NFL or CFL

Which game to you prefer? This is a hot topic of debate in Canada in light of the Buffalo Bills coming to Toronto to play eight games over 5 years. The NFL is one hot commodity, over 180,000 requests for tickets for the 8 game packages in a stadium that only seats 54,000.

The Toronto Argos have a season ticket base of 16,000 plus and generally have an average attendance of 31,000 per game. The Grey Cup which was played in Toronto was a huge success despite the fact that Argos did not play in the game and the game itself was mediocre. However now that the Bills are coming to town, does that spell doom for the Toronto Argos? At present that does not seem to be the case as the Bills will play one preseason game in August of this year and the regular season game will not be played until after the end of the CFL season.

So why is this hot topic of debate? According to a recent poll, Canadians prefer the CFL game over the NFL game. The CFL has been making a comeback in recent years and attendance is at its highest level since 1983. The League has a new television contract and the ratings for games are at an all time high. The NFL on the other hand generally does well in the TV ratings in Canada but not enough to compete with the CFL.

So do Canadians really want to see an NFL team in Canada full time? The demand for tickets seems to warrant that. Back in the early sixties the NFL played some preseason games in Toronto, at that time the game was not accepted very well, fans were not impressed with the fair catch rule. Back then however, the CFL was on par with the NFL and it was not uncommon for NFL players to boot up north to make more money with the Canadian game.

It seems that the NFL outgrew its Canadian counterpart and it’s easy to see why. The United States has 10 times the population of Canada and therefore the NFL would obviously have more teams. Today there are 32 teams in the NFL compared to 8 of the CFL. The NFL makes billions from is TV contracts and their stadiums all seat over 50,000 plus. The CFL on the other hand has only four stadiums that seat over 50,000 and of the four the Rogers Centre is the newest and that stadium is almost 20 years old.

The money the NFL generates can allow its teams to pay million dollar contracts, while in the CFL a player will get a salary anywhere from 40,000 to 400,000 a season depending on what position he plays and how good of a player he actually is.

So let’s get back to the game itself. The CFL plays on a field that is 110 yard long and 65 Yards wide, with 20 yard end zones. The Players in the backfield have unlimited motion and they have a 20 second clock and there is no fair catch and they play with twelve men per side. The game has three downs which means there is more emphasis on passing then running the ball, hence the CFL has been dubbed basketball on cleats because of it high scoring.

The NFL has the smaller field, plays eleven per side with four downs and has a 40 second clock. Differences aside both games are basically football, played on the gridiron and both have their own excitement.

The big debate is whether or not the NFL has more talented players then the CFL. In a general rule thumb that is true since the NFL has more players it would only be obvious that the talent pool would be greater. However, there are many talented players who play in the Canadian game that would not make it in the NFL game and vice versa. The CFL usually goes for the smaller player who has lots of speed and a bigger focus on offence and the NFL player usually has the bigger player which has more of a focus on defence.

Setting that rule aside for the moment though, there have been many a player who had great careers in the CFL who made it big in the NFL. Players such as Warren Moon, Joe Thiesman, Doug Flutie just to name a few. So why do some Canadians look at the CFL as inferior? Well image perception for one. The NFL is known world wide, the super bowl is the highest rated and most bet on championship in the world. The NFL promotes its star players while the CFL is in a small market, tucked up in Canada and basically away from the American limelight. The CFL is well promoted by the local media in Canada, but it’s still considered a second tier league to the NFL. The game CFL game itself though has been stated to be a far superior game then the NFL went it comes to the excitement level of the game. Longer, Wider and Faster is how the league promoted itself on its ill fated attempt to expand in the United States some 15 years ago. And in truth the CFL is a faster game and can be more exciting then the NFL game. But when it comes to pure marketing power the CFL is at the bottom of the barrel. Myself, I prefer the Canadian game over the American game, not that I don’t like the American game. I just prefer a good old offensive battle with high scoring then a defensive struggle and a low scoring game which tends to be the trend in the NFL. Which ever game you prefer, we up here in Canada must realize that if the NFL does come to town, it could spell the end of the CFL as Canadians know it.