Ottawa Suspended

[Pounder]

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/sports/story.html?id=ea3817d0-2df4-4b44-969a-fbce926e7dac&k=67090

http://ottsun.canoe.ca/Sports/Football/2006/04/10/1527814-sun.html

http://ottsun.canoe.ca/Sports/Football/2006/04/10/1527808-sun.html

There's also a small article that mentioned interest from a Quebec City group, but it seems the CFL wasn't about to get into the moving business again.

How long has Wright been commissioner? What I've seen is attendances for the other 8 teams go UP recently. Just want to know if I should take a Sun columnist's comments as rabble rousing sour grapes.

I get the sense from this reading that Ottawa is a long-term mothball prospect. Differing opinions, anyone?

How big is the stadium they were going to use in Halifax? Who else has at least 20,000 seats? Since Canada has a habit of either not publically funding facilities, or flopping when they do, what recourse does the CFL have? Is there a "what happens next" scenario at all?

[ChampionOfSteel]

About 10 years ago I heard of the Nova Scotia Schooners that were suppose to be added to the mix. They even had a uniform to show the public and an artist's rendition of the helmet.

That never happened.

It's always the teams in eastern Canada, namely Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa, Ontario that come and go every 10 years -- Concordes/Alouettes and Rough Riders/Renegades.

Winnipeg should be use to flopping in and out of the eastern division by now, eh?

[preeths]

Unfortunately, a few CFL beat writers take their cues from a couple of team owners and ALWAYS blame the commissioner, no matter what the problem, even if the owners themselves created it. I believe this attitude is a major reason why the CFL has only recenly been able to stabilize their image, Ottawa notwithstanding. The Ottawa press also hated the Gliebermans, and like them or loathe them, they were the only ones to step forward to save the franchise this past season. The Gliebermans understandably grew sick of the constant drumbeat of criticism and felt they could no longer operate in that climate. They let the CFL have a crack at finding a buyer, and again no one stepped forward. The "evil" Gliebermans were even willing to absorb some losses this season to keep the franchise afloat, but the other CFL owners didn't want to pay to keep it going.

Until this overly negative cloud leaves Ottawa, I don't see CFL football returning anytime soon. There are too many in the city's press who have no clue how a business works and expect others to lose money in order to provide sports for them. Maybe if they'd take off the blinders which prevent them from seeing anything but the negative, the CFL would have a chance there.

[ChampionOfSteel]

Maybe the Canadians prefer the American version of the game?

What would be so wrong with redoing the CFL game design/rulebook to be virtually identical to the American game?

Too much passing (CFL/ArenaFL) is boring...says the attendance and TV ratings, relative to NCAA and NFL football.

[patriot]

Just how ignorant of Canadian Football are you? Ottawa was one oldest sports franchises in North America until the bumb owner in Shreveport became involved and wrecked both franchises. Ottawa was shafted then and they were again now.

This owner tried to keep the team ago and tried to even take it in the pants for the better of the city, but the "sports" writers took the family to the woodshed ever chance they could even if it were without and basis to do so.

The CFL is a wonderful game as it is and if it were to wrecked by becomeing more like the NFL, the league would collapse. People can watch that on tv. The CFL are local teams with local roots and are decades older than the NFL. To change the game would be like making Americans speak proper english or make them think of someone other than themselves. This league is part of Canada and Canada is part of the league. To change one would be to destroy them both.

There is no place other than Green Bay or Chicago that shows the type of fan support that the CFL teams see every week no matter what the weather or what the standings.

No gimmicks needed for this league!

[ChampionOfSteel]

Hey,

All I'm saying is Canadians watch the NFL. CFL football's design sucks. It's not entertaining. More often than not it's a game of matching scores (and few stops) like tennis and the Arena league. People in Canada don't want to see that.

Tradition (a bad one) is not a reason to continue something that sucks.

If I have a wart on my foot for years that I basically put off doing anything about it, out of tradition that means I'm not suppose to have it cut off?

Canada is about hockey and lacrosse. CFL football sucks. I'd rather see the Winnipeg Blue Bombers play with 11 men on a 50 yard field with 4 downs for a first down.

More often than not the game is over by halftime because it's too easy for one team to take control of the game and blow the other team out.

What a snoozefest.

I think it is rather piss-poor you guys in charge of the CFL didn't get the hint when the Montreal Machine was in town. Too bad the CFL hasn't folded, there would probably be NFL expansion teams in Toronto and Vancouver by now.

[Jamie]

People in Canada don't want to see that.

And your basis, in Ohio, for making that broad statment?

You heard it on Fox News?

[ChampionOfSteel]

And your basis, in Ohio, for making that broad statment?

You heard it on Fox News?

Friends in Canada I know...and empty seats on attendance data.

Don't forget to post the pictures of the Bulldogs if you haven't already done that.

Fox News is the best, dude.

[ChampionOfSteel]

Speaking of Fox News, should Americans be permitted to tryout (seek employment) in the CFL?

Should Canadians be permitted to cross our borders?

Jamie, care to start the first salvo in this debate? I'll take the role of Bill O'Reilly with my responses.

[preeths]

Changing to American rules wouldn't do anything to help the CFL. It might kill it. Even with American rules, the CFL will still not get the top-tier players. It also won't change the fact that while football is tremendously popular in the US, hockey rules that roost north of the border. Summers can also be a tough draw in a land with so much cold weather, but fall and winter would compete against hockey.

Many Canadians feel Canadian football is a lot of fun to watch. You may not like it, but a lot of Canadians enjoy it much more than American football. I can't say I agree, but their style is still entertaining, and I don't see how it leads to anymore blowouts than we see down here. For years the Grey Cup was always close and exciting when the Super Bowl was one-sided.

[BCRantzilla]

Here is why Ottawa failed again:

Ottawa got their own version of the Montreal Concordes. The Conks were a kneejerk replacement franchise when Skalbania sunk the Alouettes in 1981, Bronfman didn't care and let the franchise waste away and it died after the 1986 season. The Renegades under Watters, his group and later the Gliebermans didn't care and the team weathered away and died in 5 years.

Montreal has had a massive boom with the current Alouettes but there's no way this happens if it wasn't for the fact that the failed US expansion plan left one franchise standing, (the best one, Baltimore,) and Larry Smith, a Montreal boy, was commissioner and wanted a good team in Montreal. Ottawa's replacement franchise never had a winning season and never won more than 5-6 games in a season. This isn't even close to enough to get a fanbase that hasn't seen a champion in over 30 years to get excited about the CFL again.

Ottawa has had to sit through one ownership circus after another since 1980 and zero winning seasons during this time. Horrible management over 3 decades is a great way to kill a fanbase, (see every incarnation of the NFL Cardinals for a reference.) I have seen the Ottawa GeeGee's college team draw extremely good numbers, (by CIS standards,) and this is proof that Canadian football is still popular in Ottawa but all they want is competant management and a WINNER.

[patriot]

So in this thread it has been stated that the CFL needs to become Americanized or fold. Why? Beacause people watch the NFL and because the CFL scores too much. So then why not shut down MLB with that same logic. Oh, wait; the current MLB has been totally disfigured in an attempt to score more and the NFL is right behind them just like the NBA and the NHL. Americans want instant gratification in everything which includes rolling up obsene scores in all of the sports.

I live south of the border and I love the CFL. It has more skill and thought in every play rather than just two or three guys running around breaking records because the NFL chooses to make it more and more impossable to play defense.

It's also a matter of the CFL being about team and city rather than just the name on the BACK of the jersey or the face in the camara.

A string of crapy owners in Ottawa is no reason to condem all of them or the league as a whole. Oh, but if we shut down the CFL then maybe the NFL will expand into two whole cities in Canada. Happy day. And what is the team in Los Angeles called?

And then the American league would certainly work as hard as it could to keep the franchises and the tradition alive in Canada just as they did in Baltimore, Cleveland, Oakland, Los Angeles....

The NFL is about one thing and that is money. The CFL stands for all that is good in the sports world. Community, pride, and half naked cheerleaders freezing their ta-tas off in the middle of November.

[Motownboy]

Folks:

This is my first posting on the board, but being in Detroit I see my share of CFL games through the local CBC affiliate in Windsor. I say keep the league and style of play just the way it is. I for one do not want it to be like the NFL, with brute force, power and strength.

There are three things that I love about the CFL. One, it gives a lot of American guy from small colleges a shot, when they would never get an nfl shot. Two, I love that the cfl game is based on speed and skill, not brute strength. Three, I love it when some high powered nfl guys or Amer college guys go north and think they can just walk on the field and dominate. They get fed their lunch, and realize that its a different game, requiring different skills. I love the CFl game, keep it the way it is.

Tom in Detroit

[Bruce B]

While there is no question the NFL has better players, the CFL is actually more fun to watch. Having only three downs means you HAVE to play a more wide-open style than the NFL, so you can pretty well bet when you watch a CFL game on TV that you're not going to overdose on off-tackle runs for three yards.

The CFL has its problems, and Ottawa has been one for years. The comparison with the Cardinals is good, because it doesn't matter whether that team plays in Chicago, St. Louis or Arizona, as long as the Bidwell family is running them they'll always be a horrible NFL franchise. Same with Ottawa, whether it's been the Riders or Renegades.

I hope the CFL can keep going and playing the same game they do now. I wrote a column years ago for OSC suggesting the CFL might move indoors so they could keep costs down and have a better chance for economic survival, but I'd prefer it remain an outdoor league. Eliminating a weak link like Ottawa helps the league overall, but that only touches around the overall problem of operating a pro sports team in Canada. While the Canadian dollar is now much stronger against the U.S. dollar than it has been, the taxes up there are as onerous as they've ever been, and (unless they've moved Montreal and Vancouver closer to Manitoba) the travel costs for teams are still burdensome...especially now that gas is more expensive and Boeing has never built a solar-powered 737.

It's a tough business.

[ResidentialEvil]

I watch the CFL when I can, but I disagree that it's "more entertaining" than the NFL. Whether it's a better game is a matter of opinion. I personally don't think it is. Having said that though, I think "Americanizing" the CFL is a very bad idea. For one, the league already has a stereotype (at least in the US) as being "minor league"; if you change it to be just like the NFL in terms of rules, then it most definitely will become NFL Lite. The CFL may not be the most popular game in town in Canada but it definitely needs to keep its uniqueness. Take that away and it will die for sure.

[11HP20]

Changing the CFL rules would suck. You don't like it don't watch it. Some of us like variety. Personally I've followed the CFL as best as I could for about 15 years. I was able to watch more games when I lived in Washington state than I can here in STL. I was lucky enough to have moved to Maryland during the Colts' Grey Cup run. I got to see plenty of games during that teams two years of existance. It's my fondest football memory outside of personal involvement.
The Colts are now the Alouettes and they are doing well in Montreal. I have a theroy as to why they are thriving. The franchises regular season winning percent from the Colt days till now hovers around .700. That's hard not to like if it's your hometown team.
Ottawa is not New Orleans. The Saints hold the record for the longest string of losing seasons in professional sports. 20 years. Yet the Ain'ts fan kept on a comin'. With and without bags on their heads. Ottawa will have to develope one hell of a sense of humor or someone's just going to have to win there. If not the CFL just needs to quit with that city. We're here, we're not, we're here, we're not. How bush league is that? Maybe they should just start an NIFL team in Ottawa. Then it would all look normal.