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Maybe there will be a day when the CFL is a 16 team league! Below could be what I'm talking about:

Western Conference:
Pacific Division: Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton.
Central Division: Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Brandon.

Eastern Conference:
Ontario Division: Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa, London
Atlantic Division: Montreal, Quebec City, Moncton, Halifax

Regular season could be a home and away against division opponents. And one game against all remaining teams. (Rotate the home and away of these "outer division opponent" matchups from one year to the next. Adds up to an 18 game regular season per team.

Playoffs would see each Conference seed teams as Division winners #1 and #2 in order of records. #3 thru #8 in order of records and any needed tie breaker schemes. Top 6 seeds in each Conference make the playoffs.

Playoffs would be:
Conference Quarter Finals: #3 versus #6 & #4 versus #5. Winners advance to Conference Semis.
Conference Semi Finals: #1 versus lowest remaining seed & #2 versus second lowest remaining seed.
Conference Finals: Two remaining teams, in each Conference, play to make it to the Grey Cup Game.

TV ratings and revenue sharing could see a league this big one day. Inter-provincial rivalries in all of the major Provinces would be excellent. Labour day matchups could be reshaped to compliment this. The NFL is 100% more watched on television (per capita) than the CFL in Canada. So I think the TV ratings would need to double, what they currently are, for a 16 team CFL to fly. Maybe TSN and Sportsnet could form this kind of TV viewership growth from coast to coast. A second major network would allow for some scheduling flexibility for teams in every market too. Instead of one network applying a scheduling strain that has to work with time zones from east to west.

Changes in team names would include Vancouver Lions and Regina Roughriders. (To become football partners with interprovincial rivals in both BC and Saskatchewan. If CFL football became the same kind of passion, as we see in the USA, then this 16 team league would be a simple feat to behold. It's up to the fans to go to games, and to watch the games on TV. To write politicians and the CFL to explore expansion in their respective regions.

Before and after expansion to 16 teams is like asking what came first the chicken or the egg. Do you say "build it and they will come" or do you say "don't build it because they may not come!" lol. Cudos to TSN for presenting the CFL at it's highest quality of broadcasting ever. The coverage leading up to the Grey Cup game was exceptional. The only thing this league really needs is more teams and a bigger TV audience on two major networks and the game played from coast to coast.

Dominic In Vancouver

P.S. 1977 Lions logo & uniforms or bust in 2010 and beyond!

Great concept, but there aren't nearly enough fans or corporate support in every single market you have listed, that would make every single market successful. For instance, there's no way Victoria could support a CFL team.

I think something more realistic would be:

West:
BC
Edmonton
Calgary
Saskatchewan
Winnipeg

East:
Toronto
Hamilton
Ottawa
Montreal
Halifax
Quebec City

idealy another team brought in to make it an even 12...but where they would play out of I'm not sure.

Moncton has been considered.

Looks like you put a lot of thought into this and I don't want to rain on your parade, but I don't think Saskatoon could support it's own team, never mind Brandon.

Just my

That would be a great dream. To have it happen the league would be pretty diluted with 16 teams though. I would argue for a few American teams like Anchorage and Spokane.

10 teams is the ultimate and final goal, and it's realistic. Looks like Ottawa will be good to go for 9, and then it's ONE of: Moncton, Halifax, or Quebec City.
Some dramatic population growth in other cities will be needed to add any more, then again, you did say eternity!

bclions16 wrote:10 teams is the ultimate and final goal, and it's realistic. Looks like Ottawa will be good to go for 9, and then it's ONE of: Moncton, Halifax, or Quebec City.
Some dramatic population growth in other cities will be needed to add any more, then again, you did say eternity!

I would argue that one maritime province such as Nova Scotia or New Brunswick could hold a team, as well as Quebec City...

Something like this would require a population explosion in Canada, something on the order of doubling or tripling evenly across the country. Other than that, we could not support that many teams. We're looking at a hundred plus years before Canada gets that big.

Green Bay has a team in the NFL! The same kind of passion is what you need for the above mentioned smaller markets to have a team in the CFL. Also it's crucial to keep the league 100% Canadian teams only. (More teams would offset the likely decrease in Canadian player quotas per team. ) Also with NFL Europe & Arena League now defunct the number of talented football players, residing in the USA but without jobs in the NFL, has never been greater. A 16 team league would not be diluted at all. With growing TV dollars and ticket sales the salaries of players could go up too eventually. (Maybe to a high enough cap that sees the perception of the league improve amongst players and fans alike.

Victoria could draw fans from the entire Island. (Nanaimo, Parksville, Port Alberni, Campbell River, Port MCNeill etc.) Saskatoon has a population close to that of Regina as well. Quebec City did a good job hosting the Vanier Cup. That is a city with many young football players and the rivalry with the Alouettes would be similar to that of the old hockey Habs and Nordiques. (Intense.) Nordiques might be a good team name for any such team in Quebec City.

It all comes down to passion for the game. Fans can have it if they want it enough. Look at Green Bay in the NFL. When the Packers play a home game the city looks like a ghost town. (Either at the game or in front of the TV.) Passion is why the Packers are still in Green Bay. Passion is how Brandon and Saskatoon can be viable. They would have no other pro sports teams there so you might see a Regina like passion unfold for those teams. The key word for such a 16 team CFL is revenue sharing and a TV Audience that is double what it is now. TSN and SportsNet sharing the CFL TV pie and working well to grow the TV audience from coast to coast. Provincial rivalries is the way to go.

The Lions will be playing in a make shift Stadium next season. (Less than a year to construct the apparently 25,000 seat stadium where old Empire Stadium once stood for just one season of football.) How tough can it really be to build some 20,000 seat stadiums in these smaller sized markets that see a small chunk of the city at every home game! I think that a 16 team league would also give the biggest markets a new lease on life for the CFL game too. Coast to Coast and only Canadian would reach many people. Especially in this age of the high Canadian dollar. Do you have the passion to make the CFL big Canada? Owners, players, broadcasters, corporate sponsors that do business in every above mentioned team city and fans alike can if they choose to. That's how America sees the NFL! It is everything to Americans. Canada can see their league in their own special way too.

Dominic In Vancouver

The Detroit Lions re-locate to the CFL so they can job to our teams too?

tigerrr22 wrote:Green Bay has a team in the NFL! The same kind of passion is what you need for the above mentioned smaller markets to have a team in the CFL. Also it's crucial to keep the league 100% Canadian teams only. (More teams would offset the likely decrease in Canadian player quotas per team. ) Also with NFL Europe & Arena League now defunct the number of talented football players, residing in the USA but without jobs in the NFL, has never been greater. A 16 team league would not be diluted at all. With growing TV dollars and ticket sales the salaries of players could go up too eventually. (Maybe to a high enough cap that sees the perception of the league improve amongst players and fans alike.

Victoria could draw fans from the entire Island. (Nanaimo, Parksville, Port Alberni, Campbell River, Port MCNeill etc.) Saskatoon has a population close to that of Regina as well. Quebec City did a good job hosting the Vanier Cup. That is a city with many young football players and the rivalry with the Alouettes would be similar to that of the old hockey Habs and Nordiques. (Intense.) Nordiques might be a good team name for any such team in Quebec City.

It all comes down to passion for the game. Fans can have it if they want it enough. Look at Green Bay in the NFL. When the Packers play a home game the city looks like a ghost town. (Either at the game or in front of the TV.) Passion is why the Packers are still in Green Bay. Passion is how Brandon and Saskatoon can be viable. They would have no other pro sports teams there so you might see a Regina like passion unfold for those teams. The key word for such a 16 team CFL is revenue sharing and a TV Audience that is double what it is now. TSN and SportsNet sharing the CFL TV pie and working well to grow the TV audience from coast to coast. Provincial rivalries is the way to go.

The Lions will be playing in a make shift Stadium next season. (Less than a year to construct the apparently 25,000 seat stadium where old Empire Stadium once stood for just one season of football.) How tough can it really be to build some 20,000 seat stadiums in these smaller sized markets that see a small chunk of the city at every home game! I think that a 16 team league would also give the biggest markets a new lease on life for the CFL game too. Coast to Coast and only Canadian would reach many people. Especially in this age of the high Canadian dollar. Do you have the passion to make the CFL big Canada? Owners, players, broadcasters, corporate sponsors that do business in every above mentioned team city and fans alike can if they choose to. That's how America sees the NFL! It is everything to Americans. Canada can see their league in their own special way too.

Dominic In Vancouver

Well, I sure like your enthusiam for this league! (and it's a pleasant diversion from the last couple days)

While it's true there are only roughly 280,000 people in the Green Bay metro area, Wisconsin is home to about 5.6 million people with no NFL team other than the Packers, all within roughly 180-200 driving miles of Green Bay.

I would guess that Saskatoon and Brandon would struggle - don't forget that large chunks of those populations would cheer for the incumbent teams (Riders, Bombers) before cheering for a new team.

That being said, I like that you think big!

Good to know bud! That's all the people of Canada have to do to make this league maximum football glory. THINK BIG! No US teams either. The NFL must be left alone to football fans in the States. People down there will never adopt the Canadian game as their first choice of rules or appreciate the Canadian game either as anything more than a weird football side show. (I salute Chris Berman though!) . US expansion failed the first time. The expansion must be solely in Canada. Just need to think big in Canada. That's all it would take. Think big and then be big! Spend some money and go out to cheer on the team you live closest to!

Dominic In Vancouver

BC
Edmonton
Calgary
Saskatchewan
Winnipeg
Toronto
London or Windsor (Apparently London has 400,000+ people, maybe you get some people coming in from Kitchener or Windsor (I wouldn't put a team in Kitchener because of it's proximity to Hamilton and Toronto.). It couldn't be as bad an idea as putting a 2nd team in Saskatchewan or Manitoba. Windsor has Detroit (perhaps fans from London), and people there, who knows how many can afford to watch a team that brings great shame to the Lions name and at NFL prices. It could very well fail but it could be an interesting experiment.)
Hamilton
Ottawa
Montreal
Quebec City (Certainly they could support a team if there was a stadium. A 20-25,000 seat stadium is too small for a city like Montreal, you'd surely get extra fans (especially people from Quebec who've moved to Montreal) heading east to Quebec City to catch games, especially when the Als visit. That could be a good rivalry.)
Moncton or Halifax (Moncton has built a 10,000 seat stadium with the ability to add twice as many seats. Halifax needs to wake the hell up, it being a more legitimate-sized city to built a CFL stadium and put a team in than Moncton. You certainly could get people from Halifax driving to Moncton to see games, but the easily bigger population base is in Halifax. How many people can drive to a Friday night game in Moncton from Halifax after work?)

EASTERN DIVISION
================
Hamilton
Ottawa
Montreal
Toronto

WESTERN DIVISION
================
BC
Calgary
Edmonton
Saskatchewan
Winnipeg

DOMINION DIVISION
=================
Victoria
Saskatoon
Kitchener-Waterloo
Quebec City
Halifax

PLAYOFFS
========
* Top team in each division hosts division final
* 2nd place team in each division hosts division semi-final
* 3rd place team in each division visits semi-final host UNLESS the best 4th place team in any division has a better record than the worst-showing 3rd place team (similar to the current crossover rule).

* The highest-seeded winner of the 3 division finals receives a bye into the Grey Cup game.
* The second-highest-seeded winner of the 3 division finals hosts the lowest seeded winner in the Grey Cup Semi-Final game.

With 14 teams; seven games per week! Woo hoo! Also, the smaller market teams will have, mostly, themselves to compete against.

The Grey Cup Semi Final is not new. It was played until 1954, with the winner of the WIFU against the winner of the ORFU. After 1954, ORFU gave up.