OUT OF THE TUNNEL: ENVISIONING A NEW CFL

BY: RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF

We can spew out all the crummy inspirational “always darkest before the dawn” quotes but none of them can make the players, staff, fans and yes, even the media, feel any better at this point in time. With the proposition of a CFL season in 2020 looking fainter and further away, we decided to take a look at what the CFL can look like in 2021. 

This can be a time to – not exactly start from scratch – but add some tweaks to a league that is already great. But let’s face it … the league needs some help to get back to being in the day-to-day watercooler conversation of the average Canadian.

In the spirit of the many lists you see here on RodPedersen.com, here are ten things we would like to see changed in a new look CFL for 2021 and beyond:

1. Start the season earlier. The first steps were taken a few years ago to start training camp the Victoria Day long weekend but instead of ending the season a little earlier, the league added a third bye-week.

Let’s go all the way and start training camps the first week of May and end the season before November. The common complaint against this was not to compete even more with the NHL playoffs in May. This is a tired argument. How many times has there been a Canadian NHL team (and now throw in the Raptors for that matter) playing into May? Yeah.

2. Find some way to fix the free agency problem. The steady stream of one-year CFL contracts is mind-numbing and kills the league. This was a stipulation the CFL gave to the players that allows players the chance to play a single season and then leave for potential NFL opportunities.

Just go back to having two and three year deals more common and let every contract have an automatic out-clause for NFL opportunities. Hopefully this will let high-level Americans take advantage of playing in a single city for longer and also have the NFL dream still open and available.

3. This gets us to the next point in adjusting the Canadian ratio. Beginning in 2020, the CFL took the first steps in allowing veteran Americans to replace injured starting Canadians on the field.

This is a great first step but let’s go a little further. If an American is heading into their fifth season with a club, they are granted naturalized “National” status and can take the place of a Canadian starter with no more than two players per squad. Teams will still have to carry the standard number of Nationals on the roster.

4. Kill the CFL International project. No one cares and it is a waste of money and time. This would have been a little more beneficial 20 years ago but now that the rest of the world plays American rules and have zero real interest in the Canadian game the attempt here is futile. The whole project felt like boardroom corporate-speak to feign the attempt of international expansion. 

There are enough amazing Canadian and American players to keep this league great.

5. Standardization of quality of content on league websites and broadcasts. There needs to be a set amount of player spotlights, analysis and hardcore football product to go along with the fun fan stuff. 

Most marketers in the CFL are chasing after the casual fan. 60-70 per cent of fans that go to games and watch the product on TSN are there to have some fun and be entertained. These fans will naturally fluctuate but the base of the league is the 30-40 per cent of the hardcore fans that are this league’s best promoters.

The league needs to make a better attempt to entertain and keep this hardcore segment of CFL fandom. Lose these fans and the league is done.

6. More co-production of CFL long-form content. Sometimes it feels like the CFL began in 2005 but there is over 100 years of storytelling that many fans don’t know about and would love. 

This goes hand-in-hand with…

7. Open source all available CFL content. Make the current content available for players to promote themselves, teams to put up instant ‘wow’ highlights and allow fans to share the great content that is available.

Also make historical content more readily available. The biggest mistake the league has made over its history is losing control of their game content. Between CBC, CTV and the old CFN there are 75 years of games currently locked up in vaults across the country that not a single eye will see.

The other great historical content that is out there is the old Chetwynd Productions footage. Sir Arthur Ralph Talbot Chetwynd headed up a company that produced hundreds of sport movies in the 60’s, 70’s and into the early 80’s. This included NFL Films-like productions of CFL content. We need to find a way for everyone to see these films.

8. We would like to see only one in-game change and that would be to adopt the XFL kickoff.

From Nick Schwartz of the USA Today on February 5, 2020, “On a kickoff, the kicker will kick the ball from their own 30-yard line, but every blocker will be lined up on the opposing team’s 35-yard line. The return team blockers will be lined up at their own 30, just five yards away.

Only the kicker and receiver can move before the ball is caught. All other blockers are permitted to move when the ball is caught, or three seconds after it hits the ground, if the ball isn’t caught.

Kicks that fly out of bounds, or kicks that fall short of the opposing 20-yard line, will result in the receiving team taking the ball at the kicking team’s 45-yard line.

Touchbacks will result in the receiving team starting at their own 35-yard line.”

With the size of the CFL field and the emphasis placed on special teams, this would create instant fireworks.

9. Now we get to some big picture stuff. The first is to add a tenth CFL team.

Don’t care where or how. This feels like a bit of a cash grab, and we admit, it is. This may also not be the best timing with the possible drop in the quality of football without the potential of college seasons in 2020 but this might also help even the field.

This would generate a new base of fans and some buzz. Not necessarily for 2021 but for 2022 or 2023.

10. Share in Grey Cup revenues. This is the most controversial one on here but it might be needed to help all the teams with consistent finances. We are not a big fan of complete league wide revenue-sharing but this is a good median.

The game would still be in different CFL cities and the week would be produced the same. The host team would still be in charge of many things and would be appropriately compensated by the league but the league needs to have complete control of the event and game. Thusly the profits would go to all CFL teams. 

The host city will still get the huge economic impact of hosting the Grey Cup but for the big amount at the end of the day, that will go to the league and its clubs.

So instead of the big payoff every nine or so years, it will be a constant flow of cash every year.

These are the pie in the sky thoughts on what things could look like. We kind of hope it doesn’t come to this and there is some sort of a season in 2020 but if not, the time is ripe for change.

(RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF)