What would an XFL-CFL merged league look like...

XFL Football discussion.
4th&long
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What would an XFL-CFL merged league look like...

Post by 4th&long »

I posted earlier what possibilities exist for these talks:

Code: Select all

Here's what it could be... no particular order...

A) CFL-USA 2.0. (Merger)
B) Sharing players under unified contract
C) Allowing players to play in both leagues separate contracts
D) USA-CFL where CFL adopts USA rules.
E) Pure paper tiger... ie nothing burger
F) Justification for no 2022 season
G) ??????
Later adding - With NFL merger/buy in for the Largest markets being an intended BY-Product Goal.

But lets look at option D with some A thrown in - a USA-CFL merger with hybrid rules 3/4 in favor of XFL.

1) 4 down football, and there's the BIG one (winner USA)
2) 100 yard field (winner USA)
3) End zones some where in its between the CFL 20yd vs XFL 10yd deep (split decision)
4) Fumbles can be kicked (winner Canada)
5) Forward motion at Snap, the biggest win for CFL (winner Canada)
6) Scrimmage line which is one yd off ball for Def in Canada, retain of 4th downs only (split decision)
7) Team size 11 players (winner USA but all teams save money)
8) Fair catch rules (winner USA)
9) Rouge (winner Canada) I think this will be allowed so Canadians feel they didn't concede too much.
10) Open field kick (winner Canada) I think this will be allowed so Canadians feel they didn't concede too much.
11) Extra point (split decision) - 2pt and 3 point XFL remains but 1 pt kick from CFL does too.
12) One foot in bounds (both win)
13) Tight Ends back in vogue (winner USA)
[edit 3/13/21: 14) possibly a 10 man game (winner Canada & cost savings) - reason the big field helps the passing offense in CFL going to a smaller field means less space per player, dropping to 10 players allow for a more space per player in a smaller field)]

A) also single entity to lower labor costs with assigned "owners" like MLS
B) 50 man roster size (split decision)
C) Smaller CFL markets may get Axed to spread TV money around less teams
D) Season from April to August
E) Due to #5 XFL may cut a team (LA) or Move a team (Dallas / Houston to SA) and TB to Orlando (a no brainer)

The two biggest are number of downs and field size and that's going XFL.

Canadians won't like it but this is what I think (1st take) it will take to get American fans on board and Canada will buy in eventually.

Well - might as well have some fun with it !
Last edited by 4th&long on Sat Mar 13, 2021 11:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
laxtreme56
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Re: What would an XFL-CFL merged league look like...

Post by laxtreme56 »

Those are all fair trade-offs 4th, I like your thought process. I however would eliminate fair catches and keep the 3 yard halo rule. Also not a huge fan of a fumble being kept by the team that lady touched it as opposed to possess it. Everything else, however, I'm with you 100% on. The X/CFL can be the new boys of summer
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Re: What would an XFL-CFL merged league look like...

Post by GDAWG »

The three smallest markets in the CFL have loyal and passionate fan bases, so it would be hard to get rid of them. Instead of one Green Bay, this merged league can have three Green Bays.
4th&long
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Re: What would an XFL-CFL merged league look like...

Post by 4th&long »

GDAWG wrote: Fri Mar 12, 2021 7:12 pm The three smallest markets in the CFL have loyal and passionate fan bases, so it would be hard to get rid of them. Instead of one Green Bay, this merged league can have three Green Bays.
I have no doubt they do.... However they do cost money. If the CFL-XFL can keep the $45mm TSN deal but only have 5-6 Canadian teams its more money per team. Now if the USA side can chip in $20-45mm in TV/Streaming that's $65-90mm plus other revenue spread over 10-12 teams (for example)

I'm not sayng its gonna happen but its why CFL is in trouble now.
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Red Head
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Re: What would an XFL-CFL merged league look like...

Post by Red Head »

Hello everyone. New poster here.

Avid 50 year CFL fan, Calgary Stampeder die hard living in the the Toronto area.
Pretty obvious why I just joined your board today. surprised not more like me have done so but maybe they are just lurking.

Full disclosure.. I watch only CFL. NFL never captured my interest style wise and simply never bothered with the other American leagues. However by osmosis I grasp the basic differnces in the CFL NFL rules.

XFL on the other hand always seemed to be the wacky league with the weird rules. neither CFL or NFL so did not take time to learn them. Doesn't help that neither iteration lasted long enough to do do.

Can someone do a side by side of the basic differences between the CFL and current XFL rules.

4thandlong has pointed out a few and while I may not agree with his opinion on some that is why we have opinions. I think the fair catch may be the dumbest thing on the planet but hey that is just me.

Once I have a better handle on the differences I would be more able to offer informed thoughts in the discussion.

If this new thing is to get past the post we might as well take the best of both rather than hold one or the other hostage.

Heard the June Jones interview on an Ottawa sports station and he had some interesting ideas
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Re: What would an XFL-CFL merged league look like...

Post by 4th&long »

Red Head wrote: Fri Mar 12, 2021 8:47 pm Hello everyone. New poster here.

Avid 50 year CFL fan, Calgary Stampeder die hard living in the the Toronto area.
Pretty obvious why I just joined your board today. surprised not more like me have done so but maybe they are just lurking.

Full disclosure.. I watch only CFL. NFL never captured my interest style wise and simply never bothered with the other American leagues. However by osmosis I grasp the basic differnces in the CFL NFL rules.

XFL on the other hand always seemed to be the wacky league with the weird rules. neither CFL or NFL so did not take time to learn them. Doesn't help that neither iteration lasted long enough to do do.

Can someone do a side by side of the basic differences between the CFL and current XFL rules.

4thandlong has pointed out a few and while I may not agree with his opinion on some that is why we have opinions. I think the fair catch may be the dumbest thing on the planet but hey that is just me.

Once I have a better handle on the differences I would be more able to offer informed thoughts in the discussion.

If this new thing is to get past the post we might as well take the best of both rather than hold one or the other hostage.

Heard the June Jones interview on an Ottawa sports station and he had some interesting ideas
Glad u stopped in, could use insight into Ca FB

try this link for league differences

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compariso ... ifferences

XFL is very similar to NFL with the differences being kickoffs, extra points and one foot catch rule (like college fb)

heard June Jones interview too, he's excellent/ Knows nfl, xfl and cfl. he'll be involved somehow in what ever happens
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Re: What would an XFL-CFL merged league look like...

Post by 4th&long »

laxtreme56 wrote: Fri Mar 12, 2021 6:50 pm Those are all fair trade-offs 4th, I like your thought process. I however would eliminate fair catches and keep the 3 yard halo rule. Also not a huge fan of a fumble being kept by the team that lady touched it as opposed to possess it. Everything else, however, I'm with you 100% on. The X/CFL can be the new boys of summer
Thx Extreme

I can tell you that the field and 4downs are clearly going to be needed for XFL to be taken seriously in the USA.

I'm not sure that will fly in Canada though.
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Re: What would an XFL-CFL merged league look like...

Post by Tank55 »

I think there's room to play with the field dimensions, especially in terms of width. (Most American football fans don't even know how wide a regulation field is, let alone care.) But the big issue is really that a full size Canadian field simply doesn't fit in all the American stadiums. There's really no way around that.

https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/video/~2159523
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GDAWG
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Re: What would an XFL-CFL merged league look like...

Post by GDAWG »

Tank55 wrote: Sat Mar 13, 2021 2:49 pm I think there's room to play with the field dimensions, especially in terms of width. (Most American football fans don't even know how wide a regulation field is, let alone care.) But the big issue is really that a full size Canadian field simply doesn't fit in all the American stadiums. There's really no way around that.

https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/video/~2159523
Another proposal is to have the CFL stadiums be the 100 yard field except have larger endzones.
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Re: What would an XFL-CFL merged league look like...

Post by Tank55 »

Another potential alternative, which I actually really like, is to make it sort of like baseball and soccer and let there be some variability in field size. The Riders can keep the 150 yard field, the Guardians can keep the 120 yard field, and maybe the Battlehawks decide that they can get to 130 yards safely, and the Alouettes determine that they need to move to 140 to stop shaving off the corners of the end zone. Or whatever. Establish minimums and maximums and then let everyone fit the field to their stadium.
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