TheReaper

Here I was thinking this was going to be for a team in New England.

Turns out Team 6 was Toronto all along... Toronto Six

Currently I have CFL here in Hamilton, rugby just down the road in Toronto, and NFL just down the road in Buffalo. Why would I want to change that to NO CFL, still rugby, and still NFL. I want MORE contact football, not less. (I've got soccer right here too, but it's not my thing really) "I aways said that despite its history the Rugby Football League should just go back to its Rugby roots and join the RFU, as the amount of money involved would be huge or just let the RFU take over, they would have a spring/summer league for players who don't cut the roster on the winter RU leagues?" "Despite its history" is impossible to overcome in both cases. Again, the idea to add to what we have, not take away. Bring on professional Gaelic and Aussie Rules teams too. I hear they're trying to build a cricket stadium in Brampton, they could team up with them.

Canadian Premier League (soccer) and Canadian Elite Basketball League. Both are fairly new and aiming to be fully professional, I think the CPL has basically achieved that but not sure about the basketball.

Oskee Waa Waa! No one blows like the Arrrgoooos Jk, as much as we love to hate you guys, we need you guys alive and doing well so we actually have a rivalry. Gonna be weird to see Banks in double blue this year

The "problem" is thinking you need to take away from something else, instead of being in addition to what someone always has. I've said it before here and I'll say it again. You don't win someone over by saying "That thing you like? It sucks, stop it, this thing is better". You need to say "If you like this, I think you'll like this too". Most "mainstream" sports fans (meaning the big 4 NA sports) are just that - sports fans. They cheer for all the big league teams in their city, and cheer for the next closest city, or one they have some connection to, if their own city doesn't have a team.

I think they're the same size now - something about importing all our quarterbacks had them preferring the slimmer ball... As much as Big Picture likes to (edit)defacate on it, the CFL is the most successful league that's entirely within Canada. No longer the only one though with CPL and CEBL around. But those Torontonians aren't happy unless they're playing in someone else's league.

I wish we had a downvote button for posts like this

What I've heard is the message to players has been "contracts any week now" for about 5 months. The ones I talk to are assuming it's a bust and are prepping for their amateur (be it union or league) seasons as per usual. Which is exciting in itself since it's the first "normal" post covid year, but.... yeah, no huge hopes for Wolfpack this year.

Thought he was gonna say his club was joining Toronto in the NARL. It's about to kick off you know

I mean, can't anyone buy whatever tickets they want?

I talk to some of the Wolfpack guys - won't say more than that. It's been "any week now" for contracts since before Christmas. Schedules have come out, supposedly tickets are on sale, and the players are still like "well nobody's told us!" .

I mean, it's not 1922 where you've got to wait for press clippings from across the pond, you've got access to the same websites they do. I'll save everyone the time, whatever hot air there is on social media, the players haven't received contracts yet or know when they're supposed to be coming.

I've said exactly that few times before. If you're targeting existing rugby union fans, leading off with "that thing you like? It sucks, this is better" is not going to get you very far. If you're targeting total rugby newbies, they have no preconceived notions, and leading off with a comparison to something else they know nothing about is both meaningless, and introduces the comparison / inferiority complex from the start. The only relating to rugby union should done in the exact same way as any relating to football, hockey , or combat sports - "Hey, if you like fast paced with big hits, you'll like this too!". "Too", not "instead of", not "better".

Time marches ever onwards. 5 years ago, the Toronto Wolfpack had just played their first game.

I selected that part because that's the part I disagreed with and wanted to address. Obviously skills would be much more difficult. It's "nothing like" in that it uses a different part of cardiovascular fitness. NFL players are still extremely fit, only not the same type of fitness that rugby demands. They also do do this repeatedly, there's only 40 seconds between downs in the NFL I believe it's less time that that in college. You may make 12 plays on a drive, score or give up possession followed your D making an interception, and be right back on the field again. Again, it's not rugby, but it's not 10 seconds followed by full recovery either. I'm saying that an athlete with a very high level of one type of fitness, will be much faster at transitioning to another type of fitness, than somebody who had zero type of any fitness. They are much closer to it even they have specialized differently. They know how to work at a goal, they know how to listen to coaches to achieve a goal. They know how to grind. S+C coaches would know how to train them to achieve that goal. Yep, they'd be sucking wind on day one. But two full years is a relatively long time. Here's a really good, rugby oriented article about the three types of cardio fitness. One excerpt: https://ruckscience.com/learn/how-much-cardio-do-rugby-players-really-need/ Taking the inverse of this, most NFL players would also have a high aerobic base, as it is what their anaerobic bursts are built on.

I think the premise of 2 years would actually be plenty. Those athletes are already in incredible shapes, just not the right kind of shape. So they're starting from a very high baseline, and would in theory have the best S+C coaches and resources to best manage the transition. Changing body composition can only happen so fast, but I think two years is plenty for NFL athletes to accomplish it.

Why not? My Hamilton Tiger-Cats (CFL) seasons tickets include playoff games, if they don't make it then it's a credit on your next years' season tickets. Or you could get the cash back if you really wanted. Don't see why anyone else couldn't do the same.

Has anyone been able to find a roster for DC for the game today? Tried their website, twitter, and Facebook, and didn't see anything. Doesn't seem like it should be that hard to find...

Ottawa says they will.

*aka somebody bought the branding (which was always the best part) and are now pursuing the north-american-semi-pro route, the way that dozens of terrified Brits thought they should all along.

Lol, why would an American team have a claim to a "Canada Cup"? Should have called it something else if Ottawa couldn't get a team together.

Seems mindblowing that playoffs aren't included in season tickets

I'm the total opposite, I like BMO way better. Perpendicular stands and way closer to the right size. I can dress for the weather no problem.

Ontario is capped at 15k, and just scrapped plans to further open up, so the Cats will max at that, and I think that's higher than the average for the Argos so if they max it's a good sign.