Questions for Ambrosie?
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Kudos to both Ambrosie and LeLacheur for their quick responses. Past regime never acknowledge, let alone respond fan's mail. I'm still waiting a response from Adam Rita.
Ambrosie met with Winnipeg fans on Monday in the seventh stop on his 10-city tour (including Halifax). He said season ticket holders he has met in the Prairie cities are 95% in favour of moving up the schedule. I'm not convinced of his math but he seems to be determined, no matter what he says about studying all sides of the issue.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ fans vote yes to moving up start date of CFL schedule
Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ fans vote yes to moving up start date of CFL schedule
- Hambone
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Ah those prairie folks. Seems to me it wasn't that long ago they used to wear colder weather games like a badge of honour and felt they gave them a big home field advantage. Give them a couple shiny new stadiums with a few creature comforts they never used to enjoy and they turn soft. Funny thing about it is while the idea gets them away from colder weather games they are trading it off for more likelihood of rain. I looked at official Canada climate stats for all 9 CFL cities the other day. While summer months are the driest months on the west coast they are also the wettest months on the prairies. June is the wettest month of the year in Calgary, Regina and Winnipeg followed by July. In Edmonton it's reversed with July being the wettest followed by June. In all 4 cities May and August are the next wettest months of the year. They might be able to ditch their parkas but better keep an umbrella handy.B.C.FAN wrote: ↑Tue Feb 13, 2018 10:49 amAmbrosie met with Winnipeg fans on Monday in the seventh stop on his 10-city tour (including Halifax). He said season ticket holders he has met in the Prairie cities are 95% in favour of moving up the schedule. I'm not convinced of his math but he seems to be determined, no matter what he says about studying all sides of the issue.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ fans vote yes to moving up start date of CFL schedule
You're as old as you've ever been and as young as you're ever going to be.
I've yet to attend a game in the new stadiums in Winnipeg and Saskatchewan but it seems that they are designed to better protect fans from the biting Prairie winds, and provide more cover in the event of rain or snow.Hambone wrote: ↑Tue Feb 13, 2018 11:02 amAh those prairie folks. Seems to me it wasn't that long ago they used to wear colder weather games like a badge of honour and felt they gave them a big home field advantage. Give them a couple shiny new stadiums with a few creature comforts they never used to enjoy and they turn soft. Funny thing about it is while the idea gets them away from colder weather games they are trading it off for more likelihood of rain. I looked at official Canada climate stats for all 9 CFL cities the other day. While summer months are the driest months on the west coast they are also the wettest months on the prairies. June is the wettest month of the year in Calgary, Regina and Winnipeg followed by July. In Edmonton it's reversed with July being the wettest followed by June. In all 4 cities May and August are the next wettest months of the year. They might be able to ditch their parkas but better keep an umbrella handy.
There is a lot that can be done with the current schedule to give Prairie fans more home games in summer and road games and byes in the fall if that's what they want. I'm sure the Lions are happy to host more late-season games and take a couple of byes in the first half of the season. The Argos probably would too. No one seems to want to sit on the sunny side of BMO Field on a hot summer day.
The writing on the wall is becoming clearer with every town hall meeting Randy Ambrosie holds. On Tuesday, he was in Edmonton for the eighth of 10 stops on his cross-country tour.
JONES: CFL commissioner makes a stop in EdmontonWhen he polled those gathered here Tuesday evening about the idea moving the Grey Cup and the season up by three weeks, the room erupted with cheers, not just hands in the air, in response to the idea.
When he asked for those who would prefer keeping it the way it is, there were maybe a dozen hands in the air.
Ambrosie scored it at 95 per cent.
“The fans have been in favor at every stop so far but not by the same percentages. It was 60-40 in Montreal and 55-45 in B.C. and maybe a little higher than that in Toronto,” said Ambrosie, who will visit Hamilton next and then proceed to Halifax where he thinks it’s vitally important to make Atlantic Canada part of the conversation.
“Calgary was 95 per cent and I was a little worried that the fans against it might be chased out of the room. And Monday night in Winnipeg there was only one fan and I went and stood beside him. I thought he needed a friend.
I hope to Christ they're using a little more science and meta-analysis to reach a decision on this thing than a show of hands among season ticket holders at Town Hall meetings.
DH
DH
Roar, You Lions, Roar
As expected, there is an ulterior motive behind this push to move up the CFL season smoking gun right here. ESPN coverage in the United States. A lucrative ancillary revenue source is great, but at what cost domestically? If it's going to negatively impact overall attendance (my hypothesis), then it's misguided IMHO, as the CFL is and likely always will be a gate-driven league.
I feel dirty for saying this, but I hope the Leafs go deep and far in the NHL Playoffs. Stanley Cup Game 7 or bust. Winnipeg too. Then Commissioner Ambrosie can get a sense of his 6 week competition.
DH
I feel dirty for saying this, but I hope the Leafs go deep and far in the NHL Playoffs. Stanley Cup Game 7 or bust. Winnipeg too. Then Commissioner Ambrosie can get a sense of his 6 week competition.
DH
Roar, You Lions, Roar
Go Raptors too. Ambrosie can boast widespread support for his season shift among Prairie fans but they're the most loyal supporters of their teams under the current schedule. Southern Ontrario and B.C. are different markets altogether, and Montreal would likely be the same if they had a competitive hockey team. Those big markets are the most crucial to the league's survival.
- DanoT
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With each CFL team getting $5M+ from TV rights and BC, TO, and Montreal hurting at the gate, I would argue that the CFL likely isn't a gate driven league anymore and ESPN might be adding to the TV audiences.David wrote: ↑Mon Feb 26, 2018 11:36 amAs expected, there is an ulterior motive behind this push to move up the CFL season smoking gun right here. ESPN coverage in the United States. A lucrative ancillary revenue source is great, but at what cost domestically? If it's going to negatively impact overall attendance (my hypothesis), then it's misguided IMHO, as the CFL is and likely always will be a gate-driven league.
I feel dirty for saying this, but I hope the Leafs go deep and far in the NHL Playoffs. Stanley Cup Game 7 or bust. Winnipeg too. Then Commissioner Ambrosie can get a sense of his 6 week competition.
DH
- Sir Purrcival
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I'm not sure why people are so strongly for or against this particular move. It seems unlikely to make much of a difference overall excepting we might have a chance of some better weather during Grey Cup. I personally find myself waiting for what seems an eternity for the actual season to start and then it seems to go on far too long into what is considered the winter season.
Tell me how long must a fan be strong? Ans. Always.
FYI dtrain, they're not extending the seasons (save the extra bye week). They're just planning on changing the start/end dates. So the off-season then will be the same duration - just in different months. You'll be waiting (roughly) the same amount of time for the season to start.
I am kind of shocked that so few here don't see this as a problem, or care. To each his own I guess...
DH
Roar, You Lions, Roar
I hate the length of the CFL offseason. Thankfully, there's free agency, OTAs and the draft to provide some interest but I'm always keen to get to training camp in Kamloops each spring to see the team take shape on the field.
For the opposite extreme in scheduling, there's the MLS. The Whitecaps' 2017 season ended in a playoff loss on Nov. 2, five days after the Lions' season ended. Their first home game of the 2018 season is this weekend, three months before the Lions' first 2018 preseason game.
In addition to the many concerns I've expressed on this board and to Randy Ambrosie and Rick LeLacheur about the proposed CFL season shift is that it may drive more CFL fans toward the NFL. I seldom pay much attention to the NFL until the CFL season is over and the NFL playoff races are heating up. Under Ambrosie's proposed timetable, the CFL is in danger of being seen as more of an offseason distraction for the growing number of NFL fans in Canada, as well as for the U.S. television networks that seem to be pushing for the change.