Training camp 2024

[don corleone]

Mentioning early season play taking time for teams to gel made me wonder if it is a coincidence Winnipeg plays Ottawa twice in the first 5 games.

[David]

I'm torn. I love that the Concert Kick-Off is becoming a staple of the Doman era, with crowds in excess of 30,000 and a buzz built around the team.

My concern has been that, while the diehards know that there are only 2 preseason games in which to evaluate and there are fewer padded practices at training camp, casuals are likely not really aware. Timing and sloppiness can be an issue so they aren't seeing the best of CFL football. Fortunately, our Leos have had two blow-out victories to send fans home happy.

This year, we open in Toronto (I wonder if we'll face Chad Kelly or there will be disciplinary action?) so it won't be as bad.


DH

[Hambone]

I'm torn. I love that the Concert Kick-Off is becoming a staple of the Doman era, with crowds in excess of 30,000 and a buzz built around the team.

My concern has been that, while the diehards know that there are only 2 preseason games in which to evaluate and there are fewer padded practices at training camp, casuals are likely not really aware. Timing and sloppiness can be an issue so they aren't seeing the best of CFL football. Fortunately, our Leos have had two blow-out victories to send fans home happy.

This year, we open in Toronto (I wonder if we'll face Chad Kelly or there will be disciplinary action?) so it won't be as bad.


DH

The casuals may not be aware of the possible implications of current training camp processes. As casuals they also probably don't recognize any supposed sloppiness in early season games. They're there to enjoy the atmosphere and watch a game without getting wrapped up in the little details or "quality" of play. If their team wins the leave the stadium very happy calling it a great game.

One observance I've made since moving to PG relates to hockey. Junior hockey fans love their WHL hockey. Many like to claim it's more entertaining than the NHL. I long ago concluded that a big part of the entertainment value they perceive stems from the fact that they are kids still. While they are still playing at a very high level they don't possess the same attention to detail as the pros do and tend to make more mistakes which lead to sloppy hockey. But guess what? Those mistakes and turnovers actually create entertainment and scoring opportunities.

So while us hardcore football fans might see a sloppy mistake leading to a turnover or score the casual fan might see an entertaining play.

[Hambone]

Mentioning early season play taking time for teams to gel made me wonder if it is a coincidence Winnipeg plays Ottawa twice in the first 5 games.

That's not as bad as 2022 when Ottawa started the season with a home and away series with Winnipeg. Ottawa lost both but easily could have won both.

[Qman]

Looks like rookie camp starts with walkthru Wednesday night at 5pm.
I guess the main purpose of rookie camp is cut 15 of 50 guys before vets report.

[B.C.FAN]

Looks like rookie camp starts with walkthru Wednesday night at 5pm.
I guess the main purpose of rookie camp is cut 15 of 50 guys before vets report.

I’ve seen the odd player excel in rookie camp
and immediately take first-team reps at the start of main camp. Barring injuries, I doubt that we’ll see that this year with a veteran team.

I’ll be there for the three full practices on Thursday and Friday. The main things to watch for in rookie camp are no-shows and injuries.

[Qman]

Yes, that's another factor. There are still some padded practices in camp but I don't even try to evaluate line play. The lack of contact also makes it tough to evaluate running backs. The real test of the roster comes in the first few games of the regular season.

When the CFL went from a 16 game season with 4 pre-season games to 18 games and only 2 pre-season games, it felt like now we have 2 pre-season games that count in the standings. That said, I don't really have a problem with the current 18 game set up, but I just have to accept the fact that early season there will be lots of errors on the field.

I'll take the current format any day of the week over the old 16 & 4 split. I only had full STs for the last 3 years of that and hated 20% of my ST cost going to 2 meaningless-in-the-standings preseason games I would not be attending.

That aside the current format really changes the priorities of training camp. Back in the day it took 20 to 25 days just to get the 4 preseason games played. Camps likely opened upwards of 5 weeks before the first regular season games. Two-a-days were frequent with likely every practice being in pads. Twice as many preseason games made for a lot more game reps for competition and evaluation. Looking at BC's 2024 practice schedule they'll be getting roughly 33 hours of practice time over 12 sessions plus a few walk thrus. Camps must end 18 days after they start today.

Back in the day players probably need the first week just to burn off the offseason fat and get somewhat close to the shape all players show up at camp in today. With relatively limited practice and preseason time today compared to pre-1986 a lot ot time is still sent on teaching of technique but the main focus is to start Installing the offensive and defensive schemes. Teams now are likely to be just as prepared for Week 1 as they were back in the 70s because of that early focus shift.

Honestly, in 10 years I don’t see preseason games happening, fans increasingly don’t want to pay for preseason games.

I could see converting 2 preaseasom games and go 20 game season, and teams fly into camps for 2-3 controlled scrimmages during 3 week camp. Which is essentially games without hitting qbs. They do this a lot in nfl.