Gridiron Business

It’s the time of year when Canadian Football takes its moment in the spotlight.

High school football is in full city and provincial championship swing. Community leagues are nearing their final playoff games. The CIS is marching steadily towards the Telus Vanier Cup in Montreal and a milestone 50th anniversary. The annual nation-wide CFL party disguised as a football game is being marketed as Roar on the Shore this year. It’s a great theme for a Vancouver-hosted Grey Cup.

South of the border, eleven weeks of NFL madness has me praying for a Browns-Bengals-Ravens collapse and the NCAA Football Playoff race is more intriguing than even the selection of Condoleezza Rice to it’s selection committee.

But while the NCAA has landed on yet another winning formula, what holds for the future of collegiate ball in Canada? It was virtually impossible for me to find the Yates Cup OUA Football Championship on TV last Saturday. Apparently it was online on something called OUATV and also broadcast/fed/streamed across Rogers community cable. But if you were an alumnus of either school, or just a university football fan, how hard are you willing to work to find this game?

If you’re a diehard fan and have an interest in the Vanier Cup, but also want to go to the Grey Cup, you know need a transnational flight to whisk you from Montreal to Vancouver in two weeks. Of course it’s doable, but costly.

Why isn’t the Vanier Cup part of the Grey Cup anymore? Two of the most successful Vanier events were when the football titles were paired. I understand sponsor conflicts, and now broadcaster conflicts, but running head to head with the Grey Cup doesn’t make sense to me. Sponsors, media, broadcasters, donors, and football zealots are split.

The Grey Cup, under the polished eye of soon to be departing CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon, has grown amazingly in the past several years. I can remember attending games in the late 90’s that couldn’t sell out and barely inspired community involvement. Today it’s back to its glory of yesteryear and quite frankly gone far beyond. The festival, the parades, the parties, the half-time acts are all best in class. Last year I was awed by the in-stadium branding, which now has a consistent look on an annual basis.

Cohon and his team have built a machine. So if the Vanier Cup isn’t going to partner with them, I think there is a sizable need to build it’s own event, on it’s own weekend, and break the mold. I don’t mean the mold of a current pattern; I mean the mold growing on the Vanier Cup because pretty soon the brand will be tarnished.

I am not picking on the CIS. In fact this is the opposite. I love CIS football. I saw three live games this year at two different stadiums which probably puts me in the .00001% of Canadian sports fans. It’s an amazing product waiting for some corporate love.

Football at all levels in Canada is a wide-open opportunity. Too often marketers get caught up in the participation numbers. No it’s not soccer with a million kids running across this country. But it is a sport with a much deeper impact than it’s numbers. Football programs bring significance to a city, a university, a high school, and a community. This may be a hockey country, with some hoop mad cities (hello the “6”!), and soccer on the brain of every young girl right now. But football is right up there.

The CFL has proven the power of the sport. Look at the billions in construction it has recently attracted. There is more opportunity out there. Smart marketers should start drafting their playbook this November.

PS. If you’re going to be in Vancouver during Grey Cup weekend and I haven’t invited you to one of our Canadian Football Hall of Fame events drop me a line.