The best-case outcome for the CFL: Two independent leagues, with 1) inter-league regular season play, and 2) cooperation at the head-office level (media, salary cap, bylaws, etc). The highlights:
  1. Rather than a Canadian ratio, the XFL teams could develop their own ratio involving players from local markets. For example, supposing the XFL only had teams in San Antonio and St. Louis, the league could define the cities and a set of counties around the cities that produce roughly the same number of professional players per-team than Canada produces.
  1. Generally, the two leagues play a game that is mostly Canadian rules with some modifications to accommodate XFL stadiums. The biggest change would likely be shrinking the field in every stadium down to something like BMO field’s dimensions. It might also be tough to get the Americans to agree to put the goal posts at the front of the endzone, but compromising on this would remove the exciting missed FG return opportunities in the CFL.
  1. Games on Canadian soil are played with 3 downs while games on American soil are played with 4 downs.
  1. Each league has their own championship. No more inter-league play once playoffs begin.
  1. For contributing logistical and administrative support, as well as contributing teams and TV relationships with TSN, the CFL becomes a voting shareholder in whatever corporation owns the XFL and has some kind of veto power over any big changes to the two leagues.
Why this would be good for the CFL:
  1. By cooperating with the XFL rather than competing, the CFL can ensure parity between the leagues as a destination for players. If the XFL’s salary cap is equivalent to the CFL’s (accounting for exchange rates, taxes, and cost of living, etc) then there’s no worry that CFL teams will struggle to sign the best available non-NFL talent. This also goes for league bylaws (eg. opportunities for getting out of CFL/XFL contracts to sign with the NFL).
  1. No post-season matches between CFL and XFL teams. The teams compete during the regular season, and wins/losses count in the standings of the respective leagues, but the Grey Cup remains the CFL championship. Also, it eliminates the need for the two leagues’ seasons to 100% align. All inter-league games could take place during the part of the year where the two seasons over lap (say… June and July). Then the XFL teams could have their playoffs while the CFL regular season continued.
  1. No need to compromise on 3 vs. 4 downs. Since the two leagues are independent, simply have all games on Canadian soil be 3 down and all games on American soil be 4 down. I’m no football genius, but I don’t expect this to be too onerous for coaches and their coordinators. The CFL teams playing down south would simply get an extra down while XFL teams playing up north would start at second and long, for which they would already have plays in the playbook.
  1. Having a local-player ratio in the XFL eliminates concerns about competitiveness between the two leagues. I’m no lawyer, but I believe this might overcome the legal arguments against mandating Canadian players since anti-discrimination laws (at least as far as I can tell) only forbid discrimination in employment on the basis of COUNTRY of origin. Other discrimination is allowed wherever the nature of the occupation requires the restriction. Well, a professional sports league requires that games be conducted without unfair advantage to one team. The local player ratio is the least-restrictive way to ensure that games between CFL and XFL teams are fair.
  1. Having American sports programs talking about CFL teams might just be the jolt that some Canadian non-CFL football fans need in order to start paying attention to the league. Look at how psyched we got when American sports programs were talking about the Raptors and Toronto. Look how jazzed we get when Canadian athletes in the NCAA are recognized for their Canadian origins. Maybe it’s the inferiority complex that seems to exist in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal, but seeing American sports personalities seriously talking about CFL teams may work where all the other CFL marketing efforts failed.
  1. Getting some share of whatever TV deal materializes for the XFL would provide additional streams of revenue for CFL owners that are badly needed.
  1. Finally, despite all appearances… this would be fairly low-risk for the CFL. This is nothing like the CFL’s American expansion in the 1990s where the CFL expended its own resources trying to get these American franchises off the ground. If it worked out as described above, the XFL would be compensating the CFL head office for whatever resources were expended in scheduling and managing the logistics of XFL games. If the XFL goes belly-up again, it doesn’t take the CFL much to disengage. Really, they just go from having a set of inter-league games back to having only league games.