Missed CFL Opportunity: The 1994 and 2018 Commonwealth Games

Filed away in the folders of missed opportunities for the Canadian Football League has to be the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, B.C. and the still-to-be-determined 2018 games.

The Commonwealth Games are the second biggest international games after the Olympics. Canada last hosted them in 1994 in Victoria.

They are far less expensive to host than the Olympics and are used by Commonwealth athletes as stepping stones on the way to future Olympic glory.

The CFL has been the beneficiary of these games, once before. The Edmonton Eskimos still play in Commonwealth Stadium, the largest stadium in the CFL, which was built to host the 1978 games.

The other noteworthy gain for the league through international sports events will occur this year with the upcoming Touchdown Atlantic game in Moncton, New Brunswick.

Moncton used 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics to get government money to build a stadium, which will be expanded to small CFL size of 20,000. Perhaps this may lead to a permanent Moncton CFL franchise.

In 1994, the Commonwealth Games came to Victoria B.C. The organizers admirally held expenses to a minimum, but nobody seemed to have any long term visions.

In particular, Centennial Stadium of the University of Victoria was only temporarily expanded to 30,000 seats, more than enough for a CFL franchise, but nobody thought of any long term use for the enlarged facility, nor believed in Victoria as a viable CFL franchise.

There would be no "Touchdown Pacific" game tried. After the games were over, the stadium reverted back to 5,000 seats with no lasting benefit to the CFL.

Equally unfortunate is the upcoming bid for the 2018 games, which will be decided next year at Basseterrre, St. Kitts, on November 11.

There are only two confirmed entries, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, and Hambantota, Sri Lanka, a city devastated by the 2004, Indian Ocean Tsunami. 

The deadline for submitting bids passed on March 31 and Canada failed to submit one.

A successful bid by a non-CFL Canadian city might have led to more "Touchdown Atlantic" games and possibly more CFL franchises.

Southern Ontario grabbed the 2015 Pan American Games, which might possibly lead to a new, larger stadium for the Hamilton Tiger Cats, thereby eliminating London and Kitchener from making bids. 

The troubled Ottawa situation which might have tied its return to the CFL (and an entry into professional soccer) with a successful Commonwealth Games bid, would have been a good choice.

Halifax and Saskatoon, which might have used the games to get government money to build stadiums to match their rivals in Moncton and Regina, also saw the window of opportunity pass by.

Most disappointingly, Quebec, stuck with both an inadequate stadium and arena, obsessed with getting back into the NHL, and who successfully hosted last year's CIS Vanier Cup, made no attempt.

Tying a new sports arena and stadium together in a multi-complex package built for a successful international sports bid may have won for Quebec the federal and provincial government money they were seeking.

But the possibility of benefiting long term from the Commonwealth Games still remains. 

Any non-CFL city with football ambitions should remember to set plans in store for bidding for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.