Great crowds this weekend (earlier start to the season was a mistake)

[KCargosfan]

Great crowds this weekend (really, the last 2 weekends).

40K+ in Edmonton (largest crowd in CFL this season).

33K+ in Winnipeg (sellout).

Even 22,500 in Ottawa is good considering the season it was having.

Last week:

25K+ in Hamilton (sellout)

33K+ in Sask (sellout or very close to it)

32K+ in Calgary (that has to help the Stamps' bottom line)


No doubt, starting the season earlier was a mistake. I'm an outsider, but it appears starting the season around Canada Day is the best idea.

[paulwoods13]

I'm an outsider, but it appears starting the season around Canada Day is the best idea.

Could not agree more.

[AngeloV]

Starting where’re they did this year is perfect. Moving it up would be an utter disaster. If they get that 10th team they can start the season where they did this year and finish by the 10th of November as teams would likely only need 1 bye week with an even number of teams.

[KCargosfan]

Starting where’re they did this year is perfect. Moving it up would be an utter disaster. If they get that 10th team they can start the season where they did this year and finish by the 10th of November as teams would likely only need 1 bye week with an even number of teams.

I think even this year was too early. Winnipeg was 4-0 and had a Friday night game that only drew 25K. That really stunned me and is kind of the reason I think the Canada Day starting date is best. In fact, Winnipeg didn't break the 26K mark until the Banjo Bowl. And that's one of the better fanbases with a strong team this year.

[jerrym]

I suspected the early season start would hurt attendance and there is growing evidence that it has.

[Neely2005]

Great crowds this weekend (really, the last 2 weekends).

40K+ in Edmonton (largest crowd in CFL this season).

33K+ in Winnipeg (sellout).

Even 22,500 in Ottawa is good considering the season it was having.

Last week:

25K+ in Hamilton (sellout)

33K+ in Sask (sellout or very close to it)

32K+ in Calgary (that has to help the Stamps' bottom line)


No doubt, starting the season earlier was a mistake. I'm an outsider, but it appears starting the season around Canada Day is the best idea.

I don't follow your logic here.

4 Summer Games
3 on Saturday
2 on Saturday afternoon

If anything this proves that people like Saturday Summer games, especially afternoon kickoffs.

The season started on June 13th this year. Starting it around Canada Day would mean starting it 2+ Weeks later. The Grey Cup is on November 24th this year. 2+ Weeks later would push the Grey Cup into mid December.

Do you really want our Championship game played in those less than ideal conditions? If you want to showcase the game you want the best field conditions possible.

[paulwoods13]

I don't follow your logic here.

4 Summer Games
3 on Saturday
2 on Saturday afternoon

If anything this proves that people like Saturday Summer games, especially afternoon kickoffs.

The season started on June 13th this year. Starting it around Canada Day would mean starting it 2+ Weeks later. The Grey Cup is on November 24th this year. 2+ Weeks later would push the Grey Cup into mid December.

Do you really want our Championship game played in those less than ideal conditions? If you want to showcase the game you want the best field conditions possible.

Summer obviously doesn't end until Sept. 21-22, but pretty well everyone I know considers Labour Day the start of fall. No one considers the NFL a "summer sport," yet look what just happened, a whole slate of "summer" games.

If the CFL ever gets a 10th team (which I'll believe when it actually happens), it would be possible to go to a 19-week season (as AV has pointed out), down from the current 21 weeks, and therefore start the season around July 1 and end on final weekend of November. If we are really concerned about not playing our championship game in bad weather conditions, we should be starting the season in early April.

[Neely2005]

Summer obviously doesn't end until Sept. 21-22, but pretty well everyone I know considers Labour Day the start of fall. No one considers the NFL a "summer sport," yet look what just happened, a whole slate of "summer" games.

If the CFL ever gets a 10th team (which I'll believe when it actually happens), it would be possible to go to a 19-week season (as AV has pointed out), down from the current 21 weeks, and therefore start the season around July 1 and end on final weekend of November. If we are really concerned about not playing our championship game in bad weather conditions, we should be starting the season in early April.

Fall starts on September 23rd this year. The only people that I know who think the start of Fall is Labour Day are teachers.

Not sure what the NFL has to do with this discussion but the majority of NFL games are in the Fall and Winter. The majority of CFL games are in the Summer.

Or they could go to a 19 Week schedule and start around the same time as this year and finish the last Sunday in October or the first Sunday in November.

[paulwoods13]

Fall starts on September 23rd this year. The only people that I know who think the start of Fall is Labour Day are teachers.

Not sure what the NFL has to do with this discussion but the majority of NFL games are in the Fall and Winter. The majority of CFL games are in the Summer.

Or they could go to a 19 Week schedule and start around the same time as this year and finish the last Sunday in October or the first Sunday in November.

If you and your friends think of this time of year as summer, that's great. But teachers are not the only people who feel as if fall starts when school goes back and August ends. The fact that most CFL games are played in summer (and a few are played in spring some years) does not make the CFL a summer sport. Regardless, I don't believe future seasons are going to start any earlier than this year, despite some folks' desire not to sit in the cold at the end of the season and in the playoffs. The voices from the west who were bleating about this will have been drowned out by louder voices who realize it makes no sense to compete against NHL and NBA finals. Attendance the past two weeks certainly gives a degree of evidence (albeit small sample size) that crowds increase starting on Labour Day weekend. I'll be shocked if Ambrosie revives this discussion in any serious way.

[Neely2005]

If you and your friends think of this time of year as summer, that's great. But teachers are not the only people who feel as if fall starts when school goes back and August ends. The fact that most CFL games are played in summer (and a few are played in spring some years) does not make the CFL a summer sport. Regardless, I don't believe future seasons are going to start any earlier than this year, despite some folks' desire not to sit in the cold at the end of the season and in the playoffs. The voices from the west who were bleating about this will have been drowned out by louder voices who realize it makes no sense to compete against NHL and NBA finals. Attendance the past two weeks certainly gives a degree of evidence (albeit small sample size) that crowds increase starting on Labour Day weekend. I'll be shocked if Ambrosie revives this discussion in any serious way.

Lol, so the majority of CFL games are played in the Summer but the CFL isn't a Summer League? That's some outstanding logic right there.

The Western voices have been talking about this for years. If their October and November attendance remains low I doubt that they're going to give up.

[1971GreyCup]

Fall starts on September 23rd this year. The only people that I know who think the start of Fall is Labour Day are teachers.

I guess technically, after harvest ended kids became available and school began. Somehow kids working the harvest ended but the long break endured.

[SkalbaniasGhost]

Fall starts on September 23rd this year. The only people that I know who think the start of Fall is Labour Day are teachers.

Not sure what the NFL has to do with this discussion but the majority of NFL games are in the Fall and Winter. The majority of CFL games are in the Summer.

Or they could go to a 19 Week schedule and start around the same time as this year and finish the last Sunday in October or the first Sunday in November.

The NFL has everything to do with scheduling.Labor Day has always been considered the start of Fall by Advertisers/Marketers throughout North America.
The CFL's schedule will be controlled by Stewart Johnson and how Bell's NFL commitments line up.

[Neely2005]

The NFL has everything to do with scheduling.Labor Day has always been considered the start of Fall by Advertisers/Marketers throughout North America.
The CFL's schedule will be controlled by Stewart Johnson and how Bell's NFL commitments line up.

Do you work in Marketing? Just curious because I have a Marketing Degree and have never heard anyone say that Labour Day is considered the start of Fall.

[KCargosfan]

I don't follow your logic here.

4 Summer Games
3 on Saturday
2 on Saturday afternoon

If anything this proves that people like Saturday Summer games, especially afternoon kickoffs.

The season started on June 13th this year. Starting it around Canada Day would mean starting it 2+ Weeks later. The Grey Cup is on November 24th this year. 2+ Weeks later would push the Grey Cup into mid December.

Do you really want our Championship game played in those less than ideal conditions? If you want to showcase the game you want the best field conditions possible.

As recently as 4-5 years ago the schedule started around Canada Day. The Grey Cup was not in December that year. The league added another week to the season so every team would have two bye weeks.

League attendance was much better when the season started around Canada Day 4-5 years ago.

[argolio]

As recently as 4-5 years ago the schedule started around Canada Day. The Grey Cup was not in December that year. The league added another week to the season so every team would have two bye weeks.

Correction: it's now a 21-week schedule with three bye weeks for all teams. Under the previous 20-week schedule, only one team had three byes, but that team also to play two games in a week to make it all fit.

[Neely2005]

As recently as 4-5 years ago the schedule started around Canada Day. The Grey Cup was not in December that year. The league added another week to the season so every team would have two bye weeks.

League attendance was much better when the season started around Canada Day 4-5 years ago.

In 2014 the season started on June 26th. The Grey Cup was November 30th.
In 2015 the season started on June 25th. The Grey Cup was November 29th.
In 2019 the season started on June 13th. The Grey Cup is November 24th.

So your hypothesis is that attendance is down because the season started 12 / 13 days earlier this year?

[KCargosfan]

In 2014 the season started on June 26th. The Grey Cup was November 30th.
In 2015 the season started on June 25th. The Grey Cup was November 29th.
In 2019 the season started on June 13th. The Grey Cup is November 24th.

So your hypothesis is that attendance is down because the season started 12 / 13 days earlier this year?

Partly, yes. If you can move 11 percent of the season to months where more people attend games, why wouldn't you?

Where are all the greatly attended games from mid-June to mid-August?

[Neely2005]

Partly, yes. If you can move 11 percent of the season to months where more people attend games, why wouldn't you?

Where are all the greatly attended games from mid-June to mid-August?

Our best attended regular season games have been in June and August.

[AngeloV]

This whole discussion should just be put to bed. The fact that TSN just signed an extensions should tell everyone the CFL season will not be starting during the NHL/NBA playoffs. I think the league used that possibility purely as a bargaining chip towards the extension.

[Neely2005]

This whole discussion should just be put to bed. The fact that TSN just signed an extensions should tell everyone the CFL season will not be starting during the NHL/NBA playoffs. I think the league used that possibility purely as a bargaining chip towards the extension.

TSN doesn't have any NHL playoff games and they split the Raptors games with Sportsnet. They need programming during that time and by June it's really only 1 playoff series each being played in the NHL and NBA and not usually Canadian teams.