The Problem with the CFL

     For many years now, I have been a pro football fan. I pay attention carefully to the NFL(National Football League - American) and the CFL(Canadian Football League - Canadian), and I love both of them, despite their rule and gameplay differences. However, there is one issue with the CFL that bothers me the most, and that is the amount of teams that exist within the league.

      In the CFL, there are four teams in the eastern conference, and another four in the west. In the NFL there are thirty two teams. Now I know the market in Canada is no where near as large as that in America, but, I think that the CFL can afford to have two more teams in the CFL. The fact that the Hamilton Tiger-Cats had to play the Winnepeg Blue Bombers four times at the beginning of the season is appauling. Not only that, but it seems like the same teams are dominant every season: Montreal Alhouettes and Saskatchewan Roughriders. These two teams have a very good chance of meeting each other in the Grey Cup final this year, just like the previous year. I mean c'mon...when does that really happen in pro sports, except for that odd time when the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins met for the second consecutive time in the Stanley Cup finals.

      It just takes away from the excitement of the game to have teams facing each other many times during the season, and to have the same teams as dominant figures year in and year out. In my opinion, there can be at least two more teams in the league...one in the east and west. Put a team over in Nova Scotia, where they have no professional sports teams, but they are crazy about sports...ironic. Also, put a team back in Ottawa, where we already know they can attract a fan base. Thus, you have five western teams (BC, Saskatchewan, Calgary, Winnepeg, and Edmonton), and five eastern teams (Hamilton, Ottawa, Nova Scotia, Toronto, and Montreal).

      If each division in the CFL had five teams each, teams would not have to face each other many times each season, more players would have a chance to get a job playing pro football, and the general excitement of the league would increase.

      The culture of the CFL needs to change, because the way I see it, fans are becoming less interested in the league every year, which is a shame because it is such a beautiful game.

Vince Cianciolo