Not likely.

What's not likely, shutting down or qualifying? We are just at the beginning of bearing real talented fruit (to mangle a metaphor) Phonsie is not a one off, he's just the start, he was the guy who turned the tide the Whore had started. We're on our way.

They actually do much more than we might think promoting Canadian sport. I have a CBC Sports addon in Kodi which I look at every weekend, for me it is more visible and accessible than remembering to go to the CBC website.

This weekend they had Canadian women's basketball Olympic qualifying, Carleton vs Ottawa men's and women's basketball, skiing, speed skating. Last weekend was my favourite, women's Rugby 7s, I love Bianca Farella :)

https://i.imgur.com/KPmeJmq.jpg

Maybe they are the Canadian Sports Network we are looking for, we just haven't noticed it.

I think we were talking about more or less shutting down the major cities like what happens in other countries when the national team plays in the WC.

As for qualifying, well for 2026 we're in automatically as a host country (especially with the field expanded to 48 countries), as far as I know.

Ya they don't have an obvious bias to broadcasting nothing but Toronto teams first like the Toronto Sports Network and even worse Sportsnet. CBC seems to be a National channel unlike the other two.

I was referring to the claim that the whole country would shut down if Canada qualified for the World Cup.

XFL drew pretty good ratings for it's debut with 3.3 million watching the opening game on ABC. All games drew around 17,000 fans per game so similar to Argos or BC lions type of crowd

https://www.foxbusiness.com/sports/x...dance-week-one

The Argos would love to have crowds of 17k.

I still don't see the XFL making it. I just don't think there's enough of a market for football in the US after the NFL and NCAA seasons have ended.

Incredible that the Texas Rangers leave their pretty damn good baseball stadium this year to move into their new one with a retractable roof. The Dallas XFL team is sharing the old stadium with a USL soccer team who averages only about 1,300 in attendance. Such a waste of a great 48k baseball stadium.

The difference is that the XFL plays in cities where people like going to football games.

Agreed. The XFL made a pretty big splash in week one last time, but it fizzled pretty fast. I don't see how the US football fan's plate isn't full with so much NFL and NCAA.

Maybe if the XFL sticks around for 10-15 years they can build up a fanbase and score a really lucrative TV deal, but can the league absorb all the losses until they reach that point?

XFL ticket pricing seems more affordable than CFL pricing of what the Blue Bombers are asking even for season tickets on a per game basis are a fair bit more expensive.

https://www.bluebombers.com/2020-sea...ckets/#pricing

https://www.xfl.com/teams/seattle/ti...single-tickets

When you factor in the exchange rate, these teams aren't all that far apart from each other. The Bombers have the advantage of 90 years of history and a dedicated fanbase, the Dragons have the advantage of being in a town with a lot of money. But the prices are generally similar.

exchange rate should not factor into this as CFL players are paid in CDN funds and the teams generate revenue in CDN funds.

He's using the exchange rate to give a better comparison of ticket prices and how it effects generating a fan base. How the players are paid doesn't make a difference to fans.

I wouldn't say that, it seems to be a real big deal to CFL haterz, as they equate that with talent level. Of course that's only the uninformed element. Edit: Sorry, I thought you were referring to the amount, I misunderstood.

As for the XFL, it might behoove us to keep in mind Vince MacMahon has failed at everything non rasslin related ie WBF, ICOPro, wife's election campaigns, XFL Part 1 etc.

As we found out with that last league, whatever the hell it was called, it takes a lotta money to support one of these leagues. It'll be a tough road to hoe for Vinny Mac, we'll see if he has to dip into the wrestlers pockets to help support this like he did with the WBF. The wrestlers weren't happy campers when they found that out.

Vince is in a fundamentally different place financially than we was at the time of the WBF. The WWE went public twenty years ago and Vince can now claim that he is a legitimate billionaire. WWE stock was at something ridiculously high recently and he sold off a big chunk of his stock to fund the new XFL. Unlike last time, this endeavour is completely separate from the WWE and Vince is funding it with his own money (I think to the tune of a few hundred million).

The major difference between the XFL and the AAF is that the former has the money necessary to operate the league for more than a season, where the AAF started with nothing but promises that the money was there.

I know the background, but Vince is a greasy dude and this thing is gonna cost a lotta money with some fairly substantial losses expected. Oft times predicted losses are much larger than anticipated. And hope always springs eternal for that big time TV contract (ask MLS). When we look at who had the best shot at it (the USFL) there were a lot of people to share the burden, Vince doesn't have that, and aside from Dick Ebersole, Vince doesn't have a great history of sharing the sandbox.

Speaking of which, Liam Millar got his first start for Liverpool last week in the FA Cup. Granted the Pool were playing shenanigans fielding a basically reserve team lineup against a League One team, but hey it's a start, and in front of a packed home crowd.

And speaking of the Pool, they are looking at fellow Canadian Jonathan David as well. So are ManU

Jonathan David makes Liverpool FC claim after being tipped to sign for Manchester United
Man Utd have been tipped to make a future move for Gent forward Jonathan David.

Alphonso Davies among top 10 left-backs in the world

Peanuts, in comparison to Alphonso Davies—the Canadian saw his market value grow from €25 million ($27.5 million) to €40 million ($44 million). As a result, Davies is now in the top 10 among the most valuable left-backs on the planet.

“He progressed so much,” RB Leipzig midfielder Tyler Adams said to Transfermarkt about Davies’ development after the Topspiel on Sunday. “Obviously, breaking into Bayern’s team isn’t an easy job so you know whenever you can get on the field be happy with it, keep progressing. He is becoming a top player so I’m happy for him.”

The Canadian has been fantastic for Bayern Munich in the Hinrunde. “Davies has continued his fantastic development in the last few weeks,” Bundesliga Admin Soyen said. “The package of speed and abilities in man-on-man situations, together with his attacking qualities is uncommon internationally.

XFL averaged more than 2.2. million viewers for week 2 of their games. Seattle also drew more than 29,000 fans for their home opener. Pretty sad Seattle can draw that for an XFL game yet just up the road Vancouver sport fans are too snobby to bother supporting the CFL.

https://xflnewshub.com/xfl-news/week...atings-on-abc/

https://247sports.com/Article/XFL-20...cks-143939047/

Surprised XFL Week 2 still had decent ratings. I thought there'd be a huge drop off after Week 1.

While flipping channels I saw the attendance at the Seattle XFL game. I think they were only selling tickets for the lower level excluding the weird detached endzone, and I'd say probably 90% of those seats were filled. Looked good and the crowd was definitely loud.

Not good that only 2 out of the 8 teams are playing in smaller venues. Playing in front of 40k empty seats in a huge stadium just kills the atmosphere.

This thread is about Canadian sports so the XFL talk will have to die down, but as a note on this Tampa is only selling 27K tickets for their first game this weekend. I imagine Seattle has a similar limit (or at least, initial limiting).