CFL announces changes to the game - merged topics

[Jesse]

I have said many times in what feels like 50 different ways why I think it is a good idea. The actual league, which has actual paid executives driving this forward clearly thinks it's a good approach. Some of you think you're better sports executives that the top echelons of MLSE. You're not. Or they would be paying you several hundred thousand dollars and not them. Further, this forum is not representative of the market, would rather vilify those actually trying the grow the game and are paying the bills (most of them at a significant loss). But who cares right?

I see no solutions from the cohort of people who don't advocate for change. They ignore the business reality. They ignore that recent change has already gone over just fine: can anyone tell me where the hashmarks are on a CFL field now? And where that idea came from? Right. And they ignore common sense.

Why can't I ask you if YOU have any insights how not making changes to attract new fans will help the seven teams losing money? You can't. Mainly because it's what they've been doing for years and we are where we are.

At least point, be mad for the sake of being mad. Rawr change bad. I get being passionate about a brand and not wanting it change because you like it just the way it is. Have an emotional response. Not going to blame you for that.

But don't pretend you want to be reasonable and talk sense and when you get those conversations from the league, some posters, the commissioner, you don't listen, don't try to understand and your big idea, essentially, is to do nothing.

Our big ideas for change are the things that would actually increase the fanbase and what people have been advocating for, for years.

- Get the CFL involved in youth football (like the Bills are currently doing in Toronto). Guest coaches, youth football camps, flag football leagues, bringing teams to games, playing at halftime, etc. You have to think longterm and get kids invested early.

- Cheap family seating for games - market it so people know about it. Make events and fun things for kids to do before and during games. Bombers do this while other teams struggle.

- Cheap kid friendly food/drink options

- increase afternoon games so not every game goes until way after bedtime (not too many of course, but a couple of "family friendly" marketed games)

- Get the teams into schools. Organize track and field days, more football camps as part of the gym curriculum, reading appearances, sponsor some fundraisers, etc.

- Preseason games/practices/training camps in alternate locations. You see BC doing this under Doman, but Toronto playing regular season games in other provinces as opposed to investing time/money in their club.

- For this season specifically, there was huge opportunity to make a "buy Canadian" style push that promoted the CFL. We saw nothing of the sort. Of course, now we know that the league was planning an American style push so it probably explains why TSN couldn't do a Canadian style push; but yet another example of the weak though/time/investment that TSN puts into marketing the CFL

- Expanding on the previous thought, it's been suggested many times that we could build an American viewership by marketing current CFL stars to their college and hometown markets. There should be massive marketing to those locations prior to games that are being broadcast to american networks.

Literally no one wants to keep the status quo. Everyone wants the league to grow and improve. We're happy to make changes that will help the game grow. We don't think arbitrarily changes the field size or moving the goal posts will achieve those things. Especially not when those choices are being driven by a guy who's been here for a few months and comes from the network that is part of the problem.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Our big ideas for change are the things that would actually increase the fanbase and what people have been advocating for, for years.

- Get the CFL involved in youth football (like the Bills are currently doing in Toronto). Guest coaches, youth football camps, flag football leagues, bringing teams to games, playing at halftime, etc. You have to think longterm and get kids invested early.

- Cheap family seating for games - market it so people know about it. Make events and fun things for kids to do before and during games. Bombers do this while other teams struggle.

- Cheap kid friendly food/drink options

- increase afternoon games so not every game goes until way after bedtime (not too many of course, but a couple of "family friendly" marketed games)

- Get the teams into schools. Organize track and field days, more football camps as part of the gym curriculum, reading appearances, sponsor some fundraisers, etc.

- Preseason games/practices/training camps in alternate locations. You see BC doing this under Doman, but Toronto playing regular season games in other provinces as opposed to investing time/money in their club.

- For this season specifically, there was huge opportunity to make a "buy Canadian" style push that promoted the CFL. We saw nothing of the sort. Of course, now we know that the league was planning an American style push so it probably explains why TSN couldn't do a Canadian style push; but yet another example of the weak though/time/investment that TSN puts into marketing the CFL

- Expanding on the previous thought, it's been suggested many times that we could build an American viewership by marketing current CFL stars to their college and hometown markets. There should be massive marketing to those locations prior to games that are being broadcast to american networks.

Literally no one wants to keep the status quo. Everyone wants the league to grow and improve. We're happy to make changes that will help the game grow. We don't think arbitrarily changes the field size or moving the goal posts will achieve those things. Especially not when those choices are being driven by a guy who's been here for a few months and comes from the network that is part of the problem.

The fact MLSE attracts less than 15k fans to Argos games in a region with 8-10 million people is a clear  indication of their lack of ability and effort in promoting their franchise. Should the league listen to anything these marketing geniuses put forth when they have shown themselves to be incompetent at running their own team.

They have huge swaths of immigrant communities in the GTO they could engage with that don't have money to attend many other pro sporting events.  Provide kids under 12 free admission with the purchase of an adult ticket, a parent can bring as many as he wants, doesn't matter if they're his or not, the more the merrier.  Universal truth, parents like to treat kids but often have to find affordable ways to do so.

[Stats Junkie]

I have said many times in what feels like 50 different ways why I think it is a good idea. The actual league, which has actual paid executives driving this forward clearly thinks it's a good approach. Some of you think you're better sports executives that the top echelons of MLSE. You're not. Or they would be paying you several hundred thousand dollars and not them. Further, this forum is not representative of the market, would rather vilify those actually trying the grow the game and are paying the bills (most of them at a significant loss). But who cares right?

Those paid executives made the decision to go from a world class stats system that the CFL owned to a substandard stats system that is provided free of charge by Genius Sports in exchange for Genius becoming a partner in the newly formed CFL Enterprises.

The previous stats system worked better on day 1 than the Genius system does 4 seasons in. I say 4 seasons because Genius wanted to go live in 2022 and the CFL decided at the last moment to push the launch date back one year because Genius wasn't ready.

There were a couple of unannounced rule changes made in 2025 by the CFL. One of those changes resulted in a rule reverting back to a previous version because there were unintended consequences that were encountered. That rule change was submitted by a CFL executive.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Those paid executives made the decision to go from a world class stats system that the CFL owned to a substandard stats system that is provided free of charge by Genius Sports in exchange for Genius becoming a partner in the newly formed CFL Enterprises.

The previous stats system worked better on day 1 than the Genius system does 4 seasons in. I say 4 seasons because Genius wanted to go live in 2022 and the CFL decided at the last moment to push the launch date back one year because Genius wasn't ready.

There were a couple of unannounced rule changes made in 2025 by the CFL. One of those changes resulted in a rule reverting back to a previous version because there were unintended consequences that were encountered. That rule change was submitted by a CFL executive.

Prefer the TSN stats. page which maintains the original format.

https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/statistics/

[Stats Junkie]

Prefer the TSN stats. page which maintains the original format.

https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/statistics/

When the term 'stats system' is used it refers to the data entry system. Anything downstream from that requires a lot of work. The downstream stats (reports, website, historical stats, etc.) are part of what Ambrosie used to call the 'stats ecosystem'.

[theaardvark]

I'm currently around the 50/45 yard line. With the shrinking field, I assume I'll move further away from centre, making my seats worse. The further you move from the now "50" yard line, the worse your sightline will be, compared to the current field.

I'm on the 50.  With the move I'm on the 45.

Both seats are 5 yards from C. So zero change in that.

But now I am 10 yards closer to the far EZ, and 15 yards closer to the Endline of the EZ, and the goal posts are 10 yards further away on both ends.

[theaardvark]

Marketing to sell seats is primarily the teams job, but I can see TSN/CFL adding promotions for the league.

Yes, Toronto sucks at marketing, they always have.  They have a very diverse population base, and the Argos are the red headed stepchild of MLSE.  They need to do more cross promoting with their other teams, like certain sections dedicated to half price Argo tickets if you has ST for their other teams.  Packages that include a few games of each team. 

The league does share marketing money to the less attended / money losing teams, but I think maybe they need to use economies of scale to improve marketing for all teams... and to start attracting the New Canadian fan.

[bomber beetle]

Obviously, the trend over the last four decades has seen young/new football fans gravitating towards the NFL.
Some of those fans like the CFL too, but that seems to be a small percentage. Particularly in the larger markets.
Meanwhile, the long time CFL-first fan is aging out.
This trend shows no sign of slowing down.

The CFL needs to optimize the opportunity for those that like both games to watch and attend the Canadian game.
If that can be figured out, then the number who do like the CFL game might grow substantially.
It will probably take measures well beyoud the new rules and field dimensions, so I expect an interesting ride ahead!

[jets4life]

Obviously, the trend over the last four decades has seen young/new football fans gravitating towards the NFL.
Some of those fans like the CFL too, but that seems to be a small percentage. Particularly in the larger markets.
Meanwhile, the long time CFL-first fan is aging out.
This trend shows no sign of slowing down.

This is not true, at least in the Prairie Provinces. When I was a small child in the 80s, I sat on the West Side of the old stadium with relatives. It seemed the average age of spectators was at least 40. In the mid-sections, there seemed to be a lot of 50+ spectators. If anything, it seems there are more and more people in their 20s and 30s going to games now than 40 years ago.

I'm not sure about Southern Ontario and BC, but I can't see it being that different than Winnipeg and Saskatchewan.

As for the NFL, this is nothing new. 35 years ago, the NFL was arguably more popular in Canada than the CFL. I even recall when the Detroit Lions had their breakout 1991 season, and interest in the team from Southern Ontario was so great that it completely dwarfed the Argos, who had won the Grey Cup with NFL top prospect Rocket Ishmail refusing to play for the New England Patriots.

The CFL has not been popular in Southern Ontario since the 80s.  Saying the CFL is not that popular in larger markets is nothing new. The Montreal Alouettes folded twice in the 80s, and went a decade without a team, due to no interest. Even in Ottawa, they lost their teams twice in 10 years. Only in Vancouver, it can be argued that the CFL was bigger in the 80s, than it is now.

[jets4life]

Just for the record, some of us are old enough to remember the last time the CFL did something drastic to change the game, by putting teams in the US, hoping the league would develop a niche in America. Outside of Baltimore,  it failed miserably, and nearly resulted in the end of the league. If it were not for the Alouettes unexpectedly doing so well on and off the field after relocating from Baltimore, the league may have folded.

I mean we can try to make the game more similiar to the NFL all we wish.  Has that ever worked for any other league in the last 55 years?

World Football League- lasted a couple of seasons in the 70s, and folded
Original USFL- lasted 3 seasons in the 80s, folded
World League of American Football- lasted 2 seasons in the early 90s, before relocating all teams to Europe.
XFL- folded after one season in 2001
UFL- lasted 3 seasons and folded
"new" USFL and XFL- both failed, and merged into the United Football League, which is doing poorly.

Taking away what makes the CFL uniquely Canadian is not going to work. However, change can be a good thing, if done correctly. I like the new rules for the rouge. I never liked the fact that a game  can end on a missed FG or single point, when the ball sails through the end zone, without allowing the opposing team a chance to run the ball out of the end zone.

However, the new 35 second clock, and eliminating the 55 yard line will be, IMO, the end of Canadian football as we know it. The fans will see the game as a watered down NFL league, and lose interest in the game.