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Around the League: 2019 Off Season


SpeedFlex27
Message added by Rich

For minor off-season non-Bomber CFL news.  Any significant stories or news that is likely to generate significant discussion may have its own thread created. General Bomber news can be found here.

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22 minutes ago, Goalie said:

Winnipeg is actually more of a sportstown than Toronto is. Plz never use Toronto as a comparison to us EVER. 

How do you figure?

And I think Noeller's point in spot on. The Bills Toronto Series was a joke, despite the city's proximity to Buffalo. Maybe the idea of a one-off game could gain more traction but I can't say I'd expect a pre-season NFL game here in Winnipeg to be any more successful, regardless of the participant teams.

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There will be people who want to go because they're NFL fans (God knows why, but whatever).  If nothing else it might bring some people into the stadium who haven't been there before and you never know, maybe they'll come back for a Bomber game.   Couple that with the potential of making a little money, and why not!

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1 hour ago, max power said:

If they're talking about week 3 of the preseason, isn't that when teams usually play their starters the most?

I think some of you are underestimating the amount of NFL fans in Manitoba. Anecdotally, I probably know more people who follow the NFL than really care about the CFL much at all.  When the Bombers are bad they make fun of the whole league, and when the Bombers are good, they might get into it a tiny bit and go to a couple games.  But every week they're devoting their Sunday to the NFL.  I like the NFL too, but I think they're ridiculous. But there are a lot of them.

How many people would come watch from Grand Forks if the Vikings or Packers were involved? That is, if people in Grand Forks would even know how to find Winnipeg.

Ah yes, the "The NFL is bigger then the CFL in Canada " argument. 

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Apparently there is an interesting sidelight to this Raider story. The NFL has a procedure which states that if an exhibition game or game that is played outside of NFL-sanctioned stadia, they require that the NFL will run EVRYTHING- essentially, the NFL sends a whole squad of their people, you give them the keys to stadium. Then you retreat to a safe distance, wait for them to run the whole show and facility, then give you the keys back. Presumably, the keys would be accompanied by a fat cheque, or a cheque at least.

Not sure how well this would sit with the folks here.

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18 minutes ago, Tracker said:

Apparently there is an interesting sidelight to this Raider story. The NFL has a procedure which states that if an exhibition game or game that is played outside of NFL-sanctioned stadia, they require that the NFL will run EVRYTHING- essentially, the NFL sends a whole squad of their people, you give them the keys to stadium. Then you retreat to a safe distance, wait for them to run the whole show and facility, then give you the keys back. Presumably, the keys would be accompanied by a fat cheque, or a cheque at least.

Not sure how well this would sit with the folks here.

Could work if they bring some cheap American booze...

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4 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

In terms of the Bills in Toronto series, while I know there are many NFL fans in Toronto, that doesn't mean that they're Bills fans. I too anecdotally know many NFL fans, this might draw better than we think.

I lived in Southern Ontario when the NFL "arrived". 

My perspective... 

Initially, Torontonians were excited and, why not! Another first class sporting/entertaining event coming to town. Like or not, the NFL is a big deal. 

A lot of So. Ontario fans travel to Buffalo to watch games. I can't remember the stats but it's significant. They resented the NFL coming to TO because they liked the travel and atmosphere in Buffalo. It was their "thing".

When prices were announced, the momentum died completely. It was more expensive to attend preseason game at Rogers Centre than to travel to Buffalo. Crazy.

And, they sold the games as packages. So, you needed to pre-commit to the entire series, multiple years. That was a definite no go. These were causal fans that wanted to see the NFL, not the hard cores. The hard cores already bought in down in Buffalo. 

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Just now, max power said:

Well yes, I specifically said "anecdotally"...  Do you not think that there are lots of NFL fans in Winnipeg?

I know lots of people that are hardcore NFL fans. But, they go to see regular season games and travel.

If the tickets were cheap, they'll go the game. But they won't be cheap and they won't go to a preseason game. 

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Interesting that the NFL is offering this match-up to only the strongest CFL markets, I don't think that's by coincidence.   At one time the NFL acted as a benevolent big brother to the CFL allowing it  to prosper and helping it out however it could, now they couldn't give a **** whether it survives or fails, quite happy to shove a vacuum hose up their asses to collect a few more loose coins.  

Edited by Throw Long Bannatyne
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16 minutes ago, blue_gold_84 said:

I'm sure there are. There's also a ton of them in the GTA, too. But we all know what happened with the Bills Toronto Series. 

True, but I'm guessing the earlier Bills game in Toronto sold out before they turned it into a series, no?

Winnipeg seems to have a pretty good track record supporting one-time big sporting events too. If you can call an NFL preseason game a big event, I guess.

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5 minutes ago, max power said:

True, but I'm guessing the earlier Bills game in Toronto sold out before they turned it into a series, no?

Winnipeg seems to have a pretty good track record supporting one-time big sporting events too. If you can call an NFL preseason game a big event, I guess.

No, they didn't. Priced wayyy too high. 

From Wiki: 

Preseason games[edit]

Date Visitor Score Home Stadium Attendance
August 14, 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers 21–24 Buffalo Bills Rogers Centre 48,434[57]
August 19, 2010 Indianapolis Colts 21–34 Buffalo Bills Rogers Centre 39,583[58]

Regular season games[edit]

Date Visitor Score Home Stadium Attendance
December 7, 2008 Miami Dolphins 16–3 Buffalo Bills Rogers Centre 52,134[59]
December 3, 2009 New York Jets 19–13 Buffalo Bills Rogers Centre 51,567[60]
November 7, 2010 Chicago Bears 22–19 Buffalo Bills Rogers Centre 50,746[61]
October 30, 2011 Washington Redskins 0–23 Buffalo Bills Rogers Centre 51,579[62]
December 16, 2012 Seattle Seahawks 50–17 Buffalo Bills Rogers Centre 40,770[63]
December 1, 2013 Atlanta Falcons 34–31 (OT) Buffalo Bills Rogers Centre 38,969[64]


If I remember correctly, they dropped ticket prices and gave away a ton of tickets right before the preseason games. 

Edited by JCon
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1 hour ago, Tracker said:

Apparently there is an interesting sidelight to this Raider story. The NFL has a procedure which states that if an exhibition game or game that is played outside of NFL-sanctioned stadia, they require that the NFL will run EVRYTHING- essentially, the NFL sends a whole squad of their people, you give them the keys to stadium. Then you retreat to a safe distance, wait for them to run the whole show and facility

On second thought...if the NFL were running a Golden Corral restaurant in the stadium...I would definitely go!!

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2 hours ago, Tracker said:

Apparently there is an interesting sidelight to this Raider story. The NFL has a procedure which states that if an exhibition game or game that is played outside of NFL-sanctioned stadia, they require that the NFL will run EVRYTHING- essentially, the NFL sends a whole squad of their people, you give them the keys to stadium. Then you retreat to a safe distance, wait for them to run the whole show and facility, then give you the keys back. Presumably, the keys would be accompanied by a fat cheque, or a cheque at least.

Not sure how well this would sit with the folks here.

Identical to FIFA. 

When we hosted the Women's World Cup, the Bombers turned the keys over to FIFA and they took over.

If I remember correctly, the Canada Summer Games was similar too. Get the keys, take over responsibility (including insurance), and put up your signage. 

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