CIS Football blowouts--time for a 2 tier system?

[Argocister]

2 tiers .... Easier said than done .
Perhaps the top teams of the country could withdraw from the CIS and play amongst themselves .... Laval, Calgary , Western .... perhaps Guelph,Montreal,Mac maybe up and coming Carleton. (in effect those with $)
There would be a number of repercussions though .... will some teams fold as their team cannot recruit?
If you have cross country competition, they would require the TV revenues .... right now the CIS has an all encompassing TV contract so that all teams are given exposure on the TV including volleyball, badminton etc. Would an elite league take the time and monies away from the CIS

The benefit of the existing situation is that each team has a chance to get to the playoffs .... maybe not every year, but every few. This provides each school ( in general) with some promise for players. They can get their education and still play football. Some prefer to play at the middle of the road bunch, as they can gain more playing time. The CFL needs more competition for the national players. We need more opportunities for them not less. Its always expected that the Calgary or Laval teams provide more players to the CFL. It is interesting to see some smaller schools providing good players as well .... Bishops or MtA or Windsor

The teams also vary from year to year. .... Who would ever put Queens in the second tier .... although this year they may be considered that.
Last year Concordia was at the bottom of the league and Bishops were in second ..... ConU got some new coaches .... BU lost 21 starters ...

I think what they need to do is do a 2 tier style schedule. Where the bottom half one year plays each other more often and maybe one or 2 games from the top half. Similarly with the top half of the standings. This still would allow teams to flucuate in the standings over the years. And would provide incentives for teams to put an effort into their football teams. .... And for those schools that are not interested in putting monies into their football team, then they can wallow in the bottom of the standings. ( there are actually some schools that want to limit the $ allowed for football teams.... you know ..... balance the competition to the lowest common denominator ...not good for Canadian football and this may just push a few teams out of the CIS )

The other option that would be good for the league, is have more crossover games. CW against OUA or the Q; AUS could definitely benefit from crossover with OUA.

As a supporter of CIS football, check out the standings, pick a more competitive game and go to one of the games in your local .... they need the fan support just as much as the Argos do

[shayman]

I think what they need to do is do a 2 tier style schedule. Where the bottom half one year plays each other more often and maybe one or 2 games from the top half.

The OUAA did exactly this in 1980. Western, Laurier, Windsor and Toronto were the top half; Waterloo, Guelph, McMaster and York were the bottom half. Two games against teams in your half, one cross-over game. All standings were lumped together. That wound up being the first time Waterloo ever made the playoffs. (Warriors lost to Laurier in a thriller.)

It wasn't bad, a lot of people liked it, except if you finished 4th in the top half because you played all the 'hard' schools. That's one problem with going to two tiers. Some teams that are used to going 6-2 every year are suddenly going to find themselves going 2-6.

That only lasted one year or two, they went back to one tier shortly thereafter. It's funny in retrospect to see who was considered tier 1. You wouldn't put Toronto in that group today, and you wouldn't put McMaster in tier 2, and a few years later, Waterloo actually made it to a #1 national ranking. Times change.