CHALLENGES FOUND IN ‘REINVENTION’ OF LEAGUE
CFL boss has a lot to brag about, but there are storms brewing in major markets
CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie will give his annual State of the League address this morning. Spoiler alert: he will say the state of it is quite good.
Ambrosie won’t be lacking for ammunition in this regard. Television ratings on TSN continue to be strong for the CFL, up modestly this season, which is a feat when most traditional programming is suffering notable declines. The demographics have become younger, too, which is the kind of progress the league has been desperate to see.
But there is also this: when Ambrosie took the job two years ago to replace the suddenly-departed Jeffrey Orridge, the looming problem for the CFL was waning interest in its most populous markets. That problem has only become worse. There are also new challenges, including an upstart Alliance of American Football, a spring league that begins next February and has already started to siphon away potential players. Ambrosie has in recent months started touting a “reinvention” of the CFL as a way to combat some of these issues, making the league an international attraction.
The Canadian Press reports that he will announce a partnership with the Liga de Futbol Americano, based in Mexico, today as the first step on the path to world domination. This would mean usurping the mighty NFL in markets where it has already made inroads. It is a curious plan.
With the Grey Cup touching down in the warm embrace of Alberta this week, it is the perfect time for Ambrosie to point to his surroundings and its evident passion for the CFL as a sign that the league is booming. He will talk about going to new markets, both home and abroad. It sounds, at times, like putting a pricey expansion on a house while a couple of the rooms still need serious repairs.
While no one doubts the strength of the CFL brand in the Prairies, business has not been moving in the right direction everywhere. The B.C. Lions this year arrested a seven-season slide in attendance, but even the modest bump to an average attendance of just under 20,000 is well off where the franchise was in terms of fan support as recently as 2011, when attendance averaged better than 36,000. There is, again, talk of owner David Braley selling the team, and a hope that local investors would turn things around in that market, but no guarantee that potential buyers will agree to Braley’s asking price.
In Montreal, attendance at Percival Molson Stadium dipped again this season to fewer than 18,000 fans per game, the fourth straight season that posted a decline. The Alouettes’ midseason trade for quarterback Johnny Manziel didn’t spark the team on the field; nor did his star power lead to a noticeable reaction from the ticket-buying public.
And then, Toronto. Even after a Grey Cup victory last year and with the team this season fully owned by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment rather than just two of its three partners, the Argonauts were again at the bottom of league attendance despite being in its biggest market by far. In three seasons at BMO Field, the waterfront stadium that was thought by many to be the solution to the Argos’ years-long struggle to put bums in seats, the team’s average attendance has actually been lower than it was in 2014, the last time the team played a full season at the cavernous Rogers Centre. Instead of playing at a half-empty dome, the team now plays at a half-empty outdoor field.
Ambrosie has said he believes MLSE’s plan to steadily rebuild the brand while ending the longterm practice of steep discounts and giveaways will turn things around. “I think they’ve really got a long-term plan and a vision for where they want to take this,” he told me in August, as Argos attendance was cratering again. “We’ve got great fans there, we just need more of them.”
One of the ways in which the commissioner thinks the CFL can attract new fans is by growing outside Canada’s borders. Just this week, he said in an interview on TVO that “the Canadian Football League we need to become is a big international game. We should be second-fiddle to no one.” He said “we should search out the best players in the world and have them play here.”
Quite why a football player in Mexico or Britain or India would pursue the CFL over the NFL, where salaries are many times higher, is unclear. Even the AAF, without yet hosting a game, plans to offer US$250,000, three-year contracts to players — significantly more than the CFL minimum of $54,000 annually. As for fans, the CFL has for years between trying to build inroads into certain markets — young, urban, culturally diverse — and has found that to be tough sledding.
Given the challenges it has faced converting certain actual Canadians into loving Canadian football, why would the CFL think it would be easier to do the same overseas? It’s not like sports fans in Europe and Asia are hurting for options.
The problem isn’t that the CFL needs to grow outside of Canada, it’s that the challenges are much closer to home. And while Ambrosie has been a terrific salesman for the league thus far, there remains much work to be done.