After two days of meetings, the CFL Board of Governors
has decided "to expand the sport in Canada first, make a big
marketing push across the country, and set a deal to get
three-down football on U.S. television," according to
Beverley Smith of the Toronto GLOBE & MAIL. CFL acting
Commissioner John Tory said that the league "may consider"
U.S. expansion in the future, but "certainly not in the next
three or four years." Tory: "If we do U.S. expansion down
the road, it will be done properly and sensibly and not out
of any sense of desperation or need to do it. ... We are
going to move very aggressively to build our brand in the
United States. ... Our game belongs on U.S. television"
(Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 2/23). CFL President Jeff Giles said
that he is "waiting for word back" from ESPN officials
(TORONTO STAR, 2/23). Giles said that the CFL "would like
at least" a three-year deal with ESPN, but that he didn't
anticipate the CFL getting any revenue or rights fee "in the
short-term" (TORONTO SUN, 2/23).
PAYING BACK THE NFL: Giles added that the CFL's
marketing budget "will be increased" by 75-80% and the
league is "talking to national marketing agencies." Smith
writes, "In the past, the league has been reluctant to pour
money into marketing, because clubs feared this would lead
to reduced distributions from the league to the clubs, and
therefore might shrink their profit margins." The league is
also "working on paying down" a US$3M NFL loan, "expecting
that within a month or so it will have repaid [US]$1-million
of the amount outstanding." That will "reduce club
distributions by about" US$60,000 each (GLOBE & MAIL, 2/23).
