CFL: Toronto-Edmonton Is Official

The CFL has finally revealed that the Edmonton Eskimos will be the opposition for the "home team" Toronto Argonauts in the league's first regualar season game in the non-CFL Canadian city of Moncton, New Brunswick, on Sept. 26.

The CFL originally announced the 1:00 p.m. game last week when it released its 2010 schedule.

The game is being billed as "Touchdown Atlantic" (even though Moncton isn't located on the ocean), in response to a local newspaper's poll which drew 3,000 responses.

That certainly will hearten the CFL, if these 3,000 portend a sell-out crowd for the actual game.

As I've mentioned in a previous article, I have my doubts for the choice of Moncton, given its small population (126,000, the 29th largest Canadian city) for this experiment, not because I believe this one game will be a failure, but because the choice of a larger Canadian city might have provided a better chance for immediate, permanent CFL expansion.

But I've also recognized in another article that a virtually unmeasurable factor, enthusiasm, can go a long way to making up for other defects.

Small Moncton is taking the first step to getting a permanent franchise, building a stadium, even if it is only less than half the CFL stated minimum of 25,000.

The 10,000 "permanent" seats will be supplemented by 10,000 "temporary" ones.

Even though I think the choice of the Canadian city is wrong, I'm in favor of playing these games in Moncton (I hope there is a sequel the following year in Moncton or somewhere else) or any other Canadian non-CFL city.

Playing these games is the best way of gauging support for the CFL in other Canadian markets.  It will probably increase the support for the CFL in New Brunswick and throughout the Maritime region.

More importantly, a successful game might tempt a potential investor to both make a serious bid for a permanent Moncton team and to modify the stadium so that it reaches at least permanent, minimum CFL size.

CFL fans can read between the lines why the choice of opponents was Toronto-Edmonton.

Toronto was chosen as the "home team" during the 2009 season because of the unpopularity of the CFL there.

The Argonauts don't draw the crowds the CFL would like to have (in large part because lots of the locals are bedazzled by the NFL), so the CFL figured that the Argos would not lose much revenue and support if they played one of their home games elsewhere.

The facts that the team had the worst record in the league and that the prospects of a quick turn-around are unlikely also reinforced this decision.

The other reasons for choosing the Argonauts were probably done by elimination.  The league wanted at least one eastern conference team playing in Moncton.

Montreal would seem the logical geographical choice, but the CFL wasn't going to tamper with assured sell-outs, especially since the Montreal stadium was going to be increased by 5,000 seats.

Winnipeg was too far away, and the CFL wasn't going to remove a home game from Hamilton, which enjoyed a rebirth of popularity last year.

So the Argonauts were almost chosen by default.

The choice of the opponent was also probably done by elimination.

Neither Hamilton nor Montreal was chosen because the first team is Toronto's closest rival, which draws extra fans from the southern Ontario region to their home games, and the league wants Toronto fans to come and see the best team in the CFL, the defending champions which portend another good crowd.

Winnipeg was eliminated because the league feels that a game between the two worst teams would turn off Moncton fans.

Saskatchewan was not chosen because the league believes that there are members of the "Rider Nation" in every city, including Toronto, so a game there will mean extra fans at the Rogers Center.

That left the remaining western teams, and Edmonton was chosen as the next worst choice after Winnipeg.

The game is being pitched in Moncton as a battle between the teams with the most Grey Cups between them, ignoring their current-day quality. 

Despite the many drawbacks I've listed, this is still a good experiment to try.  At least the CFL is finally dipping its toe in the water.

And hopefully, the minimum it will lead to is a regular season game every year in Moncton until it gets bigger.

Or better yet, more exhibition and regular season games each year in non-CFL cities, and a permanent team in a CFL size stadium for Moncton.