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    How Would Moving the CFL Season Earlier Affect the Argos?

    CFL Commissioner Ambrosie has broached the idea of moving the start of the season earlier so that the Grey Cup is played in October.

    There are a lot of moving parts to the argument both for and against moving up the CFL schedule — tradition, cold weather, snow, competition with the Stanley Cup playoffs, competition with the NFL, etc. — but there’s really only one factor that matters to the CFL office: money.
    The CFL has been selling its American television rights to ESPN for a paltry sum for close to a decade now. Former commissioner Mark Cohon — the man who made the first ESPN broadcast agreement in the late 2000s — didn’t see the deal as an opportunity to make money, but as a chance to gain exposure south of the border. Now that the CFL is getting a fair amount of attention from an American audience, it may be time to capitalize by negotiating a more lucrative broadcasting agreement. ...

    More and more Americans take an interest in the CFL every year for a number of reasons. For one, many big-name college stars who end up in the CFL bring with them legions of fans who want to follow their careers through the pros. Players like DeVier Posey, Trent Richardson, Darvin Adams, Tommie Campbell, and James Wilder Jr. all come from huge football schools with massive fan bases. Seeing former college stars enjoy professional success in Canada should only turn more American fans onto the Canadian game.
    Secondly, the CFL is phenomenally entertaining — I’ve been following it and the NFL for almost twenty years and the 2017 season was as compelling a campaign as I’ve seen north or south of the border.
    http://3downnation.com/2017/11/28/cf...-cup-thoughts/

    IMO, this would run into the Argos overlapping with the Blue Jays at home and on TV for nearly all of the CFL regular season, and even more important with the NHL playoffs on TV virtually every day in the early season. Argos media exposure would suffer even more in this regard if the Leafs play far into the playoffs. This is likely to reduce the already low level of attention the Argos achieve in the Toronto media and TV viewership of Argo and other CFL games, thereby reducing revenue from a fall in attendance and eventually from a dropoff in Canadian TV ratings that would result in less money in a future Canadian TV contract. While an earlier start would earn more NFL money, I doubt this will be a bonanza, especially at the beginning, when the league has not proved yet whether it can grab a large American viewership with an early start. Neither NFL Europe viewership on American TV in the spring or CFL expansion into the U.S. caught on in a significant way.

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    I honestly think that this idea will die a quick death, especially after the memorable snow Grey Cup on Sunday. I will say that an earlier start would do the Argos no favours as they would be competing with the Leafs and Raptors in May and June and the Blue Jays all the way to October with no month where they have a chance to be dominant as November can be now.
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    Though prefer the schedule as is, I don't see it making much of a difference here.

    The Leafs and Raptors being in the playoffs are cyclical much like the Jays. We also have to compete with the NFL for eyeballs so there will be less of an overlap there.

    The Argos and the CFL for more attention because it the playoff, less do to with the month it's played in.

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    I would love to see a database showing attendance by date for the past 20 years. I'd be willing to bet Argo home attendance is better after Labour Day than before. More home dates in summer would be a bad idea in this market, IMO.
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    Quote Originally Posted by paulwoods13 View Post
    I would love to see a database showing attendance by date for the past 20 years. I'd be willing to bet Argo home attendance is better after Labour Day than before. More home dates in summer would be a bad idea in this market, IMO.
    100% agreed Paul. Imagine if both the Leafs and Raptors went deep into the playoffs in the same year, and the Argos had a home game at the same time. Me, You and maybe a couple thousand of us diehards would be the only ones in attendance at the Argos game.
    It's us vs the rest of the country

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    Quote Originally Posted by paulwoods13 View Post
    I would love to see a database showing attendance by date for the past 20 years. I'd be willing to bet Argo home attendance is better after Labour Day than before. More home dates in summer would be a bad idea in this market, IMO.
    The data is readily available.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Argofans.com View Post
    The data is readily available.
    Yes, but someone would need to compile it, and as we all know, reported attendance numbers likely did not reflect actual sales for many years.
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    Don
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    Quote Originally Posted by paulwoods13 View Post
    Yes, but someone would need to compile it, and as we all know, reported attendance numbers likely did not reflect actual sales for many years.
    I'll play around with it on Saturday or Sunday. The caveat is well known to Argo fans I suspect.
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    Quote Originally Posted by paulwoods13 View Post
    I would love to see a database showing attendance by date for the past 20 years. I'd be willing to bet Argo home attendance is better after Labour Day than before. More home dates in summer would be a bad idea in this market, IMO.
    You can start here if you're not already aware, unless you can get more targeted data from the Argos themselves. I suppose anyone else can use that link if they are curious.

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    Quote Originally Posted by paulwoods13 View Post
    I would love to see a database showing attendance by date for the past 20 years. I'd be willing to bet Argo home attendance is better after Labour Day than before. More home dates in summer would be a bad idea in this market, IMO.
    I have heard repeated comments that this is the case over the years on TV broadcasts, not only of Argo home games but that of other teams. If this is a league wide experience, I think there is little chance of the league moving the season forward, even for an enhanced TV contract, unless the money was enormous, and I don't see that happening. Furthermore, if such a contract happened and further reduced attendance around the league, the visuals of more empty seats would have American fans watching if they saw relatively few Canadians at the games.

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    Actually, contrary to popular opinion, you will find CFL attendance as a whole actually declines in October and November (specifically in the west). Look at CFL database attendance figures. Without question its because of the colder weather. With the exception of the GC playoff games in the CFL seem to have a problem with attendance - the west final this year (battle of alberta) was 6k shy of a sellout yet the regular season tilt between these two teams drew more at McMahon in August. Last regular season game in Calgary was played under snow and, while paid atrendance was 25k or so, the stadium was more than half empty. I dont agree with moving the season back as more as the new CFL commish suggests but think somewhere in the middle would do the league good. Have the regular start mid June and have the grey cup in the first or second week of november the latest.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bruro View Post
    Actually, contrary to popular opinion, you will find CFL attendance as a whole actually declines in October and November (specifically in the west). Look at CFL database attendance figures. Without question its because of the colder weather. With the exception of the GC playoff games in the CFL seem to have a problem with attendance - the west final this year (battle of alberta) was 6k shy of a sellout yet the regular season tilt between these two teams drew more at McMahon in August. Last regular season game in Calgary was played under snow and, while paid atrendance was 25k or so, the stadium was more than half empty. I dont agree with moving the season back as more as the new CFL commish suggests but think somewhere in the middle would do the league good. Have the regular start mid June and have the grey cup in the first or second week of november the latest.
    McMahon has been half empty all season, so probably not the greatest example.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bruro View Post
    Have the regular start mid June and have the grey cup in the first or second week of november the latest.
    The ostensible reason to move the schedule up is to make more summer programming available for NFL Network, presumably with significant revenues attached. Moving the season up two weeks would hardly achieve that goal. Ambrosie was talking about playing Grey Cup in the third weekend of November which, combined with the extra bye week, would mean moving it up six weeks.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bruro View Post
    Actually, contrary to popular opinion, you will find CFL attendance as a whole actually declines in October and November (specifically in the west). Look at CFL database attendance figures. Without question its because of the colder weather. With the exception of the GC playoff games in the CFL seem to have a problem with attendance - the west final this year (battle of alberta) was 6k shy of a sellout yet the regular season tilt between these two teams drew more at McMahon in August. Last regular season game in Calgary was played under snow and, while paid atrendance was 25k or so, the stadium was more than half empty. I dont agree with moving the season back as more as the new CFL commish suggests but think somewhere in the middle would do the league good. Have the regular start mid June and have the grey cup in the first or second week of november the latest.
    So I wonder where did the myth of attendance increasing after Labour Day come from? Perhaps it's a Toronto only thing from when we played indoors at the Rogers Centre?

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    I think it will depend on how much money the NFLN is willing to give the CFL to show their games. If the owners can double their TV money they will be all ears IMO.

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    Just for clarity, while I would like to see a database breaking down attendance by date, I don't want to build it myself. The data is certainly our there, but I'll leave it to others to pull it together (or not) from year-by-year charts.
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    I don't know how valid any conclusions for this would be, for a couple of reasons: 1 They are in a new facility and only have a few seasons of data 2 They came from a covered stadium where late season games were less problematic from a fan POV

    Unless they get a bucket load of cash from the NFLN, I don't think changing the season is a good idea at all, for many reasons, posted here and elsewhere.

    Also with climate change the way it is, where I'm at, the last few years, winter only seems to start in earnest at the end of January. That's when the cold really hits and the big snowstorms begin. But other places in the country may be or are likely different.

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    I hope at the very least that the season and Grey Cup are left as it. It's already been moved up since Ottawa was added, and until a 10th team comes around, I think we're stuck, but I hope going back to 1 bye week comes into play. Fans are starting to show around the world that they want a compressed season and shorter time length in games, yet for some reason Leagues continue to go the opposite way - mind blowing.

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    Quote Originally Posted by R.J View Post
    I hope at the very least that the season and Grey Cup are left as it. It's already been moved up since Ottawa was added, and until a 10th team comes around, I think we're stuck, but I hope going back to 1 bye week comes into play. Fans are starting to show around the world that they want a compressed season and shorter time length in games, yet for some reason Leagues continue to go the opposite way - mind blowing.
    I would say that length of CFL games is down. Very rare to have a 3 hour game these days.
    It's us vs the rest of the country

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    Less games in colder weather is a win for ticket sales for all CFL teams IMO. The Grey Cup usually sells out but teams are having a hard time selling tickets to playoff games in cold weather, especially since most teams don't include playoff tickets in their season ticket package.

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