT -5
In Montreal, I'd say the Alouettes are USUALLY the 2nd most popular team in town, way way behind the Habs. Games are well attended and you see some Als caps around town.
However, the MLS' Impact easily can get more press than them whenever they play in the Champions League. That win VS Pachuca with THAT miraculous Cameron Porter goal got as much press as any Habs game in my lifetime.
If the Expos come back, the Alouettes will go down to 3rd.
All in all, it's a niche but well-supported product and also, IMO, a fun football product. I'm a fan.
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El Pollo Guerrera
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Post by El Pollo Guerrera on Sept 5, 2015 1:31:46 GMT -5
I wish the CFL would pick up some new teams. There's only 9 teams playing a 20-week schedule, so (to me) it feels like you've seen all the games before. Lowering the requirements for a city to buy into the league would be a boost. Halifax and St. John's could use a team, so could Quebec City... Mississauga, Saskatoon, Victoria, London...
Shorter season, more teams, more excitement.
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Post by tigermaskxxxvii on Sept 5, 2015 23:49:42 GMT -5
I wish the CFL would pick up some new teams. There's only 9 teams playing a 20-week schedule, so (to me) it feels like you've seen all the games before. Lowering the requirements for a city to buy into the league would be a boost. Halifax and St. John's could use a team, so could Quebec City... Mississauga, Saskatoon, Victoria, London... Shorter season, more teams, more excitement. While watching CFL games, it's interesting to watch (again, because while mostly the same as the American game there are some key differences and that makes it fascinating to me) but it is hard to totally get into games without a rooting interest in a team. I root for the scores to be tight so the games are interesting, but that's it. Which brings me to your point to CFL expansion. The CFL expanding to Atlantic Canada would give me a rooting interest since my maternal grandmother who migrated to America from one of the Atlantic provinces (I want to say Labrador. She was only three when she came down here, but still counts!) and a paternal great grandfather who came down from either New Brunswick or Nova Scotia (working as a medic at lumberjack camps on his way down. Very Canadian way to emigrate!). So reading a Wikipedia entry on the conditional CFL franchise, the Atlantic Schooners fills me with some regret as it would have given me a team to root for. Hell, I'm from Massachusetts and according to the Schooner's Wikipedia page they even bought their scoreboard from the New England Patriots! It's everything I ever could have wanted from a Canadian football team!
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Post by EvenBaldobombHasAJob on Sept 6, 2015 21:28:06 GMT -5
it's more popular out west, but everyone watches the Grey Cup.
to this day I'm still wrapping my head around how a league with 9 teams had 2 called the Roughriders.
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El Pollo Guerrera
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Post by El Pollo Guerrera on Sept 7, 2015 15:11:41 GMT -5
it's more popular out west, but everyone watches the Grey Cup. to this day I'm still wrapping my head around how a league with 9 teams had 2 called the Roughriders. Not anymore... when Ottawa started up again last year they changed their name to the Ottawa Redblacks. Original, I know.
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Post by OGBoardPoster2005 on Sept 7, 2015 20:34:12 GMT -5
CFL fans, if the NFL decided to annex the CFL (which they don't seem interested in doing, but they will broadcast it, which I like), what teams could make it in the NFL, if any? Of course they'd have roster overhauls. Also would you support the teams still?
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Post by EvenBaldobombHasAJob on Sept 7, 2015 21:23:01 GMT -5
it's more popular out west, but everyone watches the Grey Cup. to this day I'm still wrapping my head around how a league with 9 teams had 2 called the Roughriders. Not anymore... when Ottawa started up again last year they changed their name to the Ottawa Redblacks. Original, I know. oh I'm well aware. Redblacks is a terrible name.
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Post by EvenBaldobombHasAJob on Sept 7, 2015 21:24:19 GMT -5
CFL fans, if the NFL decided to annex the CFL (which they don't seem interested in doing, but they will broadcast it, which I like), what teams could make it in the NFL, if any? Of course they'd have roster overhauls. Also would you support the teams still? Toronto, and MAYBE Montreal/Vancouver have the market to support an NFL franchise but the CFL is run for considerably less money than the NFL is (top end salaries are a couple hundred thousand dollars); I doubt anyone who owns a CFL franchise could afford an NFL team.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2015 22:07:34 GMT -5
It depends. It's big in the Prairies and in Alberta. Saskatchewan is easily the most popular team in the country. In Toronto and Vancouver, nobody gives a shit. It might as well be a high school sport for how little attention is paid to it in Toronto. It's not that big in Alberta. Like I would argue that the Stampeders and Eskimos have a pretty big fanbase but they probably don't compare to Winnipeg since they only had The Blue Bombers when the Jets left town. The Eskimos fanbase was huge in the 70's-80's regularly selling out commonwealth stadium of games of 50-60K plus. Now they only get those numbers if the Roughriders are having a good season
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MolotovMocktail
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Post by MolotovMocktail on Sept 13, 2015 21:30:16 GMT -5
Are there any NHL owners who also own CFL teams? Could Quebecor (the group behind the potential new NHL Quebec team) possibly try to get a CFL team in Quebec City?
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Post by Muskrat on Sept 14, 2015 4:01:24 GMT -5
CFL fans, if the NFL decided to annex the CFL (which they don't seem interested in doing, but they will broadcast it, which I like), what teams could make it in the NFL, if any? Of course they'd have roster overhauls. Also would you support the teams still? 3 of the 9 teams are actually community owned, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Saskatchewan so they'd be DOA unless the NFL grandfathered them in similar to Green Bay. And even then, it quite possibly wouldn't be feasible. Calgary is owned by the owners of the Calgary Flames, Hitmen, their AHL team and their NLL team so they could likely afford an NFL team. Bell Media, who are purchasing the Toronto Argonauts, while also owning large stakes in both the Canadiens and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment which owns the Leafs, Raptors, Toronto FC and more would definitely be able to afford it. Other then that, I doubt anyone in the CFL could afford an NFL team.
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ICBM
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Post by ICBM on Sept 15, 2015 7:40:11 GMT -5
I catch it to get my fix in summer and I usuallywatch a bit late in the season. I like how fast it is. They tried us expansion in the 90's and it went over like a fart in church. But I think they could do moderate expansion again in places like Minot or Botino North Dakota or possibly Bismarck, Great Falls, Sioux Falls, Northern Minnesota and or Buffalo/Syracuse on the east.
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Post by tigermaskxxxvii on Sept 15, 2015 19:54:47 GMT -5
it's more popular out west, but everyone watches the Grey Cup. to this day I'm still wrapping my head around how a league with 9 teams had 2 called the Roughriders. Not anymore... when Ottawa started up again last year they changed their name to the Ottawa Redblacks. Original, I know. What exactly is a Redblack? Is it just a matter of fact way of mentioning the team's colors as part of their name? Or is it some slang term for a lumberjack and the red and black pattern of their plaid flannel? I'm basing the latter theory mainly on the Big Joe mascot.
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Post by EvenBaldobombHasAJob on Sept 15, 2015 21:37:26 GMT -5
Not anymore... when Ottawa started up again last year they changed their name to the Ottawa Redblacks. Original, I know. What exactly is a Redblack? Is it just a matter of fact way of mentioning the team's colors as part of their name? Or is it some slang term for a lumberjack and the red and black pattern of their plaid flannel? I'm basing the latter theory mainly on the Big Joe mascot. they're probably just going for "laziest team name ever". no idea why they didn't go with Ottawa Renegades again, or go back to being the Roughriders (because 2 teams having the same name in a 9 team league is hilarious).
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