It has been seriously talked about recently in the Canadian Football League to change its current playoff format. Should this happen, what are the pros and cons, and what is a format that would work?
The playoff format that is in place for the CFL at the time of writing of this article is that the top three from each division making the playoffs, with the division winners earning a bye to their respective division finals and the two seeds hosting the three seeds in their respective division semi-finals. This is simple, but the CFL currently has a stipulation that if a fourth-place team from one division has a better record than the third-place team in the opposing division, they receive the playoff spot instead.
The current issue has been the play of the CFL's East Division as they have not been on the same level as the West Division. There has been a trend of the Western teams crossing over to the East playoffs or at least being competitive in earning that playoff spot, as there has been a trend of two teams in the CFL East being absolutely abysmal. There is not an even competition and there has been teams in the East making the Grey Cup game that is unarguably not one of the best teams in the league.
So what is the CFL proposing to help fix this? A straight-six playoff format. The same number of teams, and relatively same format, but just the top six teams in the league making the playoffs and being ranked one through six. This would help rank the teams properly and seed them based on how the team performed against the whole league and not just their respective divisions. This would create better odds of the best teams making the Grey Cup. A championship game should be won by the best team, and having the two best makes that the best possible way to get that.
With this new system, there is going to be criticism, and I'm one of those critics. This will take away the long-standing tradition of an East vs. West Grey Cup. This has not always been the case, as the first time a West team played in the Grey Cup was the 1921 edition of the game (9th edition of the game), and the first Western win would only happen in 1935 (23rd edition of the game). This did become the format that made the game popular and has been traditionally fought that way, with the few exceptions of 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 2001, 2007, and 2011, when Winnipeg was in the East Division, but this still had a sense of East vs. West. Moving to this straight-six format (as I like to call it) takes away the ability to ensure the classic East vs. West format.
What I would like to see would be to keep the divisions, but change the qualification set up. I would like to see the two division winners earn the number one and number two seeds, based on records between the two. They each would earn their bye to the division finals and would host. The next four teams, regardless of division would make the playoffs and face off according to seeding. This ensures the best make the division finals, and that the East vs. West will stay. This combines tradition with revolution, which I think the CFL needs to do. They need to keep the old generation, but also make it relevant for the upcoming generation.
The CFL is on the cutting edge of relevancy to the world when it comes to football, and they have the chance with developing their new playoff format. If they miss on this, it can be detrimental to the league, but if they get it right, they may be on the path to being the best football league in the world.
La Cheeserie, Littles
Fight On, Sleepers
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