Stimulus To CFL Expansion #8: Play The Grey Cup In A Non-CFL City

The CFL should use the Grey Cup to further its expansion plans by staging it in a non-CFL Canadian city.

Currently, the league is using its Touchdown Atlantic game in Moncton to generate support for the league and a possible future franchise.

It's proven to be a great success.  The game is a complete sellout already with more than 20,000 seats sold.

Any investors thinking of starting a CFL franchise have to take notice.

But staging the Grey Cup in a non-CFL Canadian city would help the league expand too. 

The CFL just announced the financial success of the 2009 game in Calgary.   More than 32,000 fans from outside the region spent $35.3 million.

That type of figure should have cities that have remained apathetic and indifferent to the CFL interested.

Quebec, the most logical place to put a new CFL franchise, staged a sold out Vanier Cup of over 18,000 last year and successfully hosted its 400th anniversary in 2008.

The city has ambitions of building a new arena to get its NHL Nordiques back and to try for a Winter Olympic bid.

Awarding the Grey Cup might make the city willing to tackle the stadium issue which is one of the main stumbling blocks to CFL expansion.

Based on the success of the Touchdown Atlantic game, Moncton has to be considered too.  Staging the Grey Cup might force Moncton to expand the stadium's current seating capacity of 20,000 to a larger, more acceptable capacity.

Other cities to be considered are London, Kitchener, Halifax, Victoria, Windsor, and Saskatoon.

Playing the Grey Cup in A non-CFL city would be a great way of measuring interest and support for the CFL and for the probable success of a future franchise.

A successful game would also catch the eyes of any investors who would like to start a new franchise.

Currently, there are more wealthy Canadian investors trying to get NHL franchises at exorbitant entry fees, but a successful Grey Cup show might wake them up to the fact that entry to the CFL at only $7 million would be a bargain, especially if local fans show a lot of support for the Grey Cup.

Throwing open the bidding for the Grey Cup to any reasonably sized Canadian city would also force the local authorities to consider building, expanding, and renovating a stadium which is one the main obstacles to expanding the league.

It has certainly worked this year in Moncton for a regular season game.

Hosting the Grey Cup in a future year could also be part of any expansion negotiations.  Probably there will be one played in Ottawa whenever it rejoins the league.

So it is up to the league to take up the idea.  Throw open the bidding and see what happens.

Perhaps it will cause expansion to happen sooner instead of later.