Winnipeg Blue Bombers

[esquire]

^ No single rule change has been fatal on its own (although the new PI rule comes close), but as I said in the Canada subforum thread, you put these rule changes together and you are getting stuck with some bastard variant of Canadian football where offences are artificially assisted by referees and fans in the stands die of boredom from an interminable series of video reviews. It's too much.

I regret missing that Toronto/Sask game though, sounds like it was a showstopper.

[Cyro]

^ I feel your pain..
I enjoyed this section of your post..well said..

"some bastard variant of Canadian football where offences are artificially assisted by referees and fans in the stands die of boredom from an interminable series of video reviews"

[CoryB]

The single biggest issue causing delays to the forward progress of CFL games is without question all the broadcast commercial breaks. The first time my Dad who is a long time CFL fan used to watching on tv actually came to a live game he was shocked about the delays in the game while people stood around waiting for the commercial breaks.

If the league truly wanted to speed up the game they would work hard to reduce the number of pre-planned commercial breaks and avoid the ones between plays. How is it that soccer can be such a huge tv property with tonnes of sponsorship without the constant insertion of commercials? How can the CFL move towards that model?

[buzzg]

[QUOTE=CoryB;7086266]The single biggest issue causing delays to the forward progress of CFL games is without question all the broadcast commercial breaks. The first time my Dad who is a long time CFL fan used to watching on tv actually came to a live game he was shocked about the delays in the game while people stood around waiting for the commercial breaks.

If the league truly wanted to speed up the game they would work hard to reduce the number of pre-planned commercial breaks and avoid the ones between plays. How is it that soccer can be such a huge tv property with tonnes of sponsorship without the constant insertion of commercials? How can the CFL move towards that model?[/QUOTE]

Well first off soccer sells off just about every square inch of space you can find on anything visible on tv (ie: jerseys), its viewership is way larger than CFL, and thus sponsors spend way more. Look at budweiser and soccer, it's like Olympic-level sponsorship.

But I agree with the commercial breaks, they need to be tweaked a bit. I find NFL has a similar amount but they're generally shorter. I'd also rather have a few less breaks and just have them longer. Part of that issue though is that every commercial break in the CFL is pretty much the same advertisers (Canadian Tire, Wendy's, Tims, Wisers, TSN/Bell itself), so it'd be hard to put more in each break without people getting real annoyed. And you can't just tack them on to halftime because most people change the channel or just don't pay attention, so those spots are less valuable.

[Cyro]

Originally Posted by CoryB

The single biggest issue causing delays to the forward progress of CFL games is without question all the broadcast commercial breaks. The first time my Dad who is a long time CFL fan used to watching on tv actually came to a live game he was shocked about the delays in the game while people stood around waiting for the commercial breaks.

If the league truly wanted to speed up the game they would work hard to reduce the number of pre-planned commercial breaks and avoid the ones between plays. How is it that soccer can be such a huge tv property with tonnes of sponsorship without the constant insertion of commercials? How can the CFL move towards that model?

Although, Isn't the TSN contract with the CFL and the resurgence of the league some what responsible for the large amount of dollars being spent on advertising that occurred with thier large TV deal?

[CoryB]

This is a sample of the flow in a CFL game currently:

A team attempts a play, the ref throws a flag.
The refs discuss for about 1-2 minutes.
The reply is shown on the monitors in the stadium, say 1 minute.
A coach throws a challenge flag.
Refs come to discuss the issue with the coach 1-2 minutes.
The replay centre reviews the play 1-3 minutes.
TSN calls a commercial break 3 minutes.

Of course while everything before the commercial break happens TSN could go to commercial. Instead they reply the play over and over and discuss it in detail.

My numbers might be out some but under that model a roughly one minute burst of actual playing time uses around ten minutes of actual time.

[esquire]

^ Football has always involved lengthy breaks and short spurts of action (especially past the 3 minute warning), but it's getting out of hand now... the balance is tipping too far in favour of the breaks and stoppages. It's worse than the low scoring that the CFL is bending over backwards to eliminate.

[snowmobile]

I only caught the first half of riders/Argos and was pleasantly surprised by the lack of penalties but I guess that didn't last long. Half the time the players and fans don't even notice the infraction. Some of the holds on kick returns they called this week could be called on every play if they felt like it

[Simplicity]

Originally Posted by snowmobile

I only caught the first half of riders/Argos and was pleasantly surprised by the lack of penalties but I guess that didn't last long. Half the time the players and fans don't even notice the infraction. Some of the holds on kick returns they called this week could be called on every play if they felt like it

Yeah, it was the second half that got out of hand.

And it's really not that the CFL hasn't been on a steady move towards primarily zone defense, but the teams have now reacted completely. There's almost no man coverage at all with the fear that a flag will be thrown. That opens up the entire middle of the field and consequently every quarterback is now a hero.

[Crisis]

Originally Posted by Simplicity

That opens up the entire middle of the field and consequently every quarterback is now a hero.

At least he will be if he can stay healthy... After week 1, I selected Drew Willy in my TSN Fantasy CFL team - that didn't work out so well.

Even though we were on the losing end, yesterday's Riders/Argos game was very entertaining. Admittedly the penalties took away from the flow of the game (even in OT - 5 flags), but there was no way I was switching away from the game.

[blueandgoldguy]

The lack of training for CFL officials adds a few minutes to each game. After each flag, regardless of what the infraction is, the officials gather for at least a minute to decide which player is being called for said infraction. Sometimes it takes longer.

In contrast, NFL refs often don't huddle together after every flag and if they do, it seemingly requires half the time as CFL refs to sort out the infraction. Better training = great efficiency.

[Biff]

I remember this stat from a few years ago regarding play in the NFL consisting of only 11 minutes of when the ball was actually in play.



"The NFL’s popularity is all the more remarkable when you inspect the fare it has to offer each week on television. An average professional football game lasts 3 hours and 12 minutes, but if you tally up the time when the ball is actually in play, the action amounts to a mere 11 minutes.

Part of the discrepancy has to do with the basic rules of American football. Unlike hockey or basketball, the 60-minute game clock in football can run even when the ball is not in play. That means a lot of game time is spent standing around or huddling up before each play begins.

The 11 minutes of action was famously calculated a few years ago by the Wall Street Journal. Its analysis found that an average NFL broadcast spent more time on replays (17 minutes) than live play. The plurality of time (75 minutes) was spent watching players, coaches, and referees essentially loiter on the field."

http://qz.com/150577/an-average-nfl-...nutes-of-play/

[Arts]

Originally Posted by CoryB

This is a sample of the flow in a CFL game currently:

A team attempts a play, the ref throws a flag.
The refs discuss for about 1-2 minutes.
The reply is shown on the monitors in the stadium, say 1 minute.
A coach throws a challenge flag.
Refs come to discuss the issue with the coach 1-2 minutes.
The replay centre reviews the play 1-3 minutes.
TSN calls a commercial break 3 minutes.

Of course while everything before the commercial break happens TSN could go to commercial. Instead they reply the play over and over and discuss it in detail.

My numbers might be out some but under that model a roughly one minute burst of actual playing time uses around ten minutes of actual time.

Maybe they could shorten the game duration from 60 minutes to 45 to compensate, or just play three quarters instead of 4 (like the NHL )

[Cyro]

Lord help us, Willy out for 6-8 weeks..and Brohm now our starter?!?

Well, the Riders now have a chance to over take us in the standings..

[esquire]

^ Oh well, the season was headed into the toilet anyway. The Bombers just need to beat the Riders at least once during the back-to-back to prevent it from being a total unmitigated disaster... I'd be so pissed if they went 0-2 vs. Sask that I'll be staking out my place on the Fire O'Shea bandwagon.

[Cyro]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Oh well, the season was headed into the toilet anyway.

I'd be so pissed if they went 0-2 vs. Sask

It appears like the inevitable outcome..

This would cause me much pain..

Always next year.?

[esquire]

It does feel as though there has at least been some progress in the O'Shea/Walters era... but it is sloooow. Ken Bishop and Lyle Bauer turned the Bombers from a complete basketcase of a team in '98 into a powerhouse contender in '01, with huge steps each year in between. At the current rate of progress though, it feels like it will take another 5 years before the Bombers become true contenders again.

[Cyro]

Originally Posted by esquire

At the current rate of progress though, it feels like it will take another 5 years before the Bombers become true contenders again.

Hope springs eternal, unfortunate that these problems conveniently coincided with our turn to host the GCup game.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Cyro

Hope springs eternal, unfortunate that these problems conveniently coincided with our turn to host the GCup game.

Like I said in the CFL thread on the Canada page, it's unfortunate that the club couldn't field a more competitive team in a GC hosting season... it's starting to remind me a bit of 98, when GC enthusiasm was badly dampened by a lousy record and a team that was pretty much out of the running by August.

[Crisis]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Oh I'd be so pissed if they went 0-2 vs. Sask that I'll be staking out my place on the Fire O'Shea bandwagon.

Originally Posted by Cyro

It appears like the inevitable outcome..

This would cause me much pain..

Always next year.?

You guys do realize that you're doubtful that your team can beat an 0-7 Riders squad even once? Right now, I think that Rider Nation would be fine with a split.