This blog in a way is a follow up to my previous one about broadening the appeal of the Canadian Football League. In my view the CFL is vastly becoming an appealing product that with the right marketing can grow even bigger and have an appeal outside of Canada. One of the ways to do this would be to bring a game (to test the waters so to speak) across the pond to the UK and see the reception it receives. Clearly it will not be as popular as when the NFL comes to town but CFL offers a completely different experience, most notably with the various changes in rules from the NFL. The appeal of one game in the UK would in my opinion attract various types of fans, firstly the passionate ones who would travel from Canada to make a vacation of it or even a number of hard-core fans within the UK. Secondly there would be fans like myself who are quite new to CFL (taken an interest in the last couple of years) who would love to experience it, then finally UK fans of NFL who would be interested in attending to see how it compares to its American counterpart. But where? I suggest staging games at a smaller venue compared to Wembley with Stadium:MK being a potential venue given its history of hosting events that are not football (Soccer, which is the stadiums main use) related events. Also the city itself can put on a really good show to support the events which the stadium hosts. For example I was lucky enough to get tickets to the recent Rugby World Cup and one of the games I went to was in Milton Keynes where they put on a fanzone in a large park with rugby specific events and lots of volunteers dotted around Milton Keynes on hand to offer advice or give directions. My point from this is I can imagine the CFL doing something similar if they do decide the time is right to play in the UK, as the stadium (32,000) is suitable for the demand of a Canadian Football game, the city and its infrastructure is suitable enough to deal with masses of people in one place at a time. It is also worth noting that with Milton Keynes being a fairly new place (developed within the last 50 years) and regeneration happening over the few years there are lots of new modern restaurants to suite virtually anybody and make their time a pleasant one. Realistically will it happen? As much as I would love it to and I know I am not alone in saying that, I can’t see it on the horizon as the CFL seems pretty much content with its operations solely in Canada. However if they want an increase in revenue this should seriously be considered as the brand could only increase by making this happen due to it only being a one off to begin with so they are not going to lose money by making this happen. Considering everything the best time to do this so it does not conflict with NFL coming over would be right at the beginning of the CFL in June or July which may be the most appealing to fans alike as well. Who would the teams be? Well there is currently 9 teams in the CFL (4 in the East Division & 5 in the West Division) and virtually all of them would have some appeal one way or another. Being a follower of the Toronto Argonauts I would love to see them come across of course, but the reason for the appeal would be the history the team has and as we all know we all like a team with history here in the UK. Then there’s Saskatchewan Roughriders who seem to be the most well supported (and riches) team in Canada and a decent team too (Discounting this season though as they are 2-15). Other teams with varying appeal would be Calgary Stampeders who arguably are the best team currently, while Hamilton Tiger-Cats are the best in the East. Then there’s the newest franchise, Ottawa REDBLACKS which will be looking to drum up a fanbase and could potentially become the Jacksonville Jaguars of Canadian Football in terms of being a new franchise who plays games regularly abroad.
All in all I’m sure any observer of the CFL whether you’re a die-hard or new to the game would just be happy to see any 2 sides do battle in the UK.
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