One Division
Moderator: Team Captains
On tonight's halftime break, the panel discussed getting rid of the East/West divisions and just letting the best teams make the playoffs. All three members of the panel gave a thumbs up to the idea. Your thoughts?
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Heathcliff
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I like that idea, I think it would make a lot of sense in a 9-team league to do it that way.
No. Crossover playoff games have no tradition and no fan appeal. How many B.C. fans went to Montreal and Toronto for ESF games when the Lions were involved? How many would show up for a home playoff game against Hamilton, Montreal or Toronto in a one-division league? A playoff matchup with Saskatchewan, Calgary or Edmonton has a lot more appeal and more potential to draw fans of the opposing team. Playoffs are when the Lions draw their biggest crowds and the league draws its biggest viewership on TV. Would the league and TSN want to risk that? Not a chance.
its bad enough that one division might only get two teams in the playoffs now, but at least they each get one home game. If all the playoffs games were in the west, or in the east, that would hurt the league.
Every day that passes is one you can't get back
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TheLionKing
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Not crazy about the idea
No.
There are practical reasons there are divisions, one of which is to save on the cost of travel. Despite the relatively recent and by no means permanent windfall of television money, expense control still matters.
Teams need the revenue from home playoff dates, and networks need eastern and western playoff games to accommodate their schedules.
The current system isn't broken. There is no need to "fix" it.
There are practical reasons there are divisions, one of which is to save on the cost of travel. Despite the relatively recent and by no means permanent windfall of television money, expense control still matters.
Teams need the revenue from home playoff dates, and networks need eastern and western playoff games to accommodate their schedules.
The current system isn't broken. There is no need to "fix" it.
Last edited by cromartie on Wed Sep 04, 2013 11:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
Exactly! It's hard enough getting eastern based fans interested in what happens out west, add the possibility of their teams missing the playoffs and it will only hurt the league.KnowItAll wrote:its bad enough that one division might only get two teams in the playoffs now, but at least they each get one home game. If all the playoffs games were in the west, or in the east, that would hurt the league.
The CFL already tried this with all the Canadian teams in the "North" division in the mid-90's. For the remaining 140 years of Canadian football, there's always been a division between the East (Big Four) and West...and there's no need to monkey with the tremendous success the league has achieved with the current format. 
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Blue In BC
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Never been a big fan of either the crossover or a 1 division league. OTOH, I'm not fond of having to play one team 4 times often in a series of games not evenly spread out during the season.
Having 9 teams again may fix part of this problem. Not sure.
Having 9 teams again may fix part of this problem. Not sure.
I would actually be in favour of this. When you play once a week travel is not an issue. This year in particular, the top three teams are all in the West. If the season finishes this way, you will have two of the top three teams eliminated before the Grey Cup. Looking at the East, a very mediocre team is going to cake walk to the Grey Cup game. I personally don't see anything interesting about seeing any of the Eastern teams in the Grey Cup game as they are all terrible. I think it would be great to see a Grey Cup game between western rivals.
With such a small number of teams, I would want to see the best play the best. The current format looks like we are heading towards a best in the west vs the least worst team in the east. That's not good for anybody.
With such a small number of teams, I would want to see the best play the best. The current format looks like we are heading towards a best in the west vs the least worst team in the east. That's not good for anybody.
Add me to the nays. One division would also ignore the ORFU/IRFU history of the league. Keep them separate.
If you missed this or didn't PVR it, TSN has it online:
http://video.tsn.ca/?dl=cfl-latest/late ... 3/clip/456
If you missed this or didn't PVR it, TSN has it online:
http://video.tsn.ca/?dl=cfl-latest/late ... 3/clip/456
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
The Argos are more than good enough to compete in the West. If your logic, in it's purest form, ever really held true, the Crossover Rule would have addressed it by now.Big Time wrote:I would actually be in favour of this. When you play once a week travel is not an issue. This year in particular, the top three teams are all in the West. If the season finishes this way, you will have two of the top three teams eliminated before the Grey Cup. Looking at the East, a very mediocre team is going to cake walk to the Grey Cup game. I personally don't see anything interesting about seeing any of the Eastern teams in the Grey Cup game as they are all terrible. I think it would be great to see a Grey Cup game between western rivals.
With such a small number of teams, I would want to see the best play the best. The current format looks like we are heading towards a best in the west vs the least worst team in the east. That's not good for anybody.
From an expense perspective, travel is most certainly an issue in a league that, until next season, survives in no small part on gate revenues. Equipment, players and support personnel doesn't ship itself for free. This league has 60+ years of history where nearly every franchise has had a brush with death financially. You think a system where teams travel further east to west more often helps that?
One division may have a more balanced approach to days that games are scheduled......
For instance, the Lions are scheduled this season for 1 monday game, 1 tuesday game, 2 thursday games and 6 friday night games with the rest on saturday or sunday.
by comparison, the league leading Riders have a more favorable weekend bias: 1 thursday game, 2 friday games and the rest on Saturdays and Sundays...... Seems a little lopsided to me.....?
For instance, the Lions are scheduled this season for 1 monday game, 1 tuesday game, 2 thursday games and 6 friday night games with the rest on saturday or sunday.
by comparison, the league leading Riders have a more favorable weekend bias: 1 thursday game, 2 friday games and the rest on Saturdays and Sundays...... Seems a little lopsided to me.....?
Without Ricky Ray, the Argos aren't going to compete with anyone, let alone teams in the West.cromartie wrote:
The Argos are more than good enough to compete in the West. If your logic, in it's purest form, ever really held true, the Crossover Rule would have addressed it by now.
From an expense perspective, travel is most certainly an issue in a league that, until next season, survives in no small part on gate revenues. Equipment, players and support personnel doesn't ship itself for free. This league has 60+ years of history where nearly every franchise has had a brush with death financially. You think a system where teams travel further east to west more often helps that?
Honestly, I don't think the travel costs are going to be that dramatically different. Every team already plays every other team at least once. In a 9 team league, 16 games will be taken up by playing home and away with your counter parts. So you're looking at 8 flights there. You establish a rotation to fill out the other two games (only one of which is on the road) and my guess is that travel costs remain very close to what they currently are. Sometimes flying to places like Regina is more expensive than major cities. For example, I just went to Expedia and for a non-stop flight Vancouver to Regina cost is $516. Cost of a non-stop flight Vancouver to Toronto is $522. So again, I believe the travel cost argument is overstated. If the league went to more regular days for game scheduling, I think this type of schedule works better than having one divisional team that you play four times each season.
Overall, I'd rather see the best teams compete for the Grey Cup, regardless of geography. Montreal feasted on a weak division for a decade, and would walk to the Grey Cup every other year. Yet when they actually got to face their Western opponent, they lost more times than not, including twice to the third place team in the West. I don't see how that's better than having a chance for the two best teams in the league to be in the final, regardless of tradition.