The CFL is a great product. It is followed by thousands of passionate fans from coast to coast. So why does the league fumble the ball when it comes to trying to capitalize on creating some mid-winter publicity.
The CFL free-agent period opened at 12:01am EST, Monday. Now, while I was excited and actually awake (I was at work), I'm sure I was one of a very select group of people who was hitting the refresh on my computer at an accelerated rate, trying to see who was going where.
The CFL is now found exclusively on TSN and if that network does anything good, its the hype it creates surrounding days like this. The NHL Draft, Free Agency and not to mention Trade Deadline day are all feathers in the cap Canada's #1 sports network. So I don't see why the CFL doesn't change things a bit, have a 3pm start to free agency, thus giving TSN a chance to promote it, have a show, bring in the panel, go live to Edmonton and yadda yadda yadda.
It could easily work as the CFL allows teams to speak to players under contract prior to deadline (that is for another blog), so as is the case now, the floodgates would open and there would be deals breaking fast and furious. It's just that shifting the timing a mere 15 hours, it would be all over cable television when people might actually be watching. Thus creating more buzz around a time when the hive is generally dormant.
This is a great chance for the league to capitalize on some 'free' publicity that its just missing out on. But this is one fumble that the CFL could easily recover itself and set the league up for a big touchdown in the future.
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