Canadian Football World League: Growing the CFL through a new independent international league

By Peter Tremblay

The much talked of "merger" between the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the upstart reincarnated Xtreme Football League (XFL), a league without even one successful season under its belt, was a dog's breakfast. Thankfully, Canadian football survived those perilous negotiations and remained intact for the 2021 season.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: The Agora Cosmopolitan
• Release date: May 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9781778380426

Book preview

Canadian Football

World League

Growing the CFL through

a new independent international league

Peter Tremblay

Agora BooksTM

Ottawa, Canada

Canadian Football World League: Growing the CFL through a new independent international league

Copyright © 2023, by Peter Tremblay

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the expressed written consent of The Agora Cosmopolitan.

The views, opinions, and perceptions of the author and/or editor of the book herein expressed in this text are intended to support civil and creative joint academic and civic discussion.

Care has been taken to trace the ownership/source of any academic reference material contained in the text. The publisher welcomes any information that will enable a rectification in subsequent edition(s), of any incorrect or omitted reference or credit.

Agora BooksTM

P.O. Box 24191

300 Eagleson Road

Kanata, Ontario K2M 2C3 CANADA

Agora Books is a self-publishing agency for authors that was launched by The Agora Cosmopolitan which is a registered not-for-profit corporation.

ISBN: 978-1-77838-042-6

Book cover artwork: An illustration of a hypothetical CFWL Macdonald-Cartier Cup championship game between teams from Mexico City and Melbourne, Australia.

Printed in Canada

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1: Canadian football evolves from rugby and soccer

Chapter 2: The CFL’s misadventure into America’s backwaters

Chapter 3: Why NFL Europe Failed

Slow expansion plan

Lack of quality talent

Player fatigue

No major playing stadium

Too much American influence

Lack of fanbase

Existence of rugby

The existence of real football

Chapter 4: Canadian football goes international

Chapter 5: Building the CFWL

A New Marketing Vision

Preface

Canadian football has enjoyed an illustrious history and has a bright future as an expression of our national identity. But that great potential can never be realized with the short-sightedness of the CFL’s current efforts.

The failure of the CFL to adjust to pandemic realities with the same vigour as other professional sports leagues across North America led them to contemplating a dubious merger with the Xtreme Football League (XFL). Such a partnership would have represented a watering down of the CFL and our Canadian game. Fortunately, the XFL re-directed its efforts to become a junior partner of the National Football League (NFL) in the United States.

Having escaped the XFL train wreck, CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie then executed rule changes. This is a solution in search of a problem; but there’s no place for an inferiority complex in our national game.

The Commissioner’s effort to save the CFL by eroding the very identity that has shown itself capable of drawing in legions of international fans is a short-sighted move. This both derogates from robust TV ratings against National Football League (NFL) games in the United States and ignores the Commissioner’s failure to champion a systematized approach to marketing that would bring new and young fans to CFL stadiums.

Yet, the CFL’s current problems have nothing to do with any of its unique rules. It is an exciting game that has inspired generations of Canadians, Canadians who oppose the NFL’s expansion into Canada at the CFL’s expense. If you have ever watched an overtime in the CFL and compared it to the anti-climax of sudden death overtime in the NFL over the years, you know exactly what I mean.

The CFL’s problems, no doubt, start with unimaginative marketing and ends with unimaginative coaches who don’t take sufficient advantage of the features of our game to truly showcase the inherently exciting brand our gridiron football represents. A quick review of old footage of exciting CFL trick and special team plays in seasons before the pandemic stand in stark contrast to the humdrum of the 2021 season. The 2022 season was better for the CFL, but still a far cry from the kind of dynamic games and fan energy the CFL become known for into the 1970s, with notable reference to Leo Cahill’s Toronto Argonauts. Coach Cahill brought a vision and drive for success, making his selection of players, which included Joe Theismann, the envy of NFL teams. Football was king in Toronto, with fans in the stadium who went wild.

Consider as well the larger field in Canadian football. This feature translates into the need for a different kind of quarterback and more strategic defense, as well as the higher-scoring games to which Canadian fans have become accustomed.

Rather than change to accommodate an imaginary demand for rule changes, the CFL should play to its existing appeal by expanding its reach beyond North America to markets that are already showing interest in Canada’s more dynamic game. The creation of an independent professional development league, one that can learn from the mistakes of previous gridiron football expansion internationally, is just the kind of new energy Canadian football needs.

The CFL has been befuddled with strategies intended to bring in legions of younger fans from the multicultural society that Canada represents. A bolder and more confident approach in the spirit of Leo Cahill is what we need. The creation of a Canadian Football World League under the auspices of the CFL would make Canadian football a truly international sport able to galvanize new legions of fans, bringing them into the stadiums. We need only look at the growing multicultural fanbase for Toronto FC and the sport of soccer in general for both Canadian women’s and men’s teams. We can and must apply similar