Proposed Annual

CFL Schedule 

About Marketing Canadian Style With Better Fan Appeal

July 29, 2023

April weekend 3 & 4:

Voluntary pre-camp indoor conditioning & playbook analysis

 

April weekend 4:

            Rookie Camp: newbies, prospects, QBs (possibly indoor)

 

May weekend 1:

            Preseason Camp opens

 

May weekend 2:

            “Promoted” Intrasquad Game 1 & Autograph Day; heavily involve amateur football organizations for all ages… Make it a fundraiser for them and very much fun… Pass out free “buddy” tickets for next week’s intrasquad game through those organizations

 

May weekend 3:

            Charity & Corporate sponsored Intrasquad Game 2, part of season-ticket package (but discounted), have “buddy” passes heavily distributed; pre-arrangements to locally televise the game and have many CFL heroes on the telecast doing season forecasts... the whole point is to develop new fans cheaply and synergestically

            Lack of preseason travel will help with team budgeting; as well some of those funds can be used for the promotion of these intrasquad games and for the coming season; activating with charities will also deepen interest and possibly bring new fans

 

May weekend 4:

Season Opener – the 2 Grey Cup teams play and otherwise traditional rivals play each other

 

June – September weekends

4 games each except July (3) including afternoons & Thursday nights as requested

 

Last weekend in July

            League Wide Bye … TSN replays four most exciting games … All players can plan for a much-needed family vacation and otherwise refresh

 

Late August, September & early October:

            8 Canadian College games are played in the home stadium of the bye team … Fully priced tickets become  part of the season-ticket package; revenue pickup for both the college teams and the sponsoring CFL team... eventually have TSN televise these college games, perhaps test marketing a couple the first year

 

October:

            two regular-season games

two Sunday playoff games

 

November:

            first week of November:

5 promoted corporate/charity events and activities including Friday night “College & CFL Awards Night”

            Played in indoor stadiums, for now alternating Vancouver & Toronto; all teams participate in the revenue stream; cutting out winter seating will increase attendance remarkably

            Saturday   Vanier Cup included with the Grey Cup package, tickets are heavily discounted but fully paid for. What a fantastic extra event for the travelling fan, something more to celebrate on the trip. Canadian College football is “discovered” and new followers develop

 

            Sunday The Grey Cup Classic

Three weeks earlier than tradition

Regular-season will now have 1 May game, 2 October games, and 15 summer games over the suggested timelines; if there is an extra week over the summer, that can be filled by playing two games one week and two games the following week giving out another bye and the players a chance to recover from injuries.

 

RATIONALE: Schedule Change & Traditional Break

Fans will avoid winter games and will attend more frequently because of spring schedule; they will love to get outside again  in May as spring fully arrives and the Winter departs; attendance will be much higher in June than in early November; further there will be no NFL competition until September and by then football fan interest in the CFL will have greatly picked up; as well teams can still work around the NFL schedule during the brief overlap; furthermore, there will likely be little or no competition or conflict from NHL hockey

The CFL is heavily dependent on Canadian College and Junior football development; it’s the heart and soul of our game and what separates our CFL from the NFL. The CFL needs to do more to align with and promote amateur football in Canada and bring the CFL  fan base to a new enlightenment. Bringing CFL planning into that College realm can only help everybody…  In enjoyment, in player quality, and in revenue increases for all involved

Commissioner Ambrosie is doing fine bringing a maritime team or Québec City in as a tenth  team for our league. However, that is not nearly enough. The CFL board NEEDS TO BREAK TRADITION and make our league primarily a summer league from May to October. It works very well for baseball. Our fan base loves to get out in good weather so the CFL  Board needs to adjust our scheduling to accommodate what the fans really want. They want to get out to the games in the late spring instead of the early winter. They want to drink beer, not hot chocolate!

4 hours ago, BigBlue said:

Not if you are used to wearing a bikini in Winnipeg's February heat waves... but seriously the 3rd and 4th week of May in no way compares to November cold; some people start planting their gardens on the May long weekend

Remember: THINK BEER, not hot chocolate

May long is when we would open our pool and plant our garden.  Significantly warmer then November.     

 

You can not start the season before the NFL draft since they need to have CFL draft after it. 

12 minutes ago, Jpan85 said:

You can not start the season before the NFL draft since they need to have CFL draft after it. 

Well then the NFL will just have to move up their draft!

2 hours ago, Jpan85 said:

You can not start the season before the NFL draft since they need to have CFL draft after it. 

I honestly wouldn't care if they did it before. You know the guys who will get some interest beforehand. 

I don't care for the mandatory bye-week for all teams. The CFL can't afford to lose momentum and taking a week off in the middle of the season would do just that. 

14 minutes ago, JCon said:

I don't care for the mandatory bye-week for all teams. The CFL can't afford to lose momentum and taking a week off in the middle of the season would do just that. 

Yup you need half the teams on one and half the next

22 hours ago, Brandon said:

I'm all in favour of pushing the season up and ending the year 3 weeks earlier.   It can only help improve the attendances later in the year.  

 

The only down side is NFL cut down day from tc this year is scheduled for the 29th of august. 
 The guys we have coming in to the league who aren’t getting nfl deals will maybe come up for the final roster expansion if we are lucky. Nfl cuts will no longer return and play hurting over all league talent. 
 If you are going to move it earlier, I’d aim to finish the regular season before nfl camp. 
 

This is the crappy middle ground the cfl always has to deal with nhl over lap and nfl tc. 

5 hours ago, wbbfan said:

The only down side is NFL cut down day from tc this year is scheduled for the 29th of august. 

I believe we WILL have essentially the same NFL recruits as we have always had… Just the sequence of their arrival will change some. If we need to we can adjust our rules and policies to accommodate the cuts including expanded roster sizes starting September 1.

The late cuts are not who we are really after. Most of the appealing ones end up on a taxi squad anyway. We are after the US recruits that realize they are not making any NFL team in the near term, as in the next year or two. 

We want the ones who just want to play football. If they think they can improve their status by playing in the CFL more power to them; we can accommodate that cheerfully and effectively. 

Our best recruits from the NFL camps find they love living in Canada. They want to raise their families here. This is very good for our league.

So we need to offer better tryouts and wider taxi squad accommodation. The big goal is to have them ready for  camp next spring.

The goal is NOT to bring in a ringer or two to Jack our chances in the playoffs. Just set the trade deadline for October 1 and go from there. November 1 Grey Cup here we come!

The world keeps changing and evolving so we can take advantage of that and be happy

BTW this type of a combination suits MOS's philosophy & style perfectly... Build your team at  training camp and then keep it all year.

 Help those Canadians develop. I wish we could keep more of our draft picks on the roster somehow , so they can learn on the practice field throughout the year and be more prepared to make the main roster the following spring.

2 hours ago, BigBlue said:

I believe we WILL have essentially the same NFL recruits as we have always had… Just the sequence of their arrival will change some. If we need to we can adjust our rules and policies to accommodate the cuts including expanded roster sizes starting September 1.

The late cuts are not who we are really after. Most of the appealing ones end up on a taxi squad anyway. We are after the US recruits that realize they are not making any NFL team in the near term, as in the next year or two. 

We want the ones who just want to play football. If they think they can improve their status by playing in the CFL more power to them; we can accommodate that cheerfully and effectively. 

Our best recruits from the NFL camps find they love living in Canada. They want to raise their families here. This is very good for our league.

So we need to offer better tryouts and wider taxi squad accommodation. The big goal is to have them ready for  camp next spring.

The goal is NOT to bring in a ringer or two to Jack our chances in the playoffs. Just set the trade deadline for October 1 and go from there. November 1 Grey Cup here we come!

The world keeps changing and evolving so we can take advantage of that and be happy

BTW this type of a combination suits MOS's philosophy & style perfectly... Build your team at  training camp and then keep it all year.

 Help those Canadians develop. I wish we could keep more of our draft picks on the roster somehow , so they can learn on the practice field throughout the year and be more prepared to make the main roster the following spring.

We won’t not with 3 weeks earlier start. We will lose guys for sure. It’s not about pr expansion it’s about timing it earlier enough for guys to get up to speed. 
 

if you want to be that new Canadian basketball league and watch the qbing and player quality plummet sure. 
 

You mean like rose, Sergio etc coming back from the nfl at the dead line? If that was really our methodology we’d have 1 gc not 2. 
 

It’s also not just about ringers. It’s about the top canadian drafted talent too. Guys like gray would’ve missed most of a year here easily instead of coming up. Push the season back 3 weeks and we will see even less of the top canadian talent. 

On 2023-07-30 at 2:43 PM, rebusrankin said:

ApThere aren't that many CFLers with Jr football roots. CIAU is absolutely important but more and more Canadians are playing down south

Is it possible, perhaps as a gesture of goodwill to cosponsor, with the NFL, an East-West All-Star game for draft eligible Canadians? (Yes, of course a few exceptional players could be added who are not draft eligible.) The US scouts would have a good chance to have a look-see.  So would the Canadian scouts. 

This could be done on spring break in March for those synchronizing universities. And all kinds of coaches and trainers could be brought in to give the players a lot of personalized attention..., and maybe just maybe, some lifelong professional friendships get made. This would be the opposite of a numbers game. 

These would-be rookies could pick up a lot of new knowledge and skills in 7 to 10 days as they prep for the game. Some of these students might even become a little less stupid. Attitudes need to be learned too. So huge benefits to the players and something to very much look forward to over the winter. And we the fans will have a little entertainment as well.

Everyone's a winner for not a lot of money.

It would need to be held in the deep South like Florida or Arizona. If promoted properly TSN could make a little money and pay for a lot of the event. It might become more popular than the actual Canadian draft. Maybe even a US channel could get involved. I would much rather see that than the skills and strength testing that we are doing now before our draft. A little creativity doesn't hurt. Pool resources. Wave the flags. Collaboration goes a lot further than pessimism.

I believe this is doable, do you?

 

 

 

On 2023-07-31 at 1:21 AM, Brandon said:

May long is when we would open our pool and plant our garden.  Significantly warmer then November.     

 

Depends on the year really.  In May there has still been snow on May long weekend.  Recently not so much but if you go 40 minutes north there still is. In November sometimes it's warmer

Edited August 2, 20232 yr by Goalie

23 hours ago, Goalie said:

Depends on the year really.  In May there has still been snow on May long weekend.  Recently not so much but if you go 40 minutes north there still is. In November sometimes it's warmer

Its context ... going from October to November its just too cold for many ... coming into May from the winter, it's going to seem warm except for VERY unusual weather ... nobody can overcome a storm ... but there will be a lot more of them in Novemer than May, Correct?

Anything over 16 c in May is going to seem like Bikini weather !!!

On 2023-07-31 at 7:59 PM, wbbfan said:

We won’t not with 3 weeks earlier start. We will lose guys for sure. It’s not about pr expansion it’s about timing it earlier enough for guys to get up to speed. 
 

if you want to be that new Canadian basketball league and watch the qbing and player quality plummet sure. 
 

You mean like rose, Sergio etc coming back from the nfl at the dead line? If that was really our methodology we’d have 1 gc not 2. 
 

It’s also not just about ringers. It’s about the top canadian drafted talent too. Guys like gray would’ve missed most of a year here easily instead of coming up. Push the season back 3 weeks and we will see even less of the top canadian talent. 

So just expand the roster size from mid August till the playoffs in mid October or even right into the Grey Cup ... this would nab the "Gray"s ... special rules will make sure we are still finding that talent ... further, with high priced returning talent, you can get in to the bidding war because there are only 6 or 7 weeks to pay for, not 18 weeks ... the big cost is sliced by  two thirds ... every body is talking about budget and that will help the cap ... especially if highly paid stars are sitting on the injury list ... that kind of evens out the unlucky injury situation

And then you work the returning players salary for the balance of the season ... then in the spring you do what you got to do

On 2023-07-30 at 11:38 PM, BigBlue said:

Please show me that that the league is in dire financial shape. Give us some kind of proof or comparison, PLEASE!

Deleted.

Edited August 5, 20232 yr by SpeedFlex27

On 2023-07-30 at 11:38 PM, BigBlue said:

Please show me that that the league is in dire financial shape. Give us some kind of proof or comparison, PLEASE!

What fantasy dimension do you live in?

Edited August 3, 20232 yr by SpeedFlex27

On 2023-08-01 at 9:55 PM, Goalie said:

Depends on the year really.  In May there has still been snow on May long weekend.  Recently not so much but if you go 40 minutes north there still is. In November sometimes it's warmer

Most importantly in November it’s drier.  If it’s windy, cloudy and 10-15 degrees at the end of May it’s absolutely miserable and no one wants to be outside. 

11 hours ago, BigBlue said:

So just expand the roster size from mid August till the playoffs in mid October or even right into the Grey Cup ... this would nab the "Gray"s ... special rules will make sure we are still finding that talent ... further, with high priced returning talent, you can get in to the bidding war because there are only 6 or 7 weeks to pay for, not 18 weeks ... the big cost is sliced by  two thirds ... every body is talking about budget and that will help the cap ... especially if highly paid stars are sitting on the injury list ... that kind of evens out the unlucky injury situation

And then you work the returning players salary for the balance of the season ... then in the spring you do what you got to do

The point isn't the timing of the roster size expansion with relation to the Grey Cup, it's about the timing in relation to the NFL training camp.  If you move the roster size change earlier, nothing happens because the guys waiting for their shot in the NFL haven't had it yet and won't come North until they do.

No changes should be made until the ******* CFL schedule makers figure out how to make every team play each other at least twice in a home and home.  There is no God forsaken reason that Winnipeg plays Toronto once this year like they did last year.  It's 9 friggen teams (hopefully 10 soon).  Can't be that difficult.

The whole idea here hinges on training camps in the US huh... that's an instant no. 

Fans and kids enjoy going to camp and meeting players. It's a big deal to a kid 

Well, here is my 0.02

What they could do to avoid November is play a 15 game regular season and have just two bye weeks per team

It is all but certain that this would lead to better playoff attendance

And, you'd be finishing the regular season is what will usually be beautiful fall weather

The games eliminated - usually have lower attendance anyway

TC / PS - status quo

 

Always the same arguments on both sides. Lol. How many times we gonna have this discussion? Not just here, but in general.

My opinion: I'm in favour of playing cold weather football outside. I love attending those games and think Canadians should embrace that kind of weather more. And honestly, it's not even that cold....

The 2021/2022 playoff games were cold, but were also wicked fun.

In the entertainment business, I don't many decisions are based on what people 'should' be doing.

1 hour ago, Mark H. said:

Well, here is my 0.02

What they could do to avoid November is play a 15 game regular season and have just two bye weeks per team

It is all but certain that this would lead to better playoff attendance

And, you'd be finishing the regular season is what will usually be beautiful fall weather

The games eliminated - usually have lower attendance anyway

TC / PS - status quo

 

You would sacrifice so much revenue in a move that would be almost universally hated.

25 minutes ago, Jesse said:

You would sacrifice so much revenue in a move that would be almost universally hated.

It could be done without any revenue loss. Maximize the profits from those 15 games. 

19 minutes ago, Mark H. said:

It could be done without any revenue loss. Maximize the profits from those 15 games. 

I'd like to hear how you can "maximize revenue" that makes up for 3 games of attendance, concessions, and TV revenue. The NFL is adding games for this reason.

And again, I don't know why anyone would want less games. I certainly don't.