Is this ever a guy we should take a run at? I really like Pokey as a receiver but not sure he's a 1A Superstar guy... Would you ever take a run at Hatcher as your #1 and then have Pokey and Demski as 2/3?

 

 

I do not understand the problem that the revised playoff format is attempting to solve.

Every year when the playoffs come I'm glad to be rid of the bottom third of the CFL but now two of those three teams will be hanging around.

A divisional winner might not even get a bye in the playoffs, if they lose the "showdown" game, and they'll lose their home field advantage in the semifinal round if they lose the showdown game. In the past, winning a division vastly increased a team's odds of going to the final, but now? Seems like the regular season is kind of an afterthought here.

I'm not sure why the East always gets the eighth seed in their play-in game while the West gets the seventh seed.

Edited 18 hours ago18 hr by johnzo

I don't like starting in late May. Too early. You're going to have some lousy training camp weather (see Winnipeg this year). I also don't think you get a lot of fan attention starting May Long. People are focused on other things.

No playoff format is a joke.

Its as if they hired Stewart with a mandate to make things worse.

So the first place team might have to beat the second place team twice to make the Grey Cup?

Guess what. They wouldn’t be making changes if what they have been doing was working. More revenue is the bottom line. CFL audience is aging out. It’s irrelevant what a bunch of older dudes online say and think, it matters what your kid and their kids think. Players liked it cuz they get another game check or 2. Teams like it cuz extra home game or 2. Revenue. Money. Future.

Edited 17 hours ago17 hr by Goalie

yeah if I heard right about 8 of the 9 teams qualifying (I like those odds for the Bombers though) it is stupid. However I'm not against the season starting early (though that could be a problem if we have a scenario where the Jets are in the playoffs, but we haven't seen the Jets last beyond Victoria Day....except 5 years ago in the adjusted format)

8 hours ago, iHeart said:

yeah if I heard right about 8 of the 9 teams qualifying (I like those odds for the Bombers though) it is stupid. However I'm not against the season starting early (though that could be a problem if we have a scenario where the Jets are in the playoffs, but we haven't seen the Jets last beyond Victoria Day....except 5 years ago in the adjusted format)

Bombers and jets have played on the same days in the past. They will again in the future. Non issue. I don’t think there’s that many dual season ticket holders. Jets basically cost a house for season tickets. Bombers = a trip to Costco. Bombers = family. Jets = The rich and wealthy now. Also you could make the argument that the bombers are actually more popular than the Jets in Winnipeg. They charge way less. Draw way more and they make about as much as the jets do in 42 games compared to 9 maximum 10 games for the bombers. Plus a big one, less d bags at football games than hockey ones. Jets would be better off if a guy like Wade was running them and not chipman (recent rumours suggest he might be kind of a big problem) yeah the owner. Yup. Kyle and Chevy are similar I’d say. Jets haven’t had an O’Shea tho. Maybe Maurice was close but not quite.

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by Goalie

16 hours ago, Brandon said:

I highly doubt this. If the Bombers are clinched and have guys like Zach & Brady with minor injuries. I think the club would sit them and gladly have them at 100% and play a road game over trotting them out and possibly having them miss the play offs.

I can also see casual fans just ignoring the regular season and tuning in come play offs since the regular season games at this point matter very little unless you are at the very top.

Any time a league has done changes for the sake of "more tv" or "more revenue" it usually comes at the expense of the enjoyment of the fan. I understand the need for the league to make money... but this doesn't usually translate in a better end product.

With the rule changes and this terrible play off format, they may as well do US expansion and eventually put a bullet in the CFL and try to merge with whatever UFL / XFL / ZFL league from the States.

That happens now.

Casual fans already ignore the regular season. Playoffs draw more fans to the screen and to the seats.

This is a move to increase revenue now, so that in a decade we're looking at 8 teams making the playoffs and 4 watching. (Best case scenario obviously).

15 hours ago, Goalie said:

Guess what. They wouldn’t be making changes if what they have been doing was working. More revenue is the bottom line. CFL audience is aging out. It’s irrelevant what a bunch of older dudes online say and think, it matters what your kid and their kids think. Players liked it cuz they get another game check or 2. Teams like it cuz extra home game or 2. Revenue. Money. Future.

anecdotal but when I told my kid about the changes he was excited.

Since 2000, 3 teams have won the grey cup with losing records. I'm not sure how many teams have hosted a Playoff game with worse records than their guests. We've all complained about how dumb that is. This new format gets rid of that problem. It also makes it much hard to the bottom seeds to reach the grey cup. Every team has to win at minimum 2 games to get to the grey cup. Some will have to play 3 road games to get to the GC.

While it does effectively make the regular season a bit less relevant (if you ignore seeding importance) it makes the Grey Cup game much hard to get to which I like.

Seems like a rare win for all involved.

Teams can possibly host an additional playoff game and all the revenues that provides.

Players get an extra bonus check on top of their salary.

The additional revenue from the premium games should help to bump up the salary cap and make the tv rights more attractive which are due to be finalized soon

16 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

I don't like starting in late May. Too early. You're going to have some lousy training camp weather (see Winnipeg this year). I also don't think you get a lot of fan attention starting May Long. People are focused on other things.

No playoff format is a joke.

Its as if they hired Stewart with a mandate to make things worse.

He also has a shitty attitude of "F*** the few paying fans we already have, they'll just have to get over it."

Ya he really seems like a taller version of Bettman....

15 hours ago, Goalie said:

Guess what. They wouldn’t be making changes if what they have been doing was working. More revenue is the bottom line. CFL audience is aging out. It’s irrelevant what a bunch of older dudes online say and think, it matters what your kid and their kids think. Players liked it cuz they get another game check or 2. Teams like it cuz extra home game or 2. Revenue. Money. Future.

Do teams like Toronto actually make any money hosting games though? It was reported last year that low attendance in major markets (Toronto, Montreal, BC) meant that they had trouble covering their high operating costs. Teams like Winnipeg & Saskatchewan absolutely benefit from the extra games but the other teams?

This change in playoff format just reminds me again how I wish there were more teams in this league. Sigh.

Like some others have stated, I'm not sure what problem is trying to be solved here. $$?

You would think it will change the approach teams take with their starting roster as the playoffs draw closer.

What it doesn't change is Riders suck.

4 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

Like some others have stated, I'm not sure what problem is trying to be solved here. $$?

Yes! 100% yes! Money is the reason. That's literally the bottom line. They 100% have to generate more of it. That's it. done. period. over. more money is why this is happening.

7 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

This change in playoff format just reminds me again how I wish there were more teams in this league. Sigh.

Like some others have stated, I'm not sure what problem is trying to be solved here. $$?

You would think it will change the approach teams take with their starting roster as the playoffs draw closer.

What it doesn't change is Riders suck.

Same problem the NFL solved by adding a 17th game $$$.

No room to add more games to the regular season in the CFL so adding playoff games.

16 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

I don't like starting in late May. Too early. You're going to have some lousy training camp weather (see Winnipeg this year). I also don't think you get a lot of fan attention starting May Long. People are focused on other things.

No playoff format is a joke.

Its as if they hired Stewart with a mandate to make things worse.

The NFL isn't moving their draft either. Are we going to have the CFL draft a week into training camp?

I kinda like it...and sure it may seem like parts of the reg season near the end may seem irrelevant....but also can keep things a lil more interesting and some those teams who were before out if it basically by labour day had declining attendance as nobody felt the need to support their team knowing they were not gonna be in the play-offs...so could create more butts in the seats which is a plus for teams

And really in a CFL SMS world teams are pretty restricted as it is already sitting stars and bringing guys on in place of them...so I doubt you see a bunch of training camp style rosters playing games ...just not economically feasable...That being said tho it will also allow guys to get a chance to show they belong, and unearth that diamond in the rough or player biding his time with no real chance in hell of ever getting to show it...and create a new fan favorite and give those stubborn HC's who refuse to play guys an eye opener that yes...back-ups can perform....only gonna deepen and broaden your depth

5 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

The NFL isn't moving their draft either. Are we going to have the CFL draft a week into training camp?

It looks like the plan is to keep the timings similar for next year. Draft is April 13th. Rookie camp 21st. Training camp 24th.

IMO just offer comp picks based on the status of your draft picks. NFL roster: Round -2, PR: Round -4, Futures contract: Round -6.

Puts some onus on teams making sure their picks will play but doesn't completely screw the team if they don't show up. Can maybe extend it to include players like Damien Alford where if they dip after a year you can get a comp pick by forfeiting their rights or allowing them to become an RFA if they come back or something

1 minute ago, ShyGuy said:

It looks like the plan is to keep the timings similar for next year. Draft is April 13th. Rookie camp 21st. Training camp 24th.

IMO just offer comp picks based on the status of your draft picks. NFL roster: Round -2, PR: Round -4, Futures contract: Round -6.

Puts some onus on teams making sure their picks will play but doesn't completely screw the team if they don't show up. Can maybe extend it to include players like Damien Alford where if they dip after a year you can get a comp pick by forfeiting their rights or allowing them to become an RFA if they come back or something

That will likely be 2 weeks prior to the NFL Draft. So back to the problem the league had before of not knowing NFL status of potential CFL picks.

5 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

That will likely be 2 weeks prior to the NFL Draft. So back to the problem the league had before of not knowing NFL status of potential CFL picks.

I think a lot of teams know what guys will likely stick and which will be looking for work sooner than later before the NFL draft happens now. It will add another wrinkle but I don't think there will be that many surprises.

15 minutes ago, Booch said:

I kinda like it...and sure it may seem like parts of the reg season near the end may seem irrelevant....but also can keep things a lil more interesting and some those teams who were before out if it basically by labour day had declining attendance as nobody felt the need to support their team knowing they were not gonna be in the play-offs...so could create more butts in the seats which is a plus for teams

And really in a CFL SMS world teams are pretty restricted as it is already sitting stars and bringing guys on in place of them...so I doubt you see a bunch of training camp style rosters playing games ...just not economically feasable...That being said tho it will also allow guys to get a chance to show they belong, and unearth that diamond in the rough or player biding his time with no real chance in hell of ever getting to show it...and create a new fan favorite and give those stubborn HC's who refuse to play guys an eye opener that yes...back-ups can perform....only gonna deepen and broaden your depth

Yeah people online are complaining teams won't have any reason to play starters late in the year, like that doesn't already happen. Or ignoring that the CFL is in desperate need of the next generation of star players. Giving backups playing time will hopefully pay dividends if/when they become starters.

17 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

I think a lot of teams know what guys will likely stick and which will be looking for work sooner than later before the NFL draft happens now. It will add another wrinkle but I don't think there will be that many surprises.

Yeah people online are complaining teams won't have any reason to play starters late in the year, like that doesn't already happen. Or ignoring that the CFL is in desperate need of the next generation of star players. Giving backups playing time will hopefully pay dividends if/when they become starters.

The problem is they need people to be willing to pay money to watch a slate of meaningless games in the fall.

17 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

I think a lot of teams know what guys will likely stick and which will be looking for work sooner than later before the NFL draft happens now. It will add another wrinkle but I don't think there will be that many surprises.

Yeah people online are complaining teams won't have any reason to play starters late in the year, like that doesn't already happen. Or ignoring that the CFL is in desperate need of the next generation of star players. Giving backups playing time will hopefully pay dividends if/when they become starters.

Even before the NFL draft CFL teams know which guys are likely to get drafted by NFL teams or who has garnered serious interest and may get a UDFA contract....if your scouting crew and GM are connected they know....mini camp invites for a good majority of NCAA kids is usually a given as well, but for most part those never amount to anything other than a delayed arrival in camp here at worst

Teams can also be given an extra pick in the following draft if they drafted a player who subsequently got drafted and signed a deal with guaranteed money as they are likely never to show up here....or may be a 2..3 yr delay...of we move our draft to before the NFL's

2 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

The problem is they need people to be willing to pay money to watch a slate of meaningless games in the fall.

They're only meaningless if you don't care about going to watch a playoff game in your stadium. Is it a meaningless game for the teams that are locked in 3/4 spots now when the winner gets to host the semi? Of course not, because as a fan you want your team hosting the playoff game.

There are plenty of actually meaningless games with the current format. This will provide at least some meaning. 1&2nd spots get locked up early all the time. Generally those teams will have healthy attendance because they're playing well. The end of year games between 6&7 or 8&9 is where the drop off really is. This playoff format at least gives hope that they can make a run at the cup.

yeah for seeding reasons some those late season games that before were just splaying out the string may actually have consequence now and real meaning for who they could play...and if they could host a game.

Pro's and cons to it...but more football being played is never a bad thing....and nothing worse than to have a dominant team a wrap up the division, only to drop a deuce for whatever reason and be bounced out in a one and done

And even tho was always a bonus to get that wf/ef game...and good if it's your team....never really liked the win 1 game and your in idea.....now teams gotta earn it....and more revenue for league...teams and filtered down to players is never a bad thing

I look at the first round thing less as playoffs and more as a seeding round to determine which of the 6 slots each gets. Also, it may now be possible to have Grey Cup matches we never had before more easily.