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Old Posted Feb 2, 2012, 2:57 AM
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Location: Moncton NB
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Commissioner Cohon was pretty circumspect on this point after Touchdown Atlantic #2, so I'm not holding my breath about the possibility of a game this year.

This has less to do with the last game not being a sellout as it does with other factors. It was after all a 98% sellout which is pretty damn good if you ask me!

- the fact that this is the CFL's centennial year is an issue. Celebrations around this are distracting to the league
- every Touchdown Atlantic means that some CFL team gives up a home game. This is a hardship for the team and their fans. The Argonauts probably don't want to do this because they want to maintain team interest in this year when they will host the Grey Cup. Hamilton is probably not intersted because they will be homeless next year. The only other likely "home" team would be Montreal, but they routinely have sellouts at Molson Stadium, and why would they want to give that up?
- i think that federal and provincial participation in Touchdown Atlantic is less likely this year for financial reasons.
- the CFL is probably looking forward to 2013 (the year that the Tiger Cats are homeless). They probably feel they can skip Touchdown Atlantic this year and reward Moncton next year with 2-3 Tiger Cat home games.

If the CFL is truly sampling the interest in the league in the region, it might make more sense to see what would happen if three consecutive games were played over a six week period. This might be more revealing than having just a one-off game. If interest could be demonstrated over this extended time period, this might be a better indication of what the fan base truly is.

I think the more important question is "what will the CFL do in the region after 2013?"

The era of annual Touchdown Atlantic games may be over. What happens in 2013 likely will reveal what the future of the CFL in the region is........

It is interesting to see that a team in Saskatoon is being considered. If a province of one million people in the middle of the prairies might be able to support two teams, then what does this say about the Maritimes where you have 1.8 million people in a smaller geographic area? Could the Maritimes sustain two teams?
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