The UFL season doesn't really work in Canada. Even if it was training camp in April, games May through August.

8 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

There are many questions that need answering first. What about the ratio? The timing of the season between the 2 leagues? The UFL starts training camp in February. We start in May. Spring in Canada isn't spring, especially in Western Canada.. it's still winter & bloody cold.

Then there's the number of games the CFL plays. If we drop to 10 then most CFL players will be released as the revenue to pay these contracts will no longer be there as its based on 18 games. The UFL wants to be done by July. We want to be done mid November.

Getting an agreement done for a merger with the UFL will be impossible with the CFLPA as it means the probable end of the ratio. They'll strike or take court action. So, I don't think a merger will be that easy. 

I don't believe for a second a merger is done.  Down the road, maybe? The UFL said it's looking  to expand to 16 teams by 2030. So, yes, it could happen. However. there's a lot on both sides to overcome. 

Imo, they would work it like mlb used to with the al and nl. You have an inter league stretch and play home stadium rules, then maybe you have a championship tourney mid season out of that like the nba does. 

If they did a big merge, the ratio 3 downs etc probably all go. It would probably be the death of every thing we hold dear. 

 

Time will tell, but i have no faith in this bog/commish as far as protecting/being stewards of our game. 

3 hours ago, wbbfan said:

Imo, they would work it like mlb used to with the al and nl. You have an inter league stretch and play home stadium rules, then maybe you have a championship tourney mid season out of that like the nba does. 

If they did a big merge, the ratio 3 downs etc probably all go. It would probably be the death of every thing we hold dear. 

 

Time will tell, but i have no faith in this bog/commish as far as protecting/being stewards of our game. 

The problem with the CFL is they're like a bunch of ostriches. BOG's stuck their heads in the ground ignoring all the issues that caused fans to quit watching & attending games. Thinking that everything will just magically fix itself. Well, these problems never left & half a century later, the league is in a steep decline. Now, they have to do things we never thought possible even a few months ago. 

It's like the guy who feels a bump in the wrong place & doesn't see a doctor because he's afraid he may have cancer. The problem is, if he doesn't see a doctor because he's scared & it is cancer, he'll have even more problems later. If he sees a doctory &  tumour is disgnosed early, treatment may save his life  as it was spotted early. Ignoring symptoms will cause more problems than actually seeing the doctor. That's the CFL for you. Ignoring a problem leads to even more problems down the road. 

3 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

The problem with the CFL is they're like a bunch of ostriches. BOG's stuck their heads in the ground ignoring all the issues that caused fans to quit watching & attending games. Thinking that everything will just magically fix itself. Well, these problems never left & half a century later, the league is in a steep decline. Now, they have to do things we never thought possible even a few months ago. 

It's like the guy who feels a bump in the wrong place & doesn't see a doctor because he's afraid he may have cancer. The problem is, if he doesn't see a doctor because he's scared & it is cancer, he'll have even more problems later. If he sees a doctory &  tumour is disgnosed early, treatment may save his life  as it was spotted early. Ignoring symptoms will cause more problems than actually seeing the doctor. That's the CFL for you. Ignoring a problem leads to even more problems down the road. 

Yep, that’s been the legacy of the cfl leadership for a long time. the only modern time they made a big swing was the awful expansion era and that was just greed. This one, is very similar to that but more save some teams oriented. 

No easy solutions, and no desire from the troubled franchises to do any of what’s needed 

15 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Yep, that’s been the legacy of the cfl leadership for a long time. the only modern time they made a big swing was the awful expansion era and that was just greed. This one, is very similar to that but more save some teams oriented. 

No easy solutions, and no desire from the troubled franchises to do any of what’s needed 

And Bob Irving on X keeps bragging about how great modern ownership is today. 

10 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

The UFL season doesn't really work in Canada. Even if it was training camp in April, games May through August.

Plus who gives a **** about the UFL. 

5 hours ago, Goalie said:

Plus who gives a **** about the UFL. 

The CFL does & is looking for new revenues. You can't just write the UFL off saying who gives a ****? The next year or so will tell the tale of that league. 

15 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

The CFL does & is looking for new revenues. You can't just write the UFL off saying who gives a ****? The next year or so will tell the tale of that league. 

I think you can cuz the UFL starts way 2 early. 

3 hours ago, Goalie said:

I think you can cuz the UFL starts way 2 early. 

Well, just remember that's your opinion. For what it's worth. One thing about you. If you don't like something, you just write it off saying nobody cares when you know you're wrong. So, your opinion is pretty marginalized. As far as the UFL starting too early, that league really wants to be a devlopmental league of the NFL. So, there's no way the UFL wants to go past NFL training camps & into the pre season.  They want to start early the week after the Super Bowl because they can go to 20 cities in the Sun Belt. They don't care about Kansas City, Denver or Cleveland in February. They want things wrapped up in July. Not November. So, early season with limited games. You think this new billionaire sugar daddy wants to pay his players big money? 

Edited October 7, 2025Oct 7 by SpeedFlex27

If the CFL were to merge with the UFL,   it would be within 2 years that both leagues completely fold for good.     

1 hour ago, Brandon said:

If the CFL were to merge with the UFL,   it would be within 2 years that both leagues completely fold for good.     

Won't deny that. 

Just don’t see the UFL as an option. It just doesn’t make sense. UFL is worse than the CFL. It’s really bad. Merge with them and that’s the end of football in Canada. Ppl talk about revenue. UFL don’t get any. It’s losing money. And has since it started. I mean why not wait till the UFL folds and then do American expansion but to places who actually drew crowds. So St. Louis would be one for sure. CFL would get 40k there every game probably. 
 

uFl is owned 50 percent by Fox and 50 percent by the rock and ex Wife  so I’m not even sure how you merge there. You dont. Fox wouldn’t want the CFL. I mean it’s not gonna happen. Hey guys we need interest and to grow the UFL here in America.  I know let’s merge with a league in another country. Cuz that will bring viewers to fox for sure. Ppl can’t wait to see the Saskatchewan rough riders vs the Birmingham stallions followed by Memphis vs Winnipeg in the murder capital per capita bowl. 

Edited October 7, 2025Oct 7 by Goalie

13 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Well, just remember that's your opinion. For what it's worth. One thing about you. If you don't like something, you just write it off saying nobody cares when you know you're wrong. So, your opinion is pretty marginalized. As far as the UFL starting too early, that league really wants to be a devlopmental league of the NFL. So, there's no way the UFL wants to go past NFL training camps & into the pre season.  They want to start early the week after the Super Bowl because they can go to 20 cities in the Sun Belt. They don't care about Kansas City, Denver or Cleveland in February. They want things wrapped up in July. Not November. So, early season with limited games. You think this new billionaire sugar daddy wants to pay his players big money? 

This is a really confusing statement. So do you agree with Goalie? The first part makes it seem like you don't....but then you go on and make all the points as to why the merge wouldn't really work.

Manu got his 1st NFL start this past weekend.

https://3downnation.com/2025/10/06/dan-campbell-canadian-ol-giovanni-manu-up-and-down-in-first-nfl-start-for-detroit-lions/

 

I’ll be honest. I wish tsn promoted the cfl like fox promotes the UFL tho. That would be a huge start. You can’t say fox isn’t promoting it cuz they do. I just think it’s not geared towards us Canadians. It’s not marketed towards us. Im not sure most ppl know it exists even. I don’t see how that grows anything. UFL losing viewers quicker than the cfl. 

I always thought it would be neat if they could convince some of these other leagues to adopt 3 down football.

Like... don't merge with the UFL but have them adopt CFL rules and that opens up for some exhibition games or some sort of tournament like Soccer does.

8 minutes ago, ShyGuy said:

I always thought it would be neat if they could convince some of these other leagues to adopt 3 down football.

Like... don't merge with the UFL but have them adopt CFL rules and that opens up for some exhibition games or some sort of tournament like Soccer does.

A tournament could be interesting. Or like champs play champs. They could do that probably but I’m not sure when cuz man the seasons just don’t really align very good at all. 

Edited October 7, 2025Oct 7 by Goalie

10 minutes ago, Goalie said:

A tournament could be interesting. Or like champs play champs. They could do that probably but I’m not sure when cuz man the seasons just don’t really align very good at all. 

If you bump up the UFL a month you would have that and FAM-YOX running until July I think... maybe the reigning Grey Cup champ sacrifices a preseason game and has a scheduled week 1 or 2 bye. It's messy but you can probably make it work

9 minutes ago, ShyGuy said:

If you bump up the UFL a month you would have that and FAM-YOX running until July I think... maybe the reigning Grey Cup champ sacrifices a preseason game and has a scheduled week 1 or 2 bye. It's messy but you can probably make it work

Problem is free agency right. Like every team makes atleast 1 or 2 changes every off season. So unless that game is in December in Florida. Or January at the latest in the southern USA (Florida), it’s not really the champs is it. Cuz changes even happen with the champs. And who rules you playing under? 

Edited October 7, 2025Oct 7 by Goalie

34 minutes ago, Goalie said:

Problem is free agency right. Like every team makes atleast 1 or 2 changes every off season. So unless that game is in December in Florida. Or January at the latest in the southern USA (Florida), it’s not really the champs is it. Cuz changes even happen with the champs. And who rules you playing under? 

In this fantasy land all non-NFL/NCAA leagues are playing under a unified Canadian Rules football system

The biggest problem logistically is when the teams are active I think.

The way Soccer works is you quality for in-season champions tournaments the season before, so 2024-25 qualifies you for 2025-26

You could let the UFL/FAM-YOX season play out and have their champions immediately turn around and play the latest Grey Cup champions with the lead-in to the season (read: 1 preseason game or a scheduled week 1 bye)

Or just go full carnie and find 9 non-Canadian teams, right after pre-season match every team up with an opponent, bill it as CFL vs the World and declare a winner based on aggregate.

Edited October 7, 2025Oct 7 by ShyGuy

52 minutes ago, ShyGuy said:

Or just go full carnie and find 9 non-Canadian teams, right after pre-season match every team up with an opponent, bill it as CFL vs the World and declare a winner based on aggregate.

As a CFL fan I'd have zero interest in watching the Grey Cup champion vs some American UFL team.    Nobody would care.  

The CFL could do American expansion like back in the day.  The only benefit would be once the American teams fold ,  the stores would have rock bottom low prices on Winter jackets.   I fondly remember seeing lots of cheap people wearing Gold Miners jackets around town.  

16 hours ago, Bigblue204 said:

This is a really confusing statement. So do you agree with Goalie? The first part makes it seem like you don't....but then you go on and make all the points as to why the merge wouldn't really work.

I say the UFL & CFL won't merge unless they can come to some kind of a magical agreement. There's no agreement to do so. 

22 hours ago, Brandon said:

As a CFL fan I'd have zero interest in watching the Grey Cup champion vs some American UFL team.    Nobody would care.  

The CFL could do American expansion like back in the day.  The only benefit would be once the American teams fold ,  the stores would have rock bottom low prices on Winter jackets.   I fondly remember seeing lots of cheap people wearing Gold Miners jackets around town.  

As it is, hardly anyone cares about the CFL outside of the prairies. BC can't get people to stay and watch a lions game free after a big time concert. 

14 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

I say the UFL & CFL won't merge unless they can come to some kind of a magical agreement. There's no agreement to do so. 

Considering all the dire differences, it would be a shotgun wedding at best and doomed to fail.

Even if the CFL goes full stupid mode and Americanized everything (4 downs, essentially the same field & rules), it doesn’t make a lot of sense to make any sort of agreement or merger with the UFL.  If the CFL is in dire straits financially there’s no logic in merging with another failing league and adding 8 more struggling/bankrupt franchises to the mess. 
 

Im much more inclined to think switching to the American game is a feeble attempt at aligning with the NFL and making the CFL into some sort of “NFL Canada” setup akin to NFLEurope of old.  Basically you play NFL rules on NFL fields in Canada, but the NFL farms out dozens of practice squad players to Canadian teams as a development league, while keeping a handful of Canadian players on each roster (probably a lot less with less stipulations on playing them though). 
 

In return I could see the NFL propping up the CFL financially and maybe even expanding to Toronto and/or BC, leaving the remaining teams as a NFLCanada, the farm system.