BC Lions vs Calgary Stampeders; West Semi Final Gamethread

[jayswin]

I actually used to wonder why TSN seemed to constantly downplay the Stamps when I figured they'd be boasting about the year to year success of our franchises and how well run our organization is.

Where as they would almost leave us out of the conversation and talk about how team so and so may be a force this season, so "keep your eye on them!" when it was teams you'd look at and go "these guys might be a force? Based on what?. Now I realize it was never a grudge or incompetence by the analysts - of course they know a contending team that will roll through most of the season when they see it - it was likely a mandate in meetings;

"Hey guys, ratings are way down, the only parity in the league right now is the race for the bottom of the standings, do whatever you can to keep as many team's fans watching as you can. Leave the Stamps out for the most part, everyone knows what they are, but don't hold them and the Esks up above the heep of garbage too much or people will see this and tune out this year".

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by jayswin

I actually used to wonder why TSN seemed to constantly downplay the Stamps when I figured they'd be boasting about the year to year success of our franchises and how well run our organization is.

Where as they would almost leave us out of the conversation and talk about how team so and so may be a force this season, so "keep your eye on them!" when it was teams you'd look at and go "these guys might be a force? Based on what?. Now I realize it was never a grudge or incompetence by the analysts - of course they know a contending team that will roll through most of the season when they see it - it was likely a mandate in meetings;

"Hey guys, ratings are way down, the only parity in the league right now is the race for the bottom of the standings, do whatever you can to keep as many team's fans watching as you can. Leave the Stamps out for the most part, everyone knows what they are, but don't hold them and the Esks up above the heep of garbage too much or people will see this and tune out this year".

TSN cares about Saskatchewan and the Argos. That is it. The rest of the league solely to play those teams in their mind.

[octothorp]

Since we're griping about ways that the CFL is not endearing itself to fans, I have to say that the lack of a non-cable option for legally watching the CFL affects my viewership a lot. I can watch just about other sport on some sort of annual subscription plan without cable, and the CFL isn't going to be the thing that makes me change my mind on cable... it'll just mean I watch less of it overall. I'd happily pay a bit to get a subscription, watch more CFL, and boost TSN's online viewership ratings in the process. Not sure if there's enough people like me to make it worthwhile, but given that they've already got the whole streaming system set up, a subscription system shouldn't be that hard to tack on.

[Hockey Fan #751]

I think one factor that hurt TV ratings was the 3-15 Riders being non-factors from the start and one factor that hurt overall attendance was the Argos being nomads for most of the season, playing to empty stadiums.

[Dan02]

As a casual fan of the stamps, the quality of the games is just atrocious right now.

I think I caught 4 games this year and the only thing that stood out was that there will be a penalty called on EVERY punt or kickoff return. It used to be that it seemed like both teams were a threat to score on any drive, now it seems like 2 and out is the default, any long plays are just hail marrys designed to try and draw a PI call that occasionally work out.

It's just unwatchable right now.

Look at the #1 seed, the 2 Edmonton quarterbacks combined have fewer then 3500 passing yards, that's right your league leader didn't even manage 200 yards passing a game.

[adc]

As many posters have mentioned there are numerous factors that are in play as to why the numbers are down but to me the biggest reason is the shift in the NFL focus to mobile QBs and the roster size that allows them to keep more guys.

Football at all levels is a QB driven sport but even moreso in the CFL with the bigger field and only 2 downs. Even if every QB stayed healthy this year the crop of QBs is really poor.

Mitchell, Collaros and I guess Reilly are the best of the "young" guys and I am not sure any of them are at the level of Garcia, Ham, Flutie, Calvillo, Dickenson etc. Mitchell and Collaros may get there in a year or two but not right now. Then you have the old guys Ray, Burris, Durant that are clearly a step or 3 below what they were. Throw in the garbage in Montreal and Winnipeg and the QB situation is really poor.

I am not sure how long they would have stayed and they may have been drafted anyways but guys like Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick seem like guys that in the past would have been CFLers. I am sure there are other back-ups that I am forgetting as well.