TheReaper

Turf though, no mud. Only Toronto has real grass in the CFL. I'm curious to see how involved OSEG actually is. Perez says he's "partnering with" OSEG, but also has his own group of 15 people. So it's not under the same umbrella, it could be as little as having a rental agreement. Likely more, ie facilities and marketing lists, but it'll be interesting to find out more details about that relationship.

Should fit right in then?

Everyone still knows what it is. It would be unique instead of using something already in the major leagues.

We should all remember, it's not Red Blacks.. its REDBLACKS ! Stags isn't actually a bad name for an Ottawa team.

I understand them not switching year 1, as much as I would have liked to see it happen. The subsequent social media potshots, and fighting/threats between OSEG/CSA/Concacaf regarding sanctioning, has been a bit unseemly. Brilliant thought about the universities. Getting both of them playing would be a decent little feeder setup, it could be run in the spring since football and rugby are in the fall. And the rivalry between the two would help with interest.

The fitness requirements are different for sure. But these are guys who know how to train for a specific result, and have been doing it for a long time. Give them time and the right training and some would get up to speed and fitness real quick. Now, not a lot would be willing to do so, but say a practice roster guy has an apartment and maybe another job in the area, and gets cut. He may prefer to try to get on a PR somewhere else, but if offered enough to stick around with the same organization may give it a shot. the RB's could also look at this as a way to have a few more prospects for the CFL team stick around without being in the salary cap. And maybe they turn up a really good returner or running back. That's not where the real value is though, it's being able to share facilities, S&C coaches, athletic therapy etc with a legitimate professional setup. Add in maybe one crossover session a week just to learn new skills and add different perspective and there could be some real synergy.

Gotta go with Rough Riders surely? In seriousness, you wouldn't want to use the exact same name. But red and black for sure.

Ottawa is definitely a surprise... I actually think it's fairly smart on Perez's part, no other major leagues would really look to move there, including MLR which I think would end up in Vancouver, Calgary, Halifax and Montreal before Ottawa. What I don't get is the management of OSEG getting in on this. They've shown to be very risk-averse on the soccer side of things, refusing to join the CPL and fighting to stay in the USL. This seems way out of their playbook. Then again, maybe they just hate being in Canadian leagues? Probably looking to maximize dates in TD place. I wonder if we'll see any player crossover with CFL practice roster guys, or league players playing some special teams for the RB's?

I just want to add that while not many teams fly over oceans to play, LOTS of teams fly 5-7 hours ( which is the same as UK to East Coast) within North America. It doesn't matter if you fly over water or dirt. So it is very doable.

It's not like additional resources to scout, train and retain talent could have any effect whatsoever....

Oh my God, you can't complain about an extra two hours travel in GD international sports!

And yet you were arguing against Manchester Rangers' independence, saying they should have been a feeder club for Salford 🤔 http://www.totalrl.com/forums/index.php?/topic/337971-are-the-rfl-not-accepting-any-new-teams/&do=findComment&comment=4025006

Why does any of that matter if someone wants to watch rugby? Who cares how big the NHL if you don't want to watch hockey? It doesn't matter if MLR is top 10, 25 or 50 in terms of attendance, viewership, TV ratings... it's the number 1 rugby league. Unless someone only care about following what other people think is popular. It's also a brand new league, not SL that's been around 20 years and previous incarnations of a top professional league for much longer. Again, it's hard to see how these comparisons mean much when every sport has a different history, popularity, and cultural relevance. Soccer is/was in a different place as a sport - it's the most popular sport in the world so of course it has a higher starting point. MLR never promised anything larger than what they've delivered - no claims of we're gonna get 10k crowds day one, no playing in NFL stadiums. So they started, and that start level is where it is. It doesn't really matter, it's a point to improve from. It's they do with that from here on out - ideally they'll improve. It seems like for the most part teams are improving on last year's numbers, except maybe Austin but it's hard to tell in their stadium. I don't think 10k crowds are out of the question at all down the road. Utah had 9k to one of their exhibition games last year, Seattle is sold out every game at 4k so you'd have to think they could 5-6 fairly easily if their venue could fit it, so growing to 10k isn't out of the realm of possibility. Again, as long there's enough people to have a lively atmosphere, which is probably around 2k in a small venue, and the teams make enough from tickets/merch/TV/sponsors to sustain themselves (or lose amounts that are acceptable to the owners), then it can survive and those who want to go watch can do so. They probably need a bit more than that, around 5k I'd think. Sorry, still not seeing what's "pitiful" . Low yes, but for a new league in a minor sport, relatively expected and accepted. If things are the exact same in 5 years time, your comments may have some validity. I think the "fastest growing" line is outdated now, but it's also not a hard stat to achieve when starting from a small point. If Montreal got a team in League 1 then Rugby League would be the fastest growing pro sport in Canada by doubling in size. Words and stats used selectively can present many things many different ways.

Butter tarts!

Well, this is a RL forum, so I used a relevant comparison. Kinda flawed logic, but sure. Let's compare Premier League and Super League then? Oh, is that not particularly useful or helpful? Now that that's established, we can leave it behind... ----------------------------------------------- Everything has to start somewhere. From small acorns, yadda yadda yadda. What, did every other league in the world pop into existence with 30,000 attendance day 1? As long as the games are fun to watch, and worth it for enough fans to pay for it to be sustainable, it doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks is "credible". But if you think it's "joke" for people to put forth time, effort and money to make a go of something they enjoy and think others will too, that might say more about you. And I'm not a "union troll", I happen to like several sports and will defend all of them. My number one team, over ALL types of rugby, is the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. People call the CFL a "joke" sometimes too, and I'll willingly argue against that point the same as I've done here with MLR. Not as often, because I'm not on any NFL forums, because I don't have a team that I cheer for. I do have my Cats, Toronto Wolfpack, and Toronto Arrows to cheer for, and talk about and support all of them online. If you think that's "trolling" , you're the joke. Edit : well fk me, didn't actually read the user name until I replied. Mr wind up indeed.