major announcement - big changes to cfl playoff and season start

[Blueforlife]

yeah this guy reminds me a lot of high profile social media types... anything to draw attention to himself, regardless of what he knows or doesn't

Very true and agree and I don't like the guy but he generates interest, social media thrives on any type of buzz, they get just as much popularity through negative press and positive.  Just a hype machine. 

[Sir Blue and Gold]

This is a wonderful example, because it's a change that no one liked but was entirely data driven and come to through meaningful discussions with all parties.

An alarmingly higher percentage of injuries were coming on ST. The union and league made changes to prevent injury.

Even the new play-off changes in the CFL. The league and the union met. They discussed changed. Negotiated and Union members voted in favour of making the moves.

None of this has anything to do with CFL making changes to the field in a sweeping change without informing any if the involved parties with no data whatsoever because "reasons". 

However, to Aardvark's credit, the answer to his question is "no". Full stop.

[jets4life]

My purely anectodal observation:

It seems around 99.5% of fans either do not like or do not understand the changes.

And, about 99.5% of those fans just shrug their shoulders and still plan to be fans.

I'm not sure why the "Hurray for the changes!" posters keep insulting the intelligence of the majority of CFL fans who know exactly what the changes will mean to the league. It's fine that you love the changes, but why scrape to the bottom of the barrel and imply us hardcore fans are imbeciles.

PS...we both know that 99.5% of fans are not shrugging your shoulders. Hell, last season I was at a game, and overheard people discussing the changes. Nearly everyone there stated that they were unhappy with the loss of the 55 yard line, the reduction of the end zone, etc. 

There is also an inverse relationship between the more passionate the CFL fan, the more unlikely they are to be in favor of these new "improvements" to the game. The people least likely to go to games are the ones that are most open minded. The people who buy tickets, merchandise, streaming, etc are the ones that are going to be more opposed to them.

This fact leads me to believe that the changes will be detrimental to the league in the long run, and ultimately will hurt revenue and attendance.

[jets4life]

Even the new play-off changes in the CFL. The league and the union met. They discussed changed. Negotiated and Union members voted in favour of making the moves.

None of this has anything to do with CFL making changes to the field in a sweeping change without informing any if the involved parties with no data whatsoever because "reasons". 

Too bad the CFL did not bother to inform U Sports, high school leagues, or any other amateur organizations in Canada. It's going to be very costly for those organizations to change their fields to accommodate the "new" CFL field.

[Stats Junkie]

It seemed as though CFL attendance for Toronto, BC, and Montreal all declined from 2015 onward, bottomed out in 2021, and have rebounded somewhat since.

I'll comment on the BC situation.

In his later years of team ownership, David Braley did very little to promote the BC Lions.

In 2015 he made the decision to close the upper deck. He foolishly thought that fans who had tickets between the 40s in the upper deck would relocate to the lower bowl.

Many weren't willing to pay extra to stay between the 40s. Similar price points put the fans near the goal line and those seats aren't that desirable. A lot of season tickets were lost.

Amar Doman not only markets the team much better than Braley ever did, he understands that opening the upper bowl will bring in more fans.

[theaardvark]

I've seen more polls about the new changes. I think 75% of CFL fans that attend games are against the changes. You can't just state "the silent majority support the new changes to the league," when there is solid evidence that this is not the case.

Some people on the forum are just parroting CFL league propaganda, and ignoring the reality of the situation.

I didn't say that people didn't dislike the changes, just that they are not "I'm giving up my seasons" mad about them.

And yes, polling of fans that respond to polls about something are going to be biased.

As to "parroting CFL propaganda", well, that goes both ways.  Bandwagons are easy to build and fill.

[Tecno]

Amar Doman not only markets the team much better than Braley ever did, he understands that opening the upper bowl will bring in more fans.

Ya, this should be obvious to any non-casual CFL fan.  I understand the need to save on costs of concessions/etc for the upper deck.  But if I was the Prez I'd first close the corners and EZs before the between-the-30's upper deck seats!!  If the corners and EZs were closed you could save just as much money by having the concessions behind them closed.

(Of course accounting for the TV aspect of having at least the 1st 10 rows of the EZs populated with fans.)

[Tecno]

Perhaps I was too hard on Wade, it's just hard to accept such big changes to a game I love.  SO many at once, is a lot to accept.  Little ones I could deal with, but this is a lot to accept at once from Stewy.  Can Mark Cohon come back?

I've been thinking a lot about this lately.  Look at Aards with his CFL-approved talking points.  Now imagine Johnston announced all the changes EXCEPT the 55YL change, which he would keep in his pocket to announce after 2027 started.  What would Aards and the parrots (sounds like a band name!) be saying right now?

"We're still the CFL, we're still unique, we still have 3 downs, 12 men, 65Y width, and 55 yard lines!"

I guarantee this is exactly what they would have said if Johnston had piecemealed it.  Then a year later they announce no 55YL.  Suddenly you have everyone's quotes on record telling you that "what makes the CFL unique" includes the thing they then removed.  That would be hard for Aards to argue away -- we'd have their own words in writing, and they'd look like fools or liars.

This is why Johnston had to cram all the radical changes into one swoop.  If you took any of the most radical changes (55, GP, 20YEZ, rouge) and held it back a year you'd have enough copy and chatter that you could NOT make another incremental change the following year.  No, it had to be thrown at us all at once.

And every single one of the major changes HAD IT NOT BEEN ANNOUNCED would have been listed by Aards in their defense of our Canadianism.

Conversely, you could have, this off-season, substituted any of the "still-sacrosanct" untouched aspects for any of the Johnston-changes and Johnston, Aards & SB&G would be saying exactly the same thing they are now but with "moved GP's" replaced with "only 11 men on the field".  Or "no 55YL" replaced with "50Y width".  In other words, the specific aspect being changed is irrelevant to them -- they'd be applauding the changes, any changes, because they think it's being done for the good of the league, or like a stirred pot, or they are radical progressives, or they're just paid by Johnston.  Only if Johnston just came out and said "everything is now the same as the NFL" would they bat an eye.  Maybe.

Another way of looking at it is the proponents of the changes never once gave a rat's butt or second thought about the GP at the 0YL.  It simply wasn't a thing to be against.  But now that Johnston is selling it, they're like "ya change that GP, sucked all this time, hate it, move it now!".  Now replace "GP at the 0YL" with any other CFLism.  Everything would be playing out exactly the same.

The one benefit to this theory is that it hints that there will NOT be a change to the remaining Canadianisms.  At least not for several years, after which everyone can wave off their current statements as being in the distant past.  I figure we're safe until at least 2029.

[Tecno]

The problem with the theory is that COVID proved this is a gate driven league, and the televised experience feeds off the live crowd.  Remember how exciting crowdless NHL games were.  CFL would be worse.

I'm not saying no fans, or nearly no fans.  I'm saying that if every young person is sperg'ing* out and the oldsters are scared of covid and comfy in their EZ-boy with their 80" OLED and boxed wine, then we may have to expect smaller crowds, and eventually smaller stadiums.

The rabid fun-to-watch face-painted fans would still go, and still make for good TV.  There just might be a lot less of them.

I hope that's not the case, but if it is, it doesn't mean the CFL can't continue.  The key then will be getting more people to watch on TV and monetizing it.

* I was at the MB Museum (of Man and Nature!) the other day and they've added a "safe space" "quiet room" just before the 1920's Winnipeg exhibit.  That gives you a glimpse of the future with what they've done to the kids.  Could you even do such a thing at the stadium??  And why would someone who can't handle the noise of a museum even imagine they could handle a Bomber game?  Yikes.  Luckily my kids have both been going to IGF/PAS since they were 2.  I'm doing my part!

[ModAdmin]

It all seems pretty premature to me.  No one has observed the planned changes yet so comments about the changes are all based on emotion/feelings.  Fact is, some will like the changes, some will not.  But it is going to play out and we know status quo is not working to get fans into the seats (with a couple of exceptions).

[Tecno]

It all seems pretty premature to me.  No one has observed the planned changes yet so comments about the changes are all based on emotion/feelings.

All well and good with the rouge & 35s clock rule.  Not so great with the 55YL and GP changes, which combined will cost millions of dollars (with zero exaggeration) and cannot easily be reversed once done.

If even 1 of the 2 new turfs being put in for this opt for sewn-in lines again, then it's literally a million bucks to change it back to 110 yards.  And the instant a new stadium is built around the 100Y field, then there will never be a 110Y field again even if they make me the commissioner, because no one will be willing to put a team out of business.

That means these 2 changes specifically (the most contentious ones, coincidentally) need to be done with extreme care and thought and data and foresight.  Johnston and his changes give me the impression of the exact opposite of that.  There's a lot of "trust me brah" going on here.

[jets4life]

* I was at the MB Museum (of Man and Nature!) the other day and they've added a "safe space" "quiet room" just before the 1920's Winnipeg exhibit.  That gives you a glimpse of the future with what they've done to the kids.  Could you even do such a thing at the stadium??  And why would someone who can't handle the noise of a museum even imagine they could handle a Bomber game?  Yikes.  Luckily my kids have both been going to IGF/PAS since they were 2.  I'm doing my part!

Back in the 80s/90s when we had season tickets at the old Stadium, there were times we had to sit through rain. The game was only postponed when it started to rain cats and dogs...literally.

Last season, I was at a game where they delayed a game, not because it was raining, but due to potential rain clouds, and a thunderstorm watch (not warning). Aside from that, the new stadium offers far more protection to the fans than the old stadium ever did.

People have become too soft.

[blue_gold_84]

As to "parroting CFL propaganda", well, that goes both ways.

No, it doesn't.

People have become too soft.

People have always been soft.

[bomber beetle]

I'm not sure why the "Hurray for the changes!" posters keep insulting the intelligence of the majority of CFL fans who know exactly what the changes will mean to the league. It's fine that you love the changes, but why scrape to the bottom of the barrel and imply us hardcore fans are imbeciles.

PS...we both know that 99.5% of fans are not shrugging your shoulders. Hell, last season I was at a game, and overheard people discussing the changes. Nearly everyone there stated that they were unhappy with the loss of the 55 yard line, the reduction of the end zone, etc. 

There is also an inverse relationship between the more passionate the CFL fan, the more unlikely they are to be in favor of these new "improvements" to the game. The people least likely to go to games are the ones that are most open minded. The people who buy tickets, merchandise, streaming, etc are the ones that are going to be more opposed to them.

This fact leads me to believe that the changes will be detrimental to the league in the long run, and ultimately will hurt revenue and attendance.

I apologize that you were offended by my post.

I am a hardcore fan. I do not 'love' all the changes. I do not know why the field is changing so I suppose that makes me an imbecile as well. I do know that something needs to change so I have presented my thoughts on why it is happening and how it may help the league to be sustainable....but I am just guessing.

I am involved with multiple sports organizations, which puts me in touch with hundreds of Bomber season ticket holders. I stand by my claim that no one likes the changes and most don't understand the need for them. However, none have expressed a desire to drop their tickets...in other words they are shrugging it off. I have only come across one person who was 'angry'...and he is not going to drop his tickets either.   

[Stats Junkie]

It all seems pretty premature to me.  No one has observed the planned changes yet so comments about the changes are all based on emotion/feelings.  Fact is, some will like the changes, some will not.  But it is going to play out and we know status quo is not working to get fans into the seats (with a couple of exceptions).

This is a fair comment about emotion.

I think it is also fair for fans to state their opinions about the changes before we see the results. In today's society it seems like we are asked for receipts after the fact.

I also don't buy the status quo narrative. When was the last time the CFL didn't make any rule changes during an offseason.