Intro Having seen the soring success the NFL has seen over the years I believe that the Canadian Football League could have something similar, although not on the same level might I add. The CFL did once try to expand its reach back in the 90’s in the United States to what was very limited success with the Baltimore Stallions coming out of the experiment with any glory. The result of this failure caused the league to suffer a period of decline as well as losing the Stallions to an NFL franchise while the rest of the American CFL franchises ceased business. However two decades on I believe the league has learnt from past mistakes and could be ready to expand its appeal further. So what could be done? Team number 10? Well firstly a tenth team to participate in the CFL is a must and something that seems to be on the cards within the not too distant future. There have been several mooted places to start the team such as the Halifax, Windsor or Moncton area which have come close to getting a team previously, Quebec which is another place that has been mentioned, however certain factors may mean Quebec is not viable. Another option that hasn’t been talked about is having a team on Newfoundland, in St John’s for example. This option would be an interesting proposition as there is potential to grow a passionate fanbase on the island and give the CFL another dimension. Other possible ones include Saskatoon and maybe Yukon but a major point that needs to be considered when setting up a CFL franchise is the potential fanbase as no consideration for this could have serious consequences as found with the US experiment. Bringing the game to the UK Secondly and arguably the most important would be for the CFL teams to follow the NFL lead and play games abroad. By doing this the league would receive masses of exposure on a global scale and would be following what many other sports have been doing in recent years. For example the NFL play 2 to 3 games at Wembley England a year so why couldn’t the CFL do the same? Obviously not at Wembley as a smaller stadium should be used to test the waters, but think about this would be a great way to grow an international fanbase and to increase revenue. If this were to be considered I would suggest either using an alternate stadium in London like the Olympic Stadium (54,000) or if the league wanted to explore another area they could use St James Park (52,000), alternatively King Power (32,500) in Leicester if they wanted a stadium in the middle of the UK. Either way by playing in a stadium like this it would be a great tester for popularity of Canadian football within the UK and may attract fans from Canada for the event. Obviously the only problem with this is the expanded pitch size needed which may rule out certain stadiums. CFL on the console? Finally finishing on a minor point and that is concerning a CFL console game, although this seems like a long way off it could be a fairly viable option. Regarding this the CFL have two choices either partner with the NFL join the Madden franchise, alternatively they could choose to another major video sports game partner like 2K. Either way this would be a great way to really promote the CFL brand and attract a worldwide audience. Concluding view Overall I feel these three points would help massively to boost its brand and global reach but obviously all three won’t happen at once and I believe the second point about playing games abroad would be a great start. Games could be strategically picked for the UK and possibly France with Montreal Alouettes playing a game there. In my view there is so much potential to tap into the league just needs to realise it, but the futures bright and things seem to be looking up!
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