PERCEPTION
CFL HQ we have a problem
Perception
In today’s world of instant communications, TikTok influencers, 24-hour news cycle and all the other crap that washes over us day after day, perception is everything. Perception influences what you see, how you react to what you see, and how much attention (and money) you will pay to confirm your perception.
Case in point. About 50 years ago the Aberdeen Angus beef breed was on death’s door in North America. The perception of breeders and commercial ranchers was that the breed was not competitive with Herefords and the Continental breeds (Simmental, Charolais, Limousine, etc.). It wasn’t that the breed was bad, the cows were good mothers, had plenty of milk, the bulls were known for being easy calvers, especially for first time mothers. But the breed, IMO wasn’t sexy! But a rancher called Harold Etling sparked a revival by sowing the seeds with his idea of Certified Angus Beef.
Long story short, today Angus is so popular that a lot of the breeds have bred black hair into their animals so that ranchers can get a premium at the auction yards! And today’s consumers only have to hear “Angus” to think that the beef they are buying is the best! Where in reality they need to purchase the “Certified Angus” to get the “good stuff”!
Why am I going through this boring stuff? Well, this post on X from former NFL player Luke Wilson got CFL fans and commentators all in a tizzy over the past weekend (me included).
Luke Wilson Observations of the Roughriders vs Argonauts
We can debate the merits of Luke’s post til the cows come home (see what I did there?). Is he right? In many aspects he is right, and the same critique can be made of 70% of the NFL games that are played from November to February every year. But the difference is that the NFL is a beast and can bury the poor games in the white noise that is their promotion machine. The CFL can’t and because there are only four games per week, each game is scrutinized with a fine-tooth comb and boy is there a lot to critique, especially at the start of the season. Finally, the CFL haters (who I’d bet are 99.999% Canadian born) love critiquing the Canadian brand of gridiron football because it isn’t the NFL.
The elephant in the room in all of this is Canada’s inferiority complex when it comes to all things in our culture, especially sports and entertainment. How many times have you heard your friends and neighbours say, “Canadian movies suck!” or “Why do radio stations have Canadian content rules?” The one that really grinds my gears is the “Canadian Connection” to everything going on in the States. It’s like we cannot celebrate Canadian talent until they “make it” in the US. We need some executive in New York or LA to give us the thumbs up to appreciate the talent of Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, or Jim Carrey.
I know I’ll get push back from people saying the NHL is our league, but is it really? 32 teams, all but seven located south of the Great Lakes. Where is the Head Office? New York. Where have all the Stanley Cups been won since 1993? The USA. The NHL is no more Canadian than MLB or the NBA. And now that US Colleges have opened Pandora’s box to Name Image and Likeness (NIL) money for their student athletes, watch as more and more Canadian hockey prospects head to the States vice playing for the Regina Pats or the Oshawa Generals.
Our other issue is the proximity of Canada to the USA. It’s a daily tsunami of US culture washing over Canadians and it affects everything culturally and there is nothing we can do to stop it. Many look at Australia and its vibrant sports and entertainment culture. It has a population of just over half of Canada’s, yet it has a brand of football that is unique, has a 19-team professional league (five of the teams are in Melbourne alone), and has a championship game that sells out a 100,000-seat stadium yearly. What is Oz’s secret? Well number one is that it's on the other side of the world from the USA. And likely that is enough.
Looping back to the title of my submission, Perception. The CFL has a perception problem, and it may never be able to overcome it. Canada is too close to the USA, the NFL and its enablers are too big, have too much money and reach compared to what Canada can offer. These are issues that we cannot overcome, but here are a few that we can.
1. Laziness. We are a lazy country. Before Trump 2 (BT2) we were satisfied to be the branch plant and not just for industry. Our two sports networks TSN and Sportsnet are more than happy to simulcast US produced content than to go out and do the challenging work, spend the money, and produce Canadian content. U-Sports, Major Junior Hockey, CEBL, CPL, the Northern Super League; none of these entities are shown on our two sports networks with any regularity. Sure, they’ll show the odd championship game but that does nothing to get people interested in the leagues.
2. Supporting Canadian culture before they head to the states. How many times have we heard performers say they needed to go south to make some money. Then when they do get recognition, we Canadians are all ga ga about them? How about we get ga ga about them while they are in Canada? By all means if they want to go to the states let them. But don’t let lack of recognition be the reason they leave.
3. Don’t pine for what we don’t have, celebrate what we do have. For all you CFL haters out there, how much will your life improve if the CFL disappears? Do you really think that there’ll be an NFL team in Regina? Winnipeg? Vancouver? There’ll be one in Toronto but how many of you’ll be able to get there? Or the other mantra, “If they just adopt the NFL rules the games would be better.” Really? And then you’ll pack Commonwealth Stadium? I highly doubt it because then you’ll bitch that Patrick Mahomes isn’t playing.
So, what is the solution to the perception “problem.” Hard work and money are the likely solution. TSN and Sportnet need to do better jobs broadcasting Canadian sports (professional and amateur). The owners of the CFL teams need to get out of their own way and fix the coaching and practice issues that Luke Wilson outlined on X. And Canadians need to get off their asses and go to Canadian sporting events, buy Canadian sports merchandize, and be proud of our own instead of pining for what happens to our south.
Was “ELBOWS UP” just a saying?