Stimulus to CFL Expansion, No. 5: Get Some Imaginative Leadership

The recent article I wrote on the stupid proposal of the CFL to limit further the participation of Canadians in their own league leads me to write the next installment of the "Stimulus to CFL Expansion" series, perhaps the most important of the group: The CFL needs better leadership.

This is so utterly clear in the wake of the above proposal; when there is a pressing need to put down more roots in Canada in order to get involvement, investment, and expansion, the CFL proposes doing the opposite, supposedly to save money.

This proposal has brought negative publicity from newspapers, Canadian ex-CFL stars, and fans.

Granted, the CFL has limited resources but it has done nothing to shake the image that it is not dynamic, clinging to survival policies. And when everything is stripped away, it is run like an old-boys club.

Take the four articles I've written in this expansion series: getting Ottawa competitive quickly, working more closely with the CIS, starting a national punt, pass, and kick competition, and becoming more attractive to Canadians by getting them to play some of the glamour positions like quarterback and running back.

All these ideas don't involve undo expense, yet the CFL doesn't even consider them, let alone implement them.

Right now, the CFL powers that be are patting themselves on the back for getting Ottawa back in the league, and playing a regular season game in Moncton which will be a great franchise when it gets big enough but can't help the CFL right now.

Meanwhile, in the three best cities that have the population and population growth to sustain a permanent franchise, Quebec, London, and Kitchener, the CFL has nothing cooking.

Quebec is taking active steps to build a new hockey arena and get back in the NHL. There is not a peep for the CFL and a stadium.

There is a lobby group in Winnipeg trying to get the Jets back.

There was a petition signed by 80,000 fans, then a major investor, then civic backing in Quebec to get an arena and an NHL franchise.

There are no petitions, lobby groups, investors, or civic backing for the CFL.

Once in a while the Commissioner goes on a jaunt to non-Canadian CFL cities, tells the locals that one day they'll get a team if they build a stadium, and then leaves. No roots are put down.

Tom Wright pledged that the CFL would have a 10th Canadian franchise by 2010. Instead Ottawa folded and that cost him his job.

But the writing was on the wall long before that. When the Gliebermans were accepted as owners again, the fans sensed the end was coming. It was typical of the CFL that they accepted an owner who was distrusted by the locals based on previous experience.

Just like the recent proposal to limit the number of Canadians in a league called the Canadian Football league.

The last time the CFL took an adventurous action was to try to expand to the United States. Larry Smith was the CFL Commissioner and lined up several small market American cities plus an ex-NFL city, Baltimore.

But the CFL was soon sent packing with the exception of Baltimore where the CFL gained a lot of friends. But the NFL was too wily to let the CFL make an in-road south of the border and replaced the lost Colts franchise at the expense of Cleveland.

The only good thing that came out of the CFL's American experiment was the return of the Montreal franchise, when Baltimore was shifted. There was, of course, no talk of expanding any further in Canada.

The NHL can spurn Hamilton, eliminate Quebec and Winnipeg, and Canadians will fall on their knees and beg for a team.

In contrast, the CFL is like an infant, sucking on a pacifier hoping something will come along. It never takes steps to make something happen.

More disturbing, the proposal to limit Canadian participation shows that CFL doesn't believe in Canada.

Here is a league that is trying to sell itself to a market and then tells members of that market that they are not good enough. Does that make sense?

And even if it is true, that Canadians are "not good enough," what does the CFL do to correct it? Defend the status-quo. Just let things continue. Suck the pacifier and hope something comes along.

If you are going to be indifferent about who participates, then your market will be indifferent about you.

Mark Cohon was hired to succeed Tom Wright as Commissioner because he had marketing skills.

But you can't market a product if it doesn't mean anything to its potential customers. If the CFL wants to expand and flourish, it has got to start getting down in the dirt and planting some roots.

The CFL is not the NFL. You can't get away with arrogance here. You need all the friends you can get.

If the Commissioner and Board Of Governors think they can imitate the NFL by sitting on their butts and doing nothing, that's what they'll get. Nothing comes of nothing.

For the NFL, the fans come cringing, but for the CFL, the opposite is true. The CFL must bend to them.

So it comes down to leadership. If I can come up with ideas to stimulate interest in the CFL, why can't the league?

The leadership can start by getting to know and believing in Canada again. If it will ever take the trouble to plant a seed, perhaps it might even grow.