CFL takes its global strategy to Germany
League signs deal with 32-team GFL in latest partnership
The Canadian Football League continues to take the game global, signing an agreement Thursday with its German counterpart.
The new partnership will see an undetermined number of German Football League players attend what will now be an international combine March 22-24 in Toronto.
With 32 teams in two tiers, the GFL is stocked with plenty of talent, according to international football observers. The CFL said in a release there are 450 clubs and 65,000 members in Germany.
If CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie is able to secure similar partnerships with football entities in France, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden during a whirlwind international tour next week, he will be issuing invitations for those countries to send their top players to the March combine as well.
The next logical step would then be an international draft, held separately from the CFL draft of Canadian players, which goes May 2.
Thursday’s announcement marks another ambitious step forward in Ambrosie’s bold 2.0 initiative to grow the CFL brand and its revenues.
“I want to double the league’s revenues and I don’t want to be patient in the process,” said Ambrosie. “That’s a logical and rational thing to pursue. In fact, I was with the CFL governors on Monday in Toronto and we were talking about it.
“You look at the possibilities: expanding our reach, the potential for digital and broadcast revenues around the world, the possibility for sponsorship revenues and how it can help us domestically.”
The 2.0 strategy has already produced an agreement, combine and player draft in Mexico. CFL teams drafted 27 Mexican university and professional players earlier this month.
In time, there will also be talks with football officials in Japan and Brazil as both countries have a strong football presence.
“These relationships have the potential to create those opportunities, to build a fan base of Canadian football followers in many countries which could lead us to having games in those countries,” said Ambrosie. “Absolutely, I don’t think there is any doubt we could one day see CFL games being played in any one of a number of countries as we build that international fan base.”
The partnership with the GFL also prioritizes the development of pathways for Canadian university and junior football grads to play in Germany.
There is a similar desire built into the partnership deal between the CFL and the Liga de Futbol Americano Profesional in Mexico.