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Marketing to newcomers to Canada is an important step. The Raptors when they started did this, as well as trying to get more woman going to the games and they've built a great fanbase.

Ballentine on 3DN stole my "Madden" take, so now I would like to formally disown it.

Ottawa vs Montreal would make much more sense just based on proximity - it's 2 1/2 hours away. It also doesn't 'dilute' the Argos / TiCats rivalry. Regardless, those things have to happen organically and can't be forced but making it a traditional labour day / labour day weekend matchup would be a good start.

The thing is the casual fan would be hardly aware of the rules in any depth. It's such a weird thing to focus on in the context of the business issues surrounding the league and franchises. Almost like they are in denial of what the problems actually are. They've totally ****** up the schedule. They end up competing against the NHL playoffs now to kick off the season. Everyone has drained their bank accounts in many CFL markets on NHL just as CFL is starting, not to mention the complete lack of media around the CFL.

Although my initial reaction to these rule and field changes was "Huh?" (and that’s putting it mildly), I'll hold off a bit before passing judgement, give myself some time to read other folks' thoughts and think about it myself. However, I have read that the CFL grand poohbahs did not consult Football Canada, U Sports and the league’s players and coaches about these changes. And, of course, they did not consult CFL fans. Did these tall foreheads in the Centre of the Universe not think this thing through or are they playing 3-dimensional chess while the rest of us are playing checkers? I think it may be the former.

Gone is the excitement of a late comeback where a team gets about midfield and tries the long walk off field goal to win. Now you need to advance to the 35 yard line for that same field goal chance. Assuming the playclock starts ticking from 35 inside 3 minutes anyway odds are you don't have time to come back anyhow. At least sheahan will finally be useful to have with all the short punts that will be happening. Louder for those in the back (or league office) Shouldn't cost what it does to take my family to a game in calgarys shitty stadium.

There’s no quick fix, but every franchise needs to start building new fan bases if they want the league to survive. 1. Marketing the party atmosphere like Winnipeg and Sask have. This might be tougher for Toronto and Montreal, BC has had varying success. Every team should have their own version of our Rum Hit dynamic. The games need to come across like they’re more fun than watching at home. Let Montreal have their horns. Market the old Arrrgoooos chant hard. More themed games. The Stampede Bowl thing in Calgary did really well. Have more fixed scheduled games every year. Toronto and Ottawa rivalry needs to be built more, they could have “The Capitol Clash” on thanksgiving or something every year. Aside from Argos/Ticats, there’s no real rivalries out east like we have on the prairies. 2. Build the fanbase from the ground up. Investing in amateur football at all levels is paramount. Get players and mascots to do elementary school appearances, start kids CFL flag leagues. Anything to get younger fans growing up loving the game. Run promotions where kids tickets are free/discounted. Get merch out to schools to run “Win a jersey” contests. Work with newcomers associations and community groups to provide merch/promo tickets/whatever. Lower the bloody ticket prices in certain sections. How many of us grew up going to games in the Safeway Endzone or whatever it was called before that? There’s nothing like that here anymore, I’m not sure about the rest of the city. We probably lost an entire generation or more of fans. The league needs a new younger fanbase, and imo the way to build that is to make the league/players accessible, and going games affordable. It’s the only thing the CFL can offer from a marketing perspective that the NFL can’t.

It will 100% lower scoring. Thats what i cant figure out about all this. You cant attract fans so youre going to make the games lower scoring and less exciting?? Shorter endzones = less TD's. Uprights at the back of the endzone = less field goals/more punts, so longer fields for the offenses to travel/way less if any exciting missed field goal returns. I dont understand. Like WTF is this??

It was kind of an odd time to announce these changes. I can't think of a reason why they couldn't have waited to the off season. "I know some of the most exciting CFL ball is about to be played, instead of ramping up that excitement, lets do our best to kill most of the joy our fans are feeling!"

The NFL invests more into minor Football in Canada than the CFL (I'm talking league not individual teams) does. "Why can't we attract new fans? It must be the rules!"

The league has two wildly successful franchises, two or three that are struggling to attract and keep fans (one of those in the biggest market) and the rest somewhere in the middle but likely not turning a profit. The business can't sustain itself with status quo. So yes, I would agree there is desperation here.

I enjoyed it when he used to have the running gag with Damon (one of my favorite actors). Every now and then I'll watch Silverman's video she made with Damon and Kimmel's followup video with Affleck. That was some good ****.

@bluto are you familiar with the renovations at BMO field for the World Cup? Was there any chance the new layout was going to accommodate a 110 yard field with 18 or 20 yard enzones? Maybe thats what spearheaded the new field sizes.

Just in case anyone hasn’t see this.

At the announcement they had the Grey Cup sitting on the fan base. How many of those that spent 400 bucks to have their names engraved in the base are happy with all the changes?

I'll be okay in the long run.

Lawler

Killed any enthusiasm i had for what should be the best time in a CFL season.

We should consider ourselves lucky...he wanted the ability to raise ticket prices in the middle of games.

Let's hope so. With the CFL announcement today, I'm finding it hard to get excited about the game. Maybe I will be by game time, I dunno.

That's gotta be it, but man at this point let's just fold Toronto to save the league.

Well, we're not considered major league anymore so it is what it is. The league will follow the money.

Lots of money to be made on American minor league football.

I think the CFL is a lot closer to folding for good than we know to do this. I think there's a sense of desperation here. Fans in other CFL cities just don't go to games anymore. And I predict more changes are coming.