We went past the Canadian Football League semi-final games on the weekend, and are on the eve of the conference finals.
Yet, arguably that is not the biggest news to come out of the CFL in the past week.
The commissioner of the CFL Randy Ambrosie and Maritime Football Limited Partnership, the organization hoping to bring a franchise to Canada’s East Coast made an announcement last Wednesday that has to have league fans smiling.
The announcement was the actual launch of a season ticket drive, and name the team contest, at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. The announcement was part of an ongoing process to gauge interest for a CFL franchise in Atlantic Canada.
The announcement comes on the heels of a unanimous vote by Halifax Regional Council to direct staff to conduct a business case analysis on a 24,000-seat proposed stadium by Maritime Football.
That unanimous decision by Halifax Council is seen as a positive step in its own right. It leads people to believe Council will be on-side in terms of supporting a build if the numbers crunch out right. That is a wholly reasonable position for a municipal council to take in a matter like this, especially at this stage in the process.
Of course the proposed CFL team would be the anchor tenant of the stadium, which has an estimated price tag of up to $190 million.
“This is a big day for Halifax and Atlantic Canada,” said Anthony LeBlanc, founding partner of Maritime Football Limited Partnership in a story at www.cfl.ca “It’s a day football fans have been waiting for and an important step towards bringing another professional sports team to this region.”
The season ticket drive is a rather reasonable effort asking for only a $50.00 per package and the deposit will place fans on a priority list for season ticket membership and seat selection on a first come, first served basis.
Clearly the drive is about numbers stepping forward more than about creating any kind of cash flow.
In addition, individuals who make a deposit for season tickets will be eligible to participate in a name the team contest. That is a rather cute add-on, because it would be a shock if the team is not the Maritime Schooners, a team of near myth in terms of the CFL already.
The team name will be announced at a special event during Grey Cup weekend.
“As Canada’s national league, the CFL aspires to have a presence from coast to coast,” said Ambrosie in the same cfl.ca story. “Our players want to play in the region and our fans tell us they want the league to expand east. We’re happy to see fan excitement growing for an Atlantic franchise.”
I suspect that the Commissioner’s statement mimics the sentiment of an awful lot of fans of the league.
And that brings me to the post mortem of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Going into this playoff run I truly believed any of the six teams could emerge with the Grey Cup without it being a surprise, so whatever teams wins along the way won’t shock.
That said the B.C. Lions being totally demolished by Hamilton 48-8 was a surprise, especially considering Jeremiah Masoli didn’t even have a 300-yard game at quarterback. I had the TiCats as a Cup favourite up until Brandon Banks was lost for the season. I didn’t think they had the offence left they showed against the Lions. It should be a very good Eastern final.
In Regina the game went about as one should have expected. The Saskatchewan offence has been generally abysmal this season, and that continued.
The weather conditions also dictated the need for a run game, Cameron Marshall had 14 yards, Marcus Thigpen had 15, that’s 29 combined yards on 12 carries. That speaks to the play calls, the offensive line, and the coaching calls collectively failing.
The Bombers back-up quarterback ran for 41-yards on only seven carries.
And Andrew Harris buried the vaunted ‘Rider defence ripping off 153-yards averaging 8.1 yards per carry.
The Roughriders lived all season on a big play by the defence. They never made a big play, and couldn’t stop the run on a day the weather said run the ball to win.
After an Eastern final visit in 2017, the early exit on home turf is a regression for the ‘Riders.
But, the Western final with the Bombers in Calgary should be a good one.
