CFL may move playoff games to Saturday this season

[AngeloV]

I say it'll never happen.

I agree. November is a dead month as far as big sporting events go. No way TSN will want to give that up, not to mention the threat should the Blue Jays one day make it back to the World Series. Unlikely as that is, it would be a disaster for the CFL to have their playoffs go against a Blue Jays run.

And I realize that start times wouldn’t overlap, but many people really underestimate the importance of being the top story in National Sports news. Starting the season against NHL playoffs and ending against World Series is bad business for the CFL.

[CFLfan]

I agree. November is a dead month as far as big sporting events go. No way TSN will want to give that up, not to mention the threat should the Blue Jays one day make it back to the World Series. Unlikely as that is, it would be a disaster for the CFL to have their playoffs go against a Blue Jays run.

And I realize that start times wouldn’t overlap, but many people really underestimate the importance of being the top story in National Sports news. Starting the season against NHL playoffs and ending against World Series is bad business for the CFL.

I agree about November but for the past few seasons the CFL has started the season while the last round of the NHL playoffs are still going. But Canadians teams have been knocked out by the end of April and ratings drop after that. With the NHL expanding again and still requiring the same number of games I can see the NHL playoffs going into July.

[ArgoRavi]

But it's not about what you like, the fact is that the NFL ratings have doubled in the past 5 years and the CFL ratings have stagnated.
TSN can get good ratings for the CFL playoffs on Saturday AND they can carry an NFL game on TSN and another one on CTV and get great ratings.
Right now TSN has nothing on Saturdays in November and now can get pretty good ratings for the Saturday CFL playoffs and the Sunday NFL games, makes sense.

It would be interesting to see what CFL ratings looked like if they too were on CTV and got the promotion that the NFL does in this country.

I am not crazy about the Saturday playoff games but would be more enthusiastic if it meant that CTV simulcasted the games, as there would be no reason why they couldn't on Saturday.

[Argo57]

I agree. November is a dead month as far as big sporting events go. No way TSN will want to give that up, not to mention the threat should the Blue Jays one day make it back to the World Series. Unlikely as that is, it would be a disaster for the CFL to have their playoffs go against a Blue Jays run.

And I realize that start times wouldn’t overlap, but many people really underestimate the importance of being the top story in National Sports news. Starting the season against NHL playoffs and ending against World Series is bad business for the CFL.

Or go with 2 preseason games and a 16 game schedule.

[paulwoods13]

I agree about November but for the past few seasons the CFL has started the season while the last round of the NHL playoffs are still going.

This is simply not true. Here are the dates for last five years:

Stanley Cup awarded/CFL Game 1

2018 June 7/June 14

2017 June 11/June 22

2016 June 12/June 23

2015 June 15/June 25

2014 June 13/June 26

[AngeloV]

I agree about November but for the past few seasons the CFL has started the season while the last round of the NHL playoffs are still going. But Canadians teams have been knocked out by the end of April and ratings drop after that. With the NHL expanding again and still requiring the same number of games I can see the NHL playoffs going into July.

As Paul points out the league has never played a regular season game prior to the end of the Stanley Cup finals. Regarding Canadian teams going to the finals, I don’t believe it matters. TSN has way to wall coverage of the NHL playoffs on Spoetscentre regardless of who is there. They have a huge crew on the road at every game in the finals and the CFL would get backed up 15 minutes into the show on sportscentre. If they continue to start after the playoffs are over, the opening of the season will continue to lead off sportscentre. Sorry, but that is very important.

[argolio]

Or go with 2 preseason games and a 16 game schedule.

I think they'll never go back to 16. History tells us that North American pro leagues rarely reduce games. Goodell floated the 18 & 2 model in the last NFL CBA negotiations, and will apparently try again next time. If he gets his way, the NFL season will be extended further rather than start earlier as he wants more games in February, which is a sweeps month.

This is simply not true. Here are the dates for last five years:

Stanley Cup awarded/CFL Game 1

2018 June 7/June 14

2017 June 11/June 22

2016 June 12/June 23

2015 June 15/June 25

2014 June 13/June 26

Stop with the facts!

In other trivia, the Grey Cup was played on November 16th (3rd last Sunday of the month) twice in recent history -- 1997 and 2003. But that still meant the playoffs started in November, which is a policy I think the league will always keep. There were also a number of December Grey Cups: 1972, three times in the 60s, and 20 times from 1909-45.