CFL 2024

[rboomercat90]

Tied game and the team runs a ball out of their end zone to the 7 yard line instead of conceding a single and then proceeds to go 2 and out. How many times is this team going to repeat the same basic mistake? It’s baffling to me how a team with a veteran coaching staff can never learn from its previous gaffes.

 

[rboomercat90]

That may be the worst call video review has made in cfl history. None of those many replays show Mitchell being touched after he catches the ball, let alone after he hits the ground. Just an embarrassing display by the off field officials. In the end it doesn’t matter as the Elks get into the end zone a few plays later but still another play inexplicably blown by video review after the on field guys had gotten it right.

 

[Heavy Dee]

Chris Jones defense remains a joke

 

[DrDrai]

MTB just chucks one up to no where.

 

[Sanchez]

Good work Elks

 

[DrDrai]

Good work Elks

I didn’t watch the game, caught the last 2:30.

But what does MBT offer to this team when we need a play, all he has done during clutch situations is choke.

 

[Arty Spooners Bsmnt]

Brent Ashton you are spot on. Free agency is ruining the CFL. You used to be able to know who was on your team and on every other team.

 

[Sra1974]

Brent Ashton you are spot on. Free agency is ruining the CFL. You used to be able to know who was on your team and on every other team.

I agree but that said every other team has had some success in putting together a semblance of a football team. This franchise is working under the same rules as everyone else and is basically trotting out one of the worst teams in league history the past few years. I grew up with this team, have fond memories of it and it is being destroyed. I am sad, and angry, and worried. This GM and coach may be the biggest fraud the league has seen, which says a lot.

 

[Gunnersaurus Rex]

Jones is now 8-31 as Coach & GM of the Elks and there s no talk of him losing his job. Pathetic.

 

[Duke74]

Yikes. Elks are cursed.

 

[Heavy Dee]

Jones is now 8-31 as Coach & GM of the Elks and there s no talk of him losing his job. Pathetic.

The board signed him to four one year separate deals. Cui made it a single four year deal. That's why he can't be fired. Cui was a joke.

 

[Jumptheshark]

at least their pts difference is a little better only -11 after two games

Jones is now 8-31 as Coach & GM of the Elks and there s no talk of him losing his job. Pathetic.

I read somewhere there is a cap for management spending and they can not afford to fire him I think

 

[bellagiobob]

Elks 3-0 in moral victories this year. May go undefeated.

 

[bellagiobob]

In the US trying I stream the game. Geo Locked everywhere. What a joke.

At least you're able to follow along on the amazing up to date stats that they offer.

 

[Stoneman89]

Once again, I didn't see the game and only saw the highlights this morning. Was too busy enjoying a lovely evening outside.

Looked at the stats and saw Kevin Brown had another mediocre running game. Only 7 touches but still. I wonder if he's playing hurt.

 

[timekeep]

In case someone wants to watch some football on Wednesday or Sunday, the U20 World Championships are in town. Cheap entertainment. Some CIS and Canadian Junior players mostly on the 2 Canadian teams.

IFAF World Junior Football Championships – Edmonton Canada 2024

worldjrfootballchampionships.com

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

The board signed him to four one year separate deals. Cui made it a single four year deal. That's why he can't be fired. Cui was a joke.

Any Board that hires an operational employee over and before hiring their only hire, the chief executive officer, is f***ed. They prioritized Jones over hiring his boss. That's a goofy power dynamic that no CEO, let alone an inexperienced one, should ever have accepted.

The Elks Board is responsible for the clown show that has extended over multiple management groups. It is they would should be held accountable and culpable.

 

[K1984]

Any Board that hires an operational employee over and before hiring their only hire, the chief executive officer, is f***ed. They prioritized Jones over hiring his boss. That's a goofy power dynamic that no CEO, let alone an inexperienced one, should ever have accepted.

The Elks Board is responsible for the clown show that has extended over multiple management groups. It is they would should be held accountable and culpable.

My sense of the Elks board is that it’s a country club/status appointment with a rotating cast of prominent Edmonton business people. I had a business connection to one of them years ago, and despite being very good at what he does day to day, very likely couldn’t give the slightest f*** about the Elks role.

It’s been a ceremonial board forever, which was fine when the team was as stable as it was for so long from both a financial and personnel/performance perspective. They never bothered to change course when headwinds were slapping them in the face, then got caught with their pants down when they actually had to do their jobs.

Similar to Northlands, the operation of the actual business function was secondary to cocktail hour after their quarterly meeting commitment was over. In both cases, the organizations imploded the moment the job got hard.

 

[rboomercat90]

These crowds we’re seeing around the league look shockingly low. We’ve talked at length about what’s gone on here the last few years but it isn’t isolated to Edmonton. BMO field looked even emptier yesterday when the Elks played there. I know it’s Toronto and the CFL hasn’t been a big ticket there for decades but they did have an attendance revival of sorts when they left Roger’s Centre for BMO field a while back. What is a surprise and should be very concerning is how attendance has fallen in Regina. That stadium looked half full at best today against Hamilton. This when the Riders have started the year 2-0. If their fans have stopped going then you really have to think the league is in serious trouble. Not sure how anybody can look at this and not have serious reservations about dumping millions into trying to save the Elks.

 

[Dust]

These crowds we’re seeing around the league look shockingly low. We’ve talked at length about what’s gone on here the last few years but it isn’t isolated to Edmonton. BMO field looked even emptier yesterday when the Elks played there. I know it’s Toronto and the CFL hasn’t been a big ticket there for decades but they did have an attendance revival of sorts when they left Roger’s Centre for BMO field a while back. What is a surprise and should be very concerning is how attendance has fallen in Regina. That stadium looked half full at best today against Hamilton. This when the Riders have started the year 2-0. If their fans have stopped going then you really have to think the league is in serious trouble. Not sure how anybody can look at this and not have serious reservations about dumping millions into trying to save the Elks.

I think it probably ended up around 25k, which is pretty low for a home opener. Severe thunderstorm warning I think hindered some of the walk up crowd, and some people retreated to the concourse when it started raining in the 2nd half so the seats looked a lot worse.

I'm not super worried about the low attendance to start for many teams, it's always struggled a bit in June when they moved up the season a couple of weeks. We should see it normalize from July onwards.

Edmonton needs to win some bloody games though. Winning cures all. Also nobody cares in Edmonton while the Oil are in the SCF. Heck I skipped the preseason game in Regina to watch the Oilers game, and I would have skipped the home opener to watch game 7.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

My sense of the Elks board is that it’s a country club/status appointment with a rotating cast of prominent Edmonton business people. I had a business connection to one of them years ago, and despite being very good at what he does day to day, very likely couldn’t give the slightest f*** about the Elks role.

It’s been a ceremonial board forever, which was fine when the team was as stable as it was for so long from both a financial and personnel/performance perspective. They never bothered to change course when headwinds were slapping them in the face, then got caught with their pants down when they actually had to do their jobs.

Similar to Northlands, the operation of the actual business function was secondary to cocktail hour after their quarterly meeting commitment was over. In both cases, the organizations imploded the moment the job got hard.

Lot of truth there. There are prestige boards like sports teams and Northlands (Stampede in Calgary) which you list which generally float through with few major issues and a lot of tangible and intangible perks like networking; public image and reputation enhancement; free tickets; travel; smooze fests, etc. The issue as you point out is when major issues happen these boards often do not have the bench strength or expertise required to navigate critical strategic decisions.

The Elks board has failed this organization and it's not right to deflect their strategic leadership failure off on Cui. Regarding their decision on Cui, the process should have hired him first and engage the CEO in the football leadership hiring process to establish hierarchy and backing of the CEO. Catering to Jones and turning over all the keys to him first created a bad power dynamic for the incoming CEO who gets squeezed between his bosses and the executive staffer his bosses said was their top priority in their wide sweeping hiring and organization housecleaning redux.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

These crowds we’re seeing around the league look shockingly low. We’ve talked at length about what’s gone on here the last few years but it isn’t isolated to Edmonton. BMO field looked even emptier yesterday when the Elks played there. I know it’s Toronto and the CFL hasn’t been a big ticket there for decades but they did have an attendance revival of sorts when they left Roger’s Centre for BMO field a while back. What is a surprise and should be very concerning is how attendance has fallen in Regina. That stadium looked half full at best today against Hamilton. This when the Riders have started the year 2-0. If their fans have stopped going then you really have to think the league is in serious trouble. Not sure how anybody can look at this and not have serious reservations about dumping millions into trying to save the Elks.

Toronto v Elks attendance reported as 10,857.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1804846734998458571

Kind of a mixed bag though. BC 50,000 for their Opener. 31,210 in Winnipeg for Bombers v. Lions. Montreal home opener 23,035 against a rebuilding RedBlacks team.

I haven't seen the Riders attendance yet. But have read/heard some issue with a later afternoon start time on a Sunday which is a killer for out of town fans and some families. There's some 'show me' mentality with several years of mediocre football and marginal entertainment value. Pushback on a very expensive stadium experience for concession and ancillaries.

Winning is a cure-all for pro sports teams and now 3-0 the Riders will start to draw their (our) loyal fans back. Personally as a Riders fan I think their organization can kind of slip into cruise control thinking they are entitled to blind loyalty from its incredible supporters. Work to win back fan interest by winning and the fans will follow. Poor Edmonton fans have been ground up into fine dust with long entrenched systemic incompetence at the board level and football operations.

 

[Arty Spooners Bsmnt]

These crowds we’re seeing around the league look shockingly low. We’ve talked at length about what’s gone on here the last few years but it isn’t isolated to Edmonton. BMO field looked even emptier yesterday when the Elks played there. I know it’s Toronto and the CFL hasn’t been a big ticket there for decades but they did have an attendance revival of sorts when they left Roger’s Centre for BMO field a while back. What is a surprise and should be very concerning is how attendance has fallen in Regina. That stadium looked half full at best today against Hamilton. This when the Riders have started the year 2-0. If their fans have stopped going then you really have to think the league is in serious trouble. Not sure how anybody can look at this and not have serious reservations about dumping millions into trying to save the Elks.

That Regina Grey Cup in 2022 was embarrassing in how empty it was.

 

[Oilhawks]

I wonder if the CFL considers stepping in with one of their cash cows floundering this long

The management cap is preventing them from firing and hiring? Shouldn’t be a thing, but then again, this is a dud league now that’s killed casual fans (like me)

 

[bone]

I didn’t watch the game, caught the last 2:30.

But what does MBT offer to this team when we need a play, all he has done during clutch situations is choke.

Blaming MBT for this loss only proves you only watched the last couple minutes. Lots of blame to go around on the defense, and some frustrating moments with badly timed penalties by Special Teams, but the Offense balled out all night long.