108th Grey Cup - Winnipeg vs. Hamilton

[SebC]

Originally Posted by chedder

Unfortunately, the nfl marketing hype and the worship of all things American has captured the younger crowd. That and fantasy football. All of the young 20 somethings I know are glued to games due to their fantasy leagues and online betting.

I know it's too expensive to get the CFL into Madden, but getting them into some of the more popular fantasy websites seems like it would be pretty low-hanging fruit.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

This is a tv issue more than just a cfl issue. Being on cbc wouldn’t help as those same people don’t have cbc either.

Tsn being anti streaming is certainly an issue though. At least other networks have half decent apps. Tsn doesn’t even have an app for any non-mobile platforms.

CBC streams for free and is available free over the air

Its not just a young person thing either...My father in law watched every Grey Cup for 45+ years...he doesn't get TSN and doesn't watch

[calgaryrocks]

I would like to 2nd the point about the length of the game. As I have little kids I regularly pvr games to watch when they are in bed. I can watch all the plays in a full game in 15-30 minutes (depending on how aggressively I skip between plays). it seems like there are commercials every 5 minutes in a game. I don't go to games anymore as it is a full 5 hour commitment to go to a game which is mostly spent waiting for the next play to start, in cold weather half the time. way too many stoppages (commercials and instant replays).
I get that tv money is keeping the league afloat but if ratings are sliding down that won't last long either.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by dino7c

CBC streams for free and is available free over the air

Its not just a young person thing either...My father in law watched every Grey Cup for 45+ years...he doesn't get TSN and doesn't watch

Your FIL and young people may both not watch but for very different reasons that are totally unrelated.

Your FIL is in a minority and no one is catering to him. He could watch if he really wanted to, he just chooses not to get cable. He’s missing out on a lot of content but no one is catering to people that only watch free OTA content anymore. And if he can’t even get tsn or refuses to stream then it’s moot.

[CaptainCrunch]

A few years back I was at the Horsemen Beers with Huff annual event that we had set up (I give credit to the Stamps they really are or were good with interacting with the fans until Covid hit).



I was talking to one of the guys in charge of the ticket sales strategy who's name escapes me.



I basically told him that the presentation for the games isn't great nor is the way that they engage the younger generation.


For the most part the upper corners are empty. Nobody buys them. Give the tickets away to schools and amateur sports programs. Get those young fans engaged cheaply as they will spend money on concessions, maybe learn to love the game and become ticket buyers later.


In terms of presentations, there's very little energy pre and post and during the games. They should send people out to watch US College ball games. Make it an event, really make it more tailgate friendly, have tail gate events. Concerts by local bands that are free whatever. Create a cult following. Look at the entrances for college games have that. Replicate the fan involvement from colleges. Bands in the crowd, whatever. And after the game really go to town on after shows or whatever. Make it an event not a game, boost the energy to a thousand. Swee Caroline is not enough.


In terms of CBC vs TSN. I doubt that CBC would compete with the money that TSN spends on the games. Remember CBC coverage was really actually cheap and bad, they squeezed every penny.



We've looked at a CFL video game but economically it makes little sense, the cost of development vs the number of people that would buy it makes no sense, and I'm not sure that if a fan had a choice of buying a CFL game for 60 bucks or Madden for 60 bucks that he would ever ever buy Russ Jackson football.

[Patek23]

I grew up going to Stamps games and loved the CFL until I probably hit my early 20s and was able to get more exposure too the NFL and NCAA football. With the quality of presentation and quality of talent your able to see in those games it leaves the CFL feeling very gimmicky even though it has long standing tradition and rules. I have maybe tuned into 4-5 regular season games in the last decade. And I typically try to catch the Grey Cup but didn't even notice it was on this year. Which aside from what I'm about to say next is a major #### up on the leagues marketing that someone like me didn't even know it was on.

I'm late 30s now and no one in my age group that I know could tell you one thing about the CFL at the moment other then that it exists. I feel like at some point it will have to adapt to what will draw younger fans back into the game or continue to cater to the baby boomer generation until those viewers/attendees die out and then the league. I know I'm in the minority in this thread but I would definitely start to tune in if we became a AHL type league to the NFL. Too me what's most important is keeping some sort of Football team in this city rather then some rules that outside a niche group of people in Canada enjoy, everyone else thinks is a gimmick.

Just my two cents.

[tvp2003]

My brilliant idea this morning is the make the field shorter, not longer than the NFL. So instead of 110 yards, shrink it down to 90 yards or maybe even 80 yards. That way you're closer in scoring range (although it might also dis-incentivize going for it on 3rd down at "midfield").

That will mess up some of the stadium configurations though (save for Toronto), so perhaps make the end zones 30 yards instead of 20, with the back 10 yards equivalent to a 3-point shot (i.e. you get 8 points instead of six, plus the convert or option to go for two).

I'm going back to bed...

[dash_pinched]

I think EE mentioned it earlier, they need to do away with the administration cap which includes the coaches cap, I don't have an issue with a cap on player's salaries, but retaining good coaches is vital to a team's success and there should not be a limit on how much a team wants to spend on their coaching staff. Players will gravitate to a team with good coaches as they will look to cash in on that playoff game bonus money.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Your FIL and young people may both not watch but for very different reasons that are totally unrelated.

Your FIL is in a minority and no one is catering to him. He could watch if he really wanted to, he just chooses not to get cable. He’s missing out on a lot of content but no one is catering to people that only watch free OTA content anymore. And if he can’t even get tsn or refuses to stream then it’s moot.

TSN isn't on basic cable like the old days...you need to buy the big package or order it seperate.

Less people watching is less people watching no matter the reason.

[Joborule]

Even if you do a lot of things to make the game look more entertaining, how much does the low amount of teams in the league hold the it back from drawing interest from the younger demograph that they need to survive? When only two teams in the league miss the playoffs, honestly winning the Grey Cup doesn't seem to be much of a feat.

When you're trying to convince those that are NFL fans to invest into the local CFL product, and the contrast in quality and competition is so drastic, it's a tough sell to them. Vancouver and Toronto is the epitome of this; whereas those should be their strongest markets, rather than their weakest.

The CFL just seems to lack a purpose. There's no sense of direction where the league is going, or intending to be. I'm incredibly skeptical that the league will survive this decade unless something catalytic happens to get younger people invested into the product.