NFL Considered Relegation Style League

[molson]

There's SO much NFL and college football available on TV.

I would probably ignore a lower-tiered pro-leage not because of inferior product (I don't think most regular fans could tell the difference in quality of play, though they would like to think that they could), I just only have so much time. So I might as well follow the NFL, where I have access to all the information I want about the teams, players, etc.

Minor league hockey and baseball work because they're an easy, cheap, local way to see a game in-person, and they're the #1 attraction for those specific sports in a given town. There's, many, many more towns in the US where college football would surpass a local minor league football team, as opposed to minor league baseball/hockey vs. college teams in those sports.

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by molson

(I don't think most regular fans could tell the difference in quality of play, though they would like to think that they could)

I think you'd be surprised. I'm a pretty casual football fan, and I think the differences in several aspects of the CFL talent from the NFL talent are obvious:

- Quarterback: Arm strength is dramatically different. Sure, you get the odd CFL guy that can throw it, but most throw wobbly ducks on anything over 15 yards. The bigger balls certainly don't help.
- Kicker: The CFL guys just don't have the leg that their NFL counterparts have. Luckily our posts are on the goalline so the numbers look comparable.
- Tackling: If people think NFL tackling is getting poor, they'd cringe at a CFL game. Tackling is at times laughable.
- Referees: Again, NFL fans complaining about refs don't know how good they have it. CFL refs make Hocculi-esque mistakes on a routine basis.

As for the rest, you're right, average joe fan like me can't really tell the difference between an NFL wideout or a CFL wideout, or anything to do with the O-Line/D-Line etc. But the ones listed above are pretty obvious, and can at times be frustrating for a fan. But for the most part you get over it because it's all you've got