Chiefs 30, Bills 22

CFL Commissioner Jeffrey Orridge unveiled the new Canadian Football League logo at his "State of the League" address on Friday, two days before the league's signature event, the 103rd Grey Cup. The league has now had four different logos since the 1950s and Mr. Orridge hopes that this latest one will help build a new generation of Canadian football fans. The league always seems to put on a good show for the Grey Cup, as it certainly did yesterday, despite the viability of the league appearing at times to be hanging from a thread. It isn't now and I hope that it can continue on for a long time because I like it.

Being a resident of Toronto and an NFL season ticket holder, people assume that I am not a fan of the CFL. Far from it. I can remember very clearly when the Argonauts won the Grey Cup in 1983 in Vancouver, led by back-up quarterback Joe Barnes, running back Cedric Minter and receiver Terry Greer. It was the team's first Cup win since 1952 (hard to believe in a nine or eight team league) and it felt like a big deal at the time. The 1983 Argos season featured big crowds at Exhibition Stadium who rushed the field after each home win. 55,000+ filled the stadium for the Eastern Final against Hamilton, a game won by the Argos on a highly questionable pass interference call against the Ti-Cats. I watched the game in a packed sports bar in London, Ontario.

In November of 1994, I attended an Edmonton Eskimos game at Commonwealth Stadium with my uncle Dave who was a long-time Eskimo season ticket holder. The opponent was the Las Vegas Posse. The game was scheduled to be a home game for the Posse but was moved to Edmonton due, presumably, to a lack of interest and ticket sales in Las Vegas. I think the Eskimos won the game and, later that month, the Grey Cup was won by the BC Lions over the Baltimore Stallions. Baltimore would win the Cup the following year, marking the only time that a non-Canadian team won the CFL championship. The league has obviously been willing to try new strategies to remain viable.

Stephen Brunt was pontificating on the FAN last week about the CFL's problems in Canada's largest city. Argos attendance at the Rogers Centre has been weak for many years and the team receives little coverage in the Toronto media, compared to that given to the Leafs, Blue Jays and Raptors. Brunt observed that on local sports radio call-in shows, the subject of the Argos and the CFL does come up from time to time but he also recalled that it has been literally years since any caller wanted to ask or comment about the team's quarterback, defensive game-planning or needs in the draft. Rather, calls are about the viability of the team, the shortcomings of the stadium or ownership issues. The team has now played its last game at the dome and will make an expanded BMO Field its home beginning in 2016. Capacity for football will be about 30,000. Brunt suggested that, despite the expected lift from the novelty of a new home, that number may be a bit big for the current Toronto CFL appetite. The recent success of the Montreal Allouettes can be attributed to a "scarcity" of tickets in a 20,000 seat stadium which has led to consistent sell-outs. I am happy not to see another football game in the dome which feels cavernously empty even with 35,000 inside. Will I buy a ticket to an Argos game at BMO Field next season? Perhaps I will. Jeffrey Orridge needs me to and he also needs to sell the game to a much younger generation than I represent. I wish him success with that.

As for the Bills, it feels like the season is slowly but surely slipping away. Rex Ryan apparently said that his staff in the booth did not have a good view of Chris Hogan's catch in the 4th quarter which was ruled incomplete. It was clearly a catch and would have been reversed on a challenge, keeping the Bills drive alive. They would have needed a touchdown and a two point conversion to tie. Now, at 5-6, the playoffs are still a possibility with the Houston Texans coming to Orchard Park on Sunday. Amazingly enough, my tickets are still available.