After the success in recent years that has come from the CFL’s annual Touchdown Atlantic game, rumblings and rumors have began circling that the league indeed wants to explore a similar format to bring the CFL to other Canadian cities. The idea would be that one team moves one home game to another relatively nearby location, giving people outside of the traditional nine CFL markets a chance to watch professional football and hopefully increase overall league awareness and support.
It’s unlikely that every team will give up a home game should this idea get taken forward. But as a fun thought experiment (after all, it’s the off-season), here are nine cities that would be perfect for each team to host their own more local version of Touchdown Atlantic.
BC Lions – Victoria, British Columbia
This seems like a safe and rather easy choice. Despite being just three hours away, Victoria and Vancouver are separate by the Pacific Ocean, making the journey from Victoria to Vancouver a bigger commitment than just a normal drive, and enough to put off potentially thousands of fans who are deterred by strict ferry schedules and fees.
Bringing a game to the island would be perfect for establishing the Lions as a team the island can get behind. Vancouver Island until recently has been an afterthought when it comes to sports, and if done correctly could be an incredible experience, complete with unique Vancouver island culture and an absolutely beautiful backdrop for the game. Pacific FC’s Starlight Stadium gives the CFL a stadium to work with, and with the ambition of a growing soccer club and growing football club combined, I’m sure a ‘Touchdown Pacific’ would be a great success!
Calgary Stampeders – Bozeman, Montana
Ok here me out…I know what you’re thinking, isn’t the point of this to grow the CFL in local markets? That’s true for the most part, but it’s also important for the CFL to win over new markets, and Montana – a border state that doesn’t have any professional teams is the perfect target market.
Calgary is the closest team to Montana, making them the perfect team to host a ‘Touchdown Big Sky’. Bozeman is in a central location in relation to its distance to Great Falls, Billings, Helena, and Missoula. On top of that, it also has the 20,000-capacity Bobcat Stadium which could host the game with no problem.
Edmonton Elks – Fort McMurray, Alberta
Edmonton has history with playing games at Fort McMurray. In 2015, the Elks played two games at SMS Equipment Stadium against Saskatchewan and Toronto.
Fort McMurray has proven in the past it has the stadium needed, and if marketed properly should be able to garner success in bringing professional football to northern Alberta. Plus at the rate the Elks are going…maybe it will take a ‘Touchdown North’ for them to finally win a home game!
Saskatchewan Roughriders – Bismark, North Dakota
As a brand, no CFL team is bigger than the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Across the country, you’ll find Riders fans everywhere, this team doesn’t need to go anywhere in Canada to grow and get its name out there, that mission is accomplished. Which is why it makes perfect sense for Saskatchewan to also go south of the border.
North Dakota is directly south of Saskatchewan, and like every other state loves its football. Just like Montana, there is no college football to compete with (assuming this hypothetical game is planned accordingly). A strong combination of both Riders fans and Bismark natives will attend the game and make it a lot of fun and an enjoyable atmosphere at Bismarck’s MDU resources bowl stadium. After all, North Dakota is known as the ‘rough rider state’ – it’s perfect! Hopefully, we can convince some more Americans along the way to enjoy the three-down game at ‘Touchdown Prairies’.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers – Thunder Bay, Ontario
The biggest town in northwest Ontario, Thunder Bay is the next sizeable settlement east of Winnipeg, and as north Ontario lacks any professional sports team representation – Thunder Bay is a perfect location for Winnipeg to play.
With the addition of temporary seats, Fort William stadium could be used to host a Winnipeg Blue Bombers game and bring a ‘Touchdown Lake Superior’ to Thunder Bay.
Hamilton Tiger Cats – London, Ontario
The next three teams are all based in southern Ontario, which is the most populated part of Canada and as such, the plan should be to explore different cities and markets in southern Ontario. In the case of Hamilton, I’ve chosen London, home of the U-Sports based Western Mustangs.
London from time to time pops up as a long-shot expansion city for the CFL, and it’s easy to see why. The Mustangs have a long tradition of winning eight Vanier Cups and healthy local support and combined with a sizeable stadium and large metro population makes it ideal for a ‘Touchdown West’. In 2002, Western Alumni stadium hosted a sold-out game between Toronto and Hamilton, if it can work before – it can work again.
Toronto Argonauts – Waterloo, Ontario
Situated just an hour outside of Toronto, Waterloo is located within the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge area, which combined is the tenth largest metro area in the country.
Waterloo is home to two possible stadiums, Warrior Field and University Stadium, University Stadium is home to the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, and it’s larger capacity makes it more suitable to host a ‘Touchdown KWC’.
Ottawa Redblacks – Kingston, Ontario
Two hours south of Ottawa, Kingston is very similar to London in terms of having a history of football. In fact, the local college team Queen’s Gaels have even win the Grey Cup three times! They won the Grey cup three consecutive years from 1922-1924 and have also won four Vanier Cups.
What comes with that is the new 8,000 seater Richardson Memorial Stadium. A modern and slick looking stadium that would provide a great backdrop for a ‘Touchdown Limestone City’
Montreal Alouettes – Quebec City, Quebec
Perhaps the most obvious suggestion on this list, Quebec City is always on everyone’s lips when it comes to CFL expansion, and bringing a ‘ game to Quebec City seems like only a matter of time if the league is at all serious about possible expansion.
Telus Stadium could in theory host an expansion team tomorrow, while Montreal Alouettes would become natural provincial rivals of a Quebec City team, it’s still the only team in the province and would bring a crowd. The city has hosted two CFL games before, and it’s about time it hosts another and we bring a ‘Capitale du toucher’ to the good people of Quebec City.
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We need more CFL fans! I love this idea, even playing in the US, as that is the only way they can learn of our wonderful CFL! I do not want to see an American team in our league, been there done that, but fans yes!
Going overseas is a huge issue. The same ferries that all but block sports fans out of the Vancouver market would ensure local fans only. Domain’s family connections in Duncan and VI Raider Alumnus Andrew Harris could make it work as a one off. A game in Kamloops or Kelowna make more sense for the British Columbia Lions.
The idea of every CFL hosting a TD game is moronic. Why would Winnipeg who charges the bleep out of fans, want to go to a market that possibly doesn’t have the seating capacity or the interest? They already have to give away money to the poor teams because of revenue sharing and you guys think that they want to just throw more money away? This is real life not some Peter Pan never never land fantasy.
The best thing to do is look at the worst attended games from the last two years and figure out where to put them. Another silly thing is trying to think of places to have neutral site games. You can’t just put them willy nilly. The east part of North America is in need of a CFL team so they should try to find 9 places that have cheap accommodation, travel, and stadium lease. I would have Toronto and Montreal host 4 games each, and BC host one. Each team should go into the neutral site for training camp and do some community service. Bring awareness to the CFL. Interviews, football clinics with high school/college guys, and whatever else they can think of doing. Then hire someone to push the neutral site games on social media which could be any level of celebrity. Eliminate 2 cities per year from years 1 to 3, 1 in year 4 and figure out if one of the remaining games is suitable for expansion in year 5. If a place like Moncton is chosen that would add drama to the next round of neutral sites that the league does. I would recommend ten sites over an eight year period and then trying to select 2 cities for CFL membership. Naturally, if an owner can’t be found in any of the above situations you would choose not to expand and repeat the next cycle of games.
This is a great idea…for a pre-season game. Keep it within the province somewhere nearby, and fill up smaller venues. Every team gets a ‘neutral’ venue game each year. Rotating several venues is also a possibility.
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Well looks like Touchdown Pacific in Victoria may be a reality as early as 2025. Fantastic way to grow the brand into a team with true province-wide support.
It’s not just about the attendance, as one poster suggested. The BC Lions hosting one home game a year in Victoria creates interest for the league and likely new fans for the team which in turns increases merchandise revenue and TV ratings. It’s also true that fans on the Island would be more likely to come to game in Vancouver once in awhile (especially playoffs or Grey Cup) as hosting a game once a year gives them a sense of ownership in the team.
It likely doesn’t make sense for every team, though some others would be wise to follow suit (Montreal playing once a year in Quebec City and any future Halifax-based team playing once a year in New Brunswick being the most obvious examples).