XFL and USFL merge into the United Football League

[MMC]

That adds a serious level of complication to the process, since the CFL isn't single-entity like the other two, but yeah, a 20 team league comprised of 8/9 from the CFL, and 6/8 from each of the other two leagues, would be pretty appealing.

Maybe some day after all the USXFL teams have been franchised out

 

[End on a Hinote]

For a guy with a Canucks jersey, you got strong "living in Toronto" vibes with this message.

The CFL is wholly dependent on the live gate but outside of the Argos, the league is still doing okay. But, as we know that Toronto is Canada, if the Argos fail, you might as well kill the entire league, based on this incredibly sound logic.

People in Vancouver don't care about the CFL for the most part either, especially compared to the 80's/early 90's. It's really only in Alberta and the prairies where people really do. The only people I see here wearing Lions clothing are boomers and really young kids who will eventually replace them with Seahawks clothing.

I know I personally would love to see a pro NA football league featuring the biggest Canadian and non-NFL represented US markets.

This is the first I'm hearing of the CFL dying.

While not literally dying, its popularity continues to decline. And I strongly believe that the newer generations couldn't care less about the unique rules or the league being exclusively Canadian. The biggest complaint about the CFL I've seen, aside from the lesser talent level, are the rules.

 

[famicommander]

I wish they'd throw in the dying CFL to. I'd much rather have a pro football league featuring the CFL teams with other US teams and with NFL rules/field than what we have up here now. The league is dying up here and no-one younger than Gen Xers care about it. Screw its history, get with the times.

1. Most US venues wouldn't fit a CFL field and changing the CFL to crappy USFL/XFL rules would destroy any reason to watch. Part of the reason the CFL has lasted so long and the AFL lasted from 1987-2019 is because they played a version of the sport unique enough to be considered different from the NFL. If they change to the XFL ruleset it's just going to be more readily identifiable as minor league football like all the other failed alphabet soup leagues.

2. The CFL's level of play is drastically higher than the other two leagues at this point, especially at the QB position. They'd have to do a full dispersal draft and redistribute players across the new league otherwise the Blue Bombers and Argonauts would crush everybody every week.

3. The CFL is not actually dying but the XFL and USFL are. That's why the latter two leagues are merging to begin with, and the new merged league will probably be dead within 3 years too. There's no reason to drag the CFL into the grave with them.

 

[GindyDraws]

People in Vancouver don't care about the CFL for the most part either, especially compared to the 80's/early 90's. It's really only in Alberta and the prairies where people really do. The only people I see here wearing Lions clothing are boomers and really young kids who will eventually replace them with Seahawks clothing.

I know I personally would love to see a pro NA football league featuring the biggest Canadian and non-NFL represented US markets.

So what I'm getting here is "f*** the prairies, long as I get what I want".

Sure didn't like that when the NBA bounced the first chance they could back in 2002?

 

[End on a Hinote]

So what I'm getting here is "f*** the prairies, long as I get what I want".

Sure didn't like that when the NBA bounced the first chance they could back in 2002?

I think you're an over thinker.

 

[GindyDraws]

I think you're an over thinker.

No it's just I've seen this take quite a few times. The whole "leagues should only be in the biggest cities". And then it's not fun when they spurn your city, no?

 

[End on a Hinote]

No it's just I've seen this take quite a few times. The whole "leagues should only be in the biggest cities". And then it's not fun when they spurn your city, no?

Except I never said that. I literally said take "the CFL teams" (not "only the biggest CFL teams") and merge them. I said the CFL is only cared for in the Prarie cities because that's less than half the league, which is not great for business.

So I still don't see why you would accuse me of being selfishly against other markets other than my own.....

 

[KevFu]

As popular as football is, it never made sense to have two different spring leagues.

As fans, we tend to look at things from a big picture thing like a Sport/League is ONE THING and forget the individual interests.

(You see it a lot when people are talking about college football, conference realignment, where the average fan is like "Why don't they just do eight leagues of 16 and an 8-team playoffs?" The symmetry and logic makes sense to a fan, but to an individual school or conference, it's "how does that make ME more money, splitting a conference payout 16 ways instead of 12?")


There's TWO spring football leagues because two groups of people think there's money to be made in spring football. So it's actually kind of crazy there's ONLY two.

 

[blueandgoldguy]

The CFL has no interest in merging with the lesser XFL. Talks broke off last year or the year before when the XFL made it abundantly clear that they wanted a significant portion of the CFL teams' revenues as part of the agreement and the CFL rightfully told them to fluff off.

 

[MMC]

Spent multiple months on different occasions in Canada actively trying to seek out CFL fans and I couldn't find a single one. There were more Gen Zers/millennials I talked to that liked NCAAF than the CFL. My ex girlfriend's family wasn't into football at all but when they wanted the occasion football fix, they watched the Bills, not the Argos

 

[Melrose Munch]

No it's just I've seen this take quite a few times. The whole "leagues should only be in the biggest cities". And then it's not fun when they spurn your city, no?

So what I'm getting here is "f*** the prairies, long as I get what I want".

Sure didn't like that when the NBA bounced the first chance they could back in 2002?

Ok, this is working out well for the MLB with having to have a team in Tampa and Oakland and Phoenix. Or the NFL with Jacksonville (again). Let's spin this: what's the justification for having more than 26 teams in any north American league. You have to places people want to be in. The existence of no-trade clauses kind of confirms the small cities issue is not an internet message board thing.

 

[ponder719]

 

[blueandgoldguy]

Spent multiple months on different occasions in Canada actively trying to seek out CFL fans and I couldn't find a single one. There were more Gen Zers/millennials I talked to that liked NCAAF than the CFL. My ex girlfriend's family wasn't into football at all but when they wanted the occasion football fix, they watched the Bills, not the Argos

So you spend significant time in Toronto/Southern Ontario? Hardly representative of Canada. That would be like myself going to New York and saying I spent some time talking with people and barely anyone was interested in hockey. All they wanted to talk about was the Yankees.

As for NCAA, it's a pretty small niche in Canada, even in Toronto...despite TSN trying to shove it down people's throats.

 

[Melrose Munch]

So you spend significant time in Toronto/Southern Ontario? Hardly representative of Canada. That would be like myself going to New York and saying I spent some time talking with people and barely anyone was interested in hockey. All they wanted to talk about was the Yankees.

As for NCAA, it's a pretty small niche in Canada, even in Toronto...despite TSN trying to shove it down people's throats.

He's a west coaster, so probably Vancouver

 

[MMC]

So you spend significant time in Toronto/Southern Ontario? Hardly representative of Canada. That would be like myself going to New York and saying I spent some time talking with people and barely anyone was interested in hockey. All they wanted to talk about was the Yankees.

As for NCAA, it's a pretty small niche in Canada, even in Toronto...despite TSN trying to shove it down people's throats.

He's a west coaster, so probably Vancouver

No he’s right about it being Toronto which I know the CFL is less popular there than pretty much anywhere else in Canada (though I have been in Hamilton a lot as well and experienced the same thing). The fact that I couldn’t find a single person more interested in the CFL than myself, a Californian is pretty telling though

 

[Melrose Munch]

No he’s right about it being Toronto which I know the CFL is less popular there than pretty much anywhere else in Canada (though I have been in Hamilton a lot as well and experienced the same thing). The fact that I couldn’t find a single person more interested in the CFL than myself, a Californian is pretty telling though

Fair enough, apologies, should not have assumed.

 

[End on a Hinote]

No he’s right about it being Toronto which I know the CFL is less popular there than pretty much anywhere else in Canada (though I have been in Hamilton a lot as well and experienced the same thing). The fact that I couldn’t find a single person more interested in the CFL than myself, a Californian is pretty telling though

No disrespect to CFL fans in general, but a lot of them can be very irrationally defensive and insecure about the league. There has literally been zero criticism towards the league but look at how angry some of them became when I suggested that they merge. And I suggested that for the betterment of the league, too.

 

[blueandgoldguy]

No disrespect to CFL fans in general, but a lot of them can be very irrationally defensive and insecure about the league. There has literally been zero criticism towards the league but look at how angry some of them became when I suggested that they merge. And I suggested that for the betterment of the league, too.

There is no logical reason or financial incentive for the CFL to merge with the XFL. The league would likely lose more customers than it would gain. The leagues' seasons don't align, the XFL would demand a share of CFL's revenues which are far greater than the the XFL's current iteration putting teams in a more precarious financial situation (this is what killed the original CFL-XFL proposal), it would also be detrimental to grassroots Canadian football.

You can't just say a merger would be the for the betterment of the league because you are adding a few American teams without explaining in detail why that is indeed the case. The quality of football and players is easily below the CFL and the TV contract is nothing substantial either. The crowds are noticeably worse too. How is this beneficial?

No he’s right about it being Toronto which I know the CFL is less popular there than pretty much anywhere else in Canada (though I have been in Hamilton a lot as well and experienced the same thing). The fact that I couldn’t find a single person more interested in the CFL than myself, a Californian is pretty telling though

I'm not exactly sure where you are traveling or who you are meeting in Hamilton because the team has a pretty passionate fanbase and their games are pretty well attended with most being sold out or nearly sold out.

 

[MMC]

There is no logical reason or financial incentive for the CFL to merge with the XFL. The league would likely lose more customers than it would gain. The leagues' seasons don't align, the XFL would demand a share of CFL's revenues which are far greater than the the XFL's current iteration putting teams in a more precarious financial situation (this is what killed the original CFL-XFL proposal), it would also be detrimental to grassroots Canadian football.

You can't just say a merger would be the for the betterment of the league because you are adding a few American teams without explaining in detail why that is indeed the case. The quality of football and players is easily below the CFL and the TV contract is nothing substantial either. The crowds are noticeably worse too. How is this beneficial?


I'm not exactly sure where you are traveling or who you are meeting in Hamilton because the team has a pretty passionate fanbase and their games are pretty well attended with most being sold out or nearly sold out.

Not claiming to be an expert on the CFL, or that my anecdotal evidence tells the whole story. Just stating my observations

 

[MMC]

No disrespect to CFL fans in general, but a lot of them can be very irrationally defensive and insecure about the league. There has literally been zero criticism towards the league but look at how angry some of them became when I suggested that they merge. And I suggested that for the betterment of the league, too.

On the one hand I get why they would be. It’s the one major league that’s uniquely Canadian and been around a long time, so I can imagine losing such an integral part of the Canadian sports culture would suck. Though of course if I think about it from that perspective I’m then asking myself, if it’s such an integral part of Canadian sports culture, why does the younger generation seem to not give a damn about its existence? Not me trying to downplay it, a genuine question

 

[GKJ]

On the one hand I get why they would be. It’s the one major league that’s uniquely Canadian and been around a long time, so I can imagine losing such an integral part of the Canadian sports culture would suck. Though of course if I think about it from that perspective I’m then asking myself, if it’s such an integral part of Canadian sports culture, why does the younger generation seem to not give a damn about its existence? Not me trying to downplay it, a genuine question

Younger generations are engaging all sports less in general, that’s not a uniquely Canadian thing.

 

[Fatass]

People in Vancouver don't care about the CFL for the most part either, especially compared to the 80's/early 90's. It's really only in Alberta and the prairies where people really do. The only people I see here wearing Lions clothing are boomers and really young kids who will eventually replace them with Seahawks clothing.

I know I personally would love to see a pro NA football league featuring the biggest Canadian and non-NFL represented US markets.



While not literally dying, its popularity continues to decline. And I strongly believe that the newer generations couldn't care less about the unique rules or the league being exclusively Canadian. The biggest complaint about the CFL I've seen, aside from the lesser talent level, are the rules.

The CFL tried including US clubs. Except for the Baltimore team did any do well?

 

[GKJ]

The CFL tried including US clubs. Except for the Baltimore team did any do well?

They also tried doing too much of it at once. Resources and especially talent stretched to thin. Not that talent wouldn’t be now, but Canadian and American football are different, and Baltimore was the only team that knew that.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

 

[ponder719]

Adding the USFL's official release to this: