Tim Hortons Field | 40m | ? | Complete

[bigguy1231]

I am not a fan of his but let's be fair to Brad Clark. It was only a committee of the whole meeting. He knew what the vote was going to be and knew that he would have the opportunity to cast his vote at the council meeting today.

[bigguy1231]

City council just confirmed their decision at council meeting albeit with a smaller majority. CH reported a 9-6 vote.

Whitehead and Jackson changed their votes. Not sure who the third one was.

[dennis1]

No offense. But I just want this to be over.

Who's with me?

[thurmas]

Wow I can agree with dennis on something! Let's just finish this already and all enjoy the Quebec Tigres-Chats. Oskie oui oui!

[Acajack]

I have CHCH on my cable package but I rarely watch it.

So the other night I was looking for news about the stadium, so I turned to CHCH and to my surprise the host was Mark Hebscher, formerly of Sportsline.

It was kinda of funny to see Hebscher devoting all of that air time to a story intimately linked the Ticats and the CFL, when one considers he and Jim Tatti couldn't be tortured into talking about the CFL when they were at Sportsline on Global... They were all about the NFL.

[dennis1]

Originally Posted by thurmas

Wow I can agree with dennis on something! Let's just finish this already and all enjoy the Quebec Tigres-Chats. Oskie oui oui!

YUp. I don't even care anymore. I just want this thing built.

[realcity]

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

City council just confirmed their decision at council meeting albeit with a smaller majority. CH reported a 9-6 vote.

Whitehead and Jackson changed their votes. Not sure who the third one was.

That's it then. 9 - 6 in favour of having no involvement in the PanAm Games and booting the Cats out of Hamilton.

[dennis1]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I have CHCH on my cable package but I rarely watch it.

So the other night I was looking for news about the stadium, so I turned to CHCH and to my surprise the host was Mark Hebscher, formerly of Sportsline.

It was kinda of funny to see Hebscher devoting all of that air time to a story intimately linked the Ticats and the CFL, when one considers he and Jim Tatti couldn't be tortured into talking about the CFL when they were at Sportsline on Global... They were all about the NFL.

Intresting considering the NFL was not as popular then.

[bigguy1231]

Originally Posted by realcity

That's it then. 9 - 6 in favour of having no involvement in the PanAm Games and booting the Cats out of Hamilton.

I was just about to edit my post, it was actually 10-6. The first report from CH was 9-6 which didn't make sense at the time.

We will see what Hostco decides. I don't think things are as dire as you seem to think they are.

[bigguy1231]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I have CHCH on my cable package but I rarely watch it.

So the other night I was looking for news about the stadium, so I turned to CHCH and to my surprise the host was Mark Hebscher, formerly of Sportsline.

It was kinda of funny to see Hebscher devoting all of that air time to a story intimately linked the Ticats and the CFL, when one considers he and Jim Tatti couldn't be tortured into talking about the CFL when they were at Sportsline on Global... They were all about the NFL.

Hebscher is a Hamilton guy, back to his roots. Been back a couple of years now.

This fall he will be launching a Sportsline type show on CH in addition to the show he currently does.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by dennis1

Intresting considering the NFL was not as popular then.

Sportsline actually played a huge role in the popularity surge of the NFL. The first years of Sportsline coincide almost perfectly with the sharp decline in popularity of the CFL, in Ontario in particular. The NFL had its fans in Canada before the mid-80s, but Sportsline took things to a new level - basically ignoring the CFL and, when they did mention the Argos and Ticats (always after the NFL and even after NCAA sometimes), the announcers would often make sarcastic comments and snicker.

Since Sportsline was pretty much mandatory viewing for all sports-starved young males growing up in those days (of which I was one), the impact on the CFL's image was devastating.

[bigguy1231]

Originally Posted by dennis1

Intresting considering the NFL was not as popular then.

Who says it wasn't popular then. The NFL's popularity has been pretty much the same since the 70's. Some people like it others don't. I watch the NFL all the time, but if there is a CFL game on I would more than likely watch it. Just because people watch it doesn't mean it's more popular. Alot of the time people watch the NFL because they have no other choice on a Sunday afternoon. Thats all thats on.

I remember when CH had Monday night football on back in the 80's. They used to get huge ratings. Thats why they lost the bidding for it when their contract was up, someone else, Global I think took it over and the ratings went down.

[bigguy1231]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Sportsline actually played a huge role in the popularity surge of the NFL. The first years of Sportsline coincide almost perfectly with the sharp decline in popularity of the CFL, in Ontario in particular. The NFL had its fans in Canada before the mid-80s, but Sportsline took things to a new level - basically ignoring the CFL and, when they did mention the Argos and Ticats (always after the NFL and even after NCAA sometimes), the announcers would often make sarcastic comments and snicker.

Since Sportsline was pretty much mandatory viewing for all sports-starved young males growing up in those days (of which I was one), the impact on the CFL's image was devastating.

Sportsline promoted the NFL because Global had the broadcast rights. It was in their own interest to do so.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

Sportsline promoted the NFL because Global had the broadcast rights. It was in their own interest to do so.

Yes indeed. Plus, the CFL really missed the boat on the TV-ification of its product in the 1980s. What with its blackouts in major markets, games only on a piecemeal network of independent stations at one point, scheduling all over the map, and a host of other blunders.

Global and the American networks just killed them with their reliable menu of games at 1 pm and 4 pm every Sunday, and at 9 pm on Monday.

On the TV front, TSN has really helped the CFL catch up in recent years.

[dennis1]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Sportsline actually played a huge role in the popularity surge of the NFL. The first years of Sportsline coincide almost perfectly with the sharp decline in popularity of the CFL, in Ontario in particular. The NFL had its fans in Canada before the mid-80s, but Sportsline took things to a new level - basically ignoring the CFL and, when they did mention the Argos and Ticats (always after the NFL and even after NCAA sometimes), the announcers would often make sarcastic comments and snicker.

Since Sportsline was pretty much mandatory viewing for all sports-starved young males growing up in those days (of which I was one), the impact on the CFL's image was devastating.

I remember this. MLB was the most popular and Oakland and the Jays were the model franchises of the time. The CFL was much bigger when I was little, maybe because SO was smaller. I first notices people around the area lost widespread interest in the CFL later in the early 2000's. Now on the street you have to find people to talk about the CFL, and they are all older too.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

Who says it wasn't popular then. The NFL's popularity has been pretty much the same since the 70's. .

I think the NFL has grown steadily in popularity since the 1970s, but it really exploded in Canada in the mid 1980s. Before that time, you didn't really have very many "NFL-only" type of people in Canada. Many people watched both, with an advantage to the CFL even.

But the mid 80s saw almost an entire generation of young people who had no interest in (or often, even any knowledge of) the CFL. The 1980s saw the advent of the CFL's "lost generation".

Today, to many people "pro football" = the NFL and nothing else. This wasn't the case in the 1970s.

[dennis1]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Yes indeed. Plus, the CFL really missed the boat on the TV-ification of its product in the 1980s. What with its blackouts in major markets, games only on a piecemeal network of independent stations at one point, scheduling all over the map, and a host of other blunders.

Global and the American networks just killed them with their reliable menu of games at 1 pm and 4 pm every Sunday, and at 9 pm on Monday.

On the TV front, TSN has really helped the CFL catch up in recent years.

IMO Cable and Modern Satellite have played a major role in the Decline of the CFL. with the antenna if your US market had a team then you saw games. No with everyone having a million channels, you can follow and team anytime.

The CFL was also wrong to turn its back on CBC. At least I think so. Look what TSN has said already about a team moving to QC City. They will take a massive rating hit.

[dennis1]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I think the NFL has grown steadily in popularity since the 1970s, but it really exploded in Canada in the mid 1980s. Before that time, you didn't really have very many "NFL-only" type of people in Canada. Many people watched both, with an advantage to the CFL even.

But the mid 80s saw almost an entire generation of young people who had no interest in (or often, even any knowledge of) the CFL. The 1980s saw the advent of the CFL's "lost generation".

Today, to many people "pro football" = the NFL and nothing else. This wasn't the case in the 1970s.

Yes. How many kids even follow the CFL now? Its less than 30 percent, maybe half of that even.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by dennis1

I remember this. MLB was the most popular and Oakland and the Jays we're the model franchises of the time. The CFL was much bigger when I was little, maybe because SO was smaller. I first notices people around the area lost widespread interest in the CFL later in the early 2000's. Now on the street you have to find people to talk about the CFL, and they are all older too.

How old are you? I am in my late 30s and was a teenager during the heyday of Sportsline in the late 80s. My generation is prime CFL Lost Generation territory.

Arguments over CFL vs. NFL were a constant during my late teens and early 20s, and the pro-NFL/anti-CFL people were always the overwhelming majority.

(BTW, this was in Ontario, not in Quebec.)

[SteelTown]

CFL lobbied Ottawa last week

By John Kernaghan
http://www.thespec.com/news/article/...tawa-last-week

The Canadian Football League was privately lobbying federal cabinet ministers during last week’s public upheaval over funding and placement of Hamilton’s Pan Am stadium.

All the ministers involved say there was no discussion about Hamilton or a stadium.

Records filed by CFL commissioner Mark Cohon – and made public on Ottawa’s lobbying registry - show the league communicated with Minister of State for sport Gary Lunn twice on August 3, two days before news broke that indicated the federal government was opposed to building a stadium on a West Harbour site that the Tiger-Cats would not endorse.

At that time, the city was studying the Ti-Cats’ preferred site on the East Mountain, but the football club has since said it is not going to play in Hamilton after 2011.

A spokesperson in Lunn’s office said one communication was related to the Grey Cup over the next three years but could not explain why there were two communications between the CFL and the minister of state on the same day.

The lobbying documents show the league also communicated with Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty on Aug. 3 and on Monday with Cabinet Minister Peter MacKay, who is minister of defence but also the senior minister from the maritimes, where the CFL has shown interest in expanding.

The documents do not establish who made the communications, or what form they took, only that they were direct to the ministers. The lobbying registry also does not detail the nature of the contact, except that it concerned “sports” in the case of all three ministers.

The CFL also had contact with Flaherty in June regarding a long list of items that included sport, tourism, industry, regional development and infrastructure.

The Spectator has asked the CFL and each minister’s office to provide more details of the behind-closed-doors communications.