U.S. expansion back in the cards for the CFL?

If Oronde Gadsden puts a CFL team in Michigan, Detroit might finally have a pro football team.

http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=265881

If a former NFL player has his way, the CFL's tenth team could be situated south of the border.

According to the Globe and Mail, former Miami Dolphins' receiver Oronde Gadsden would like to pursue a CFL expansion franchise. Gadsden is familiar with the CFL through two former Toronto Argonauts, Ricky Williams and John Avery, who happens to be his cousin.

''I'm going to put my best foot forward,'' Gadsden told the Globe and Mail. ''I'm going to try. I've got a few interested guys down here with myself.

''Because of the suspension of the Arena Football League and NFL Europe, there's lots of people in South Florida who don't have a chance to play. In these financial times, you are looking for something with stability and the CFL is extremely stable.''

While Gadsden would like to put a team in the United States, the report indicates his group does not to stray too far from the Canadian border.

 

Ain't gonna happen until Ottawa gets the Roughriders back and until there are teams in Quebec City and/or Halifax

 

This is how the invasion starts. Sensing America's soft underbelly vis a vis the economic crisis, they start with a CFL team. Next thing is NHL relocations back north. Then, we start noticing misspellings: colour, defence. It ends with Celine Dione and six-pack of Molson.

 

Dammit, youare ... our NHL teams down there are part of the infiltration!

 

So the cries to pull out of some markets are a ruse?

You've tipped your hand...

 

It's been a very stealthy aspect of the operation. Good idea keeping it off TV.

 

Yes, that's all part of the plan. We are struggling in some areas but we will eventually have you all living in igloos.

 

I prefer my beachfront thatched-roof hut, thank you very much.

 

Can you at least send Cobie Smulders to my igloo to warm me up?

 

Got to say, I've caught a few of the CFL X-era games (I believe that's what they are calling them) on ESPN Classic Canada, and it was actually very enjoyable. If they do it, they have got to come in with a TV deal and make sure they have stable ownership and a realistic market. There is definitley the talent available and in these economic times, the CFL is actually a more appealing ticket than the NFL. As long as they do not have dreams of going up against the NFL, it could work. The fact that the salary cap is being enforced certainly makes it possible that there is a workable business plan. It's fast, it's exciting, and I've always maintained it's a better game than the NFL. It worked in Baltimore, and if they pick the cities right, it could work elsewhere.

 

The CFL should bring back the Sarnia Imperials, two-time Grey Cup champions in the 1930s.

 

I have noticed it's been unusually cold this month. Coincidence or Canadian plot? Hmmm.