CFL should plan for 8-game season starting Labour Day
The CFL isn’t the NFL, NHL or NBA. And it’s not Major League Baseball. It doesn’t have a TV deal with the kind of money involved to allow options of playing games with no fans in the stands.
The calendar would suggest that CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie, any day now, must announce the beyond-obvious fact there won’t be a full, normal 18-game schedule. Not a chance.
Everybody involved but the league itself, including players and fans, seems to have come to grips with the idea that it’s now going to be down to 12, 10 or most likely eight games.
With that in mind, might it not make sense to come to the conclusion they won’t possibly be able to watch the COVID-19 curve flatten by August? Might it not now be obvious that the CFL will no longer be able to both invite fans back in the stands and have the Canada-u.s. border open in time to get import players through a 14-day quarantine to a training camp much earlier than Labour Day?
So, because they’re not the NFL, NHL, NBA or MLB, why not jump over all of that waitand-see strategy of the other leagues and announce Labour Day or bust?
Eight-game season. Normal playoffs. Roll out a new schedule now — beginning with Edmonton at Calgary, Winnipeg at Saskatchewan, Toronto at Hamilton and Montreal at Ottawa matchups on Labour Day weekend.
And if Labour Day comes and the border must remain closed and social distancing in effect with stadiums remaining closed? Well, then … Wait till next year. At eight games, it would be ridiculously simple in a nineteam league, regardless which way you decided to go with it.
You could play one game against every team.
Or you could go with my previous proposal of no interlocking games, as was the case pre-1961. With eight games, that would make it a home game and an away game against everybody in the West and the same thing in the East, with two extra games added.
Either way, having Labour Day to focus on for both the fans and the teams could result in the kind of preparation and promotion to draw bigger crowds for those four home games than you otherwise might have had, holding off and wishing and hoping instead of specific date planning.
The other day, Eskimos board of directors chair Janice Agrios made the following statement: “We intend to be ready to go in all areas of the organization as soon as it is safe to do so.”
To me, that would seem easier to do on the football ops side.
The general managers and staff are working hard to build their rosters and the coaches are preparing their playbooks. When they get the green light, they’ll hold a training camp and then play however many games on the schedule they’ll have to play.
But it’s a different deal to plan from the sales, marketing, promotions and business side.
Fans, of course, focus on the football side. But consider, for example, new Eskimos CEO Chris Presson and his side of it as the league lingers in limbo.
“Trying to prepare for something that right now doesn’t have a beginning or an end is a bit unnerving,” said Presson in communication with your correspondent. “Mentally, it becomes harder to keep everyone engaged and on the same page with every day that passes.”
So far, so good. But planning for a specific schedule of games would be much easier.
“To this point, our group has done a great job of staying on top of things and locked in, despite the unknown. Our cadence of meetings has stayed the same and our call volume to converse with fans to check on them has increased,” said Presson.
“We get up for work every day planning to be the outlet that everyone needs and will be looking forward to.”
The Eskimos made one move before the world of sports shutdown, and the response was terrific. Recognizing the pre-pandemic economy in Alberta, where a can of Coke is now worth more than a barrel of oil, the Eskimos created a $99 season ticket.
“It was great,” Presson said. “At last check, we had sold 1,433 of the 1,500 allotted for that promotion. Clearly, it was a home run for both us as an organization and the fans, as well.”
While the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were expecting a spike in season-ticket sales and all aspects of the business as a result of ending the league’s longest drought between winning Grey Cups, COVID-19 pretty much spoiled that effect.
Presson was pleased with the way it was going in Edmonton until the pandemic arrived in full force.
“Our season-ticket sales have been good thus far. Our fans are loyal and take great pride in their support of the organization as a whole. Having season seats is a great badge of honour and people don’t give up that badge easily.”
That’s great. But planning for four specifically scheduled games would be much easier and much more productive.