Jesse

Montreal's guy is laying the ground work already too.

I think the CFL is a marketing dinosaur who doesn't know how to sell their product and hasn't for 20 years. I think there is incredible untapped potential to grow the game. I would not limit that progress because others might be watching. That's the point, get people to watch. I do not consider it taking the high road, I consider the secrecy cutting our own legs out.

That’s a loser mentality in my opinion. There is no way I am changing the way I operate based on some potential advantage it might give a couple of leagues that won’t be around in two years. I am not capping our ceiling because it might raise their floor a bit.

The page you shared shows a peak in the mid-90’s as far as I can see.

Well, attendance has absolutely dropped across all sporting events. Undoubtably has a lot to do with the upgraded quality of TV production value since the early days of watching sports.

I think people forget that not too long ago we couldn't watch all the games. I'm only 36 and I remember having to listen to Bob call half the games each year while I was in my 20's. Black outs, limited coverage. It's so much better than it was.

I've been operating under the assumption that he was expecting his signing bonus up front and the team put it in the contract that it would be paid out in instalments.

Sounds like it.

It was 4 kicks over 40. Weird stats. His best percentage is in the 40-49 range. He has tons of misses on short kicks. But another young kid. we'll see if he's been continuing to work and improve.

Live coverage is how you get the secondary wave - so all the CFL podcasters and non-team affiliated journalists can tune in and provide analysis. They can choose to do whatever they want - but Randy has publicly said that the problem is not enough content (told to him by Genius because the league couldn't figure it out on their own) - and every time there is an opportunity to create content (or have content created free for them), they let it pass by.

It was 100% work too. Alexander has admitted to getting smoked on all those corner routes he ran in try-outs, but they noticed that he was paying attention and stealing reps and wanted that attitude in camp.

Should the league just fold then? Never going to reach new fans? Streaming it is part of it. Getting top performers on social media is another. The top 40 times, presses, jumps, etc. showing 1-on-1s of DBs and receivers. Promoting it to the areas where these kids are coming from, get the team beat reporters and podcasters to put out team need lists and top performers in each position group. Not everyone reads articles. There needs to be short, easily consumable media released on a variety of platforms. In the off season, there are fewer opportunities for that; but when an event does come around, the CFL whiffs.

Regardless of who is talking about it, this is a real problem the CFL has.

The fact is, neither absolute would be successful.

The fact that it would elicit angry responses could be a clue that your ideas wouldn't make it more popular.

The answer to this question should be be to also not mock Fajardo for any mental health struggles that he may choose to talk about, not to use it as an excuse to also mock Evans. You can talk about both of their play on the field, CF has a tendency to blame the media and sometimes, fans and teammates, which I think is fair game; but he has also made comments about mental health struggles which can be heard without being torn into. These guys are in the public realm and put themselves on a stage to be seen and discussed. That is part of the job. But I think it's reasonable to talk about the players and not the human being who may be struggling. That's their business.

Because the best players sometimes end up being Canadian - but they need the opportunity to get a shot and develop.

It was certainly a king's ransom at the time, but no, it didn't amount to much long term.

I feel like it's bee announced three times already.

I agree with this in theory, but who else out there is offering more dollars and better production? The options are limited.

The league would also be dead without the TSN contract. So a little bit of not wanting to bite the hand that feeds you.

That doesn't happen. New stadiums/arenas only happen when they are heavily subsidized (entirely paid for) by the government and there is zero appetite for that kind of spending right now.

On the socials, sure. Here? With mostly Winnipeg residents? I take way more shots at Alberta than Quebec. But make fun of every province at times, including our own. Can't for the life of me understand where the outrage is coming from. No one took it too far.

Speaking personally, I'm more curious if there would be a trickle down effect from ownership. For example, the usual pressure for the Canadiens to have a francophone coach. Nothing negative or anti-french, but there is definitely strong nationalism from that part of the world.

Yeah, I appreciate the fact that I look at these leagues cynically with great bias. But even with taking a step back and trying to look at things critically...how do they maintain this for the length of time it would take to build a following?