RoyalTea

The 102nd Grey Cup - Hamilton Tiger-Cats (9-9) vs. Calgary Stampeders (15-3)

6:00pm EST - ESPN2 (USA) TSN (CAN); game is at BC Place in Vancouver.

Calgary is favored by 8 points.

Game Preview: http://www.cfl.ca/article/preview-th...p-championship

Red Dog

Definitely watching this. There's only 2 late NFL games.

RoyalTea

Looking at the rosters of both teams, there seem to be a bunch of players who played NCAA football.

Red Dog

Gee - ya think?

RoyalTea

I was surprised because I thought there were limits as to the number of Canadians on each team. Obviously, that means that there are a bunch of Canadians who come to the United States to play college football. I didn't know that so many US college teams recruit Canadian football players.

astrochimp

Oskee wee wee, Oskee wa wa,
Holy Mackinaw,
Tigers, Eat 'em Raw!

astrochimp

That being said, Ti-Cats have very little chance in this one. East was brutal this year, so we are in the Cup by default

dvd-4-life

Is the game sold out?

Coral

It is technically, but it looks like the last 5,000-10,000 tickets were hugely discounted (up to 70%) and also given away.

Still find it funny/sad that I can watch 4 or 5 regular season NFL games a week and every single playoff game and the Superbowl - all with an OTA antenna. And I can't catch a single CFL game (pre-season, regular season, playoffs or even Grey Cup) without cable and without subscribing to TSN.

LorenzoL

I don't blame the CFL for taking the TSN deal as it gave them the financial boost and the exposure that wasn't there with CBC. Yeah, it sucks that you can't watch it on free TV but TSN has treated CFL like a worthwhile property.

Red Dog

I find it funny that Canada has more access to the NFL than the US does. You get far more w/o needing Sunday Ticket. And if you want ST, you can get it on cable or sat.

Coral

Personally, I don't care that I can catch it or not... it's an inferior product - just find it a bad strategy.

The problem with the TSN deal is that it's short-term thinking. On TSN it's out of sight - out of mind for the most part. The big issue with the CFL is their ageing fanbase - a very small portion is under the age of 40. In 10 years they will be hurting big time - especially with attendance/gate revenue. May as well call this the "Greying Cup".

dvd-4-life

Will the CFL ever try expansion into the USA again?

Buckaroo Banzai

14-0 Calgary with 6 left in the second Q.

Buckaroo Banzai

Calgary blocks the field goal! What a play!

Coral

I doubt it - at least not when it's a totally separate league.

There's an idea going around that the CFL should be turned into an official feeder league for the NFL - an affiliated minor leagues. That would require the CFL rules, field, etc to be abandoned and all things NFL adopted. And of course the Canadian quota would be eliminated resulting in far fewer Canadians playing the game - and in turn the talent level would actually increase.

I think it's an interesting idea and I can see this happening in the next decade or so when the CFL will see lean times when their fanbase gets even older.

sportsfan64

Turned it on to see the last few minutes. Calgary was up 20-16 and punted with under a minute left. Hamilton punt returner ran it back 70-80 yards for an apparent game winning TD, but it was called back for an illegal block in the back. The Hamilton punt returner was beside himself. Hamilton then had to start at their own 22 yard line but couldn't do anything further.
Calgary won 20-16.

astrochimp

Good effort from the Cats.

Congrats to the Stamps.