The Canadian Football League has reached an agreement with the French American Football Federation to work together to grow the game by providing new opportunities for players, it was announced Tuesday.
“This is the perfect extension of everything we are working to accomplish with our CFL 2.0 strategy,” Randy Ambrosie, Commissioner of the CFL, said following meetings between the two organizations.
“On every point, we found common ground, a shared drive to grow the game of football.”
The two organizations agreed to:
- Include a select group of French players in the CFL’s national scouting combine in Toronto this March, an event which already promises to feature players from the German Football League as well as the top Canadian prospects from U SPORTS and the NCAA.
- Create new opportunities for Canadian players to play in France, including junior players and players who have completed their U SPORTS eligibility.
- Share resources by working to facilitate coaching exchanges and the development of officials.
- Seek a broadcast/streaming deal that would see CFL games and first division French games available to fans in France.
“We have had a strong link with Canada for the past 15 years,” said Tristan Genet, Chief Financial Officer of the French American Football Federation.
“Making this bridge stronger and bigger is important to growing the game in both places,” added Pierre Trochet, the Federation’s Head of Business Operations and International Relationships.
There are more than 100 young players from France already playing football in Quebec in CEGEP, the province’s pre-university and technical college system. Several more are playing for Quebec universities in U SPORTS.
“We are agreeing here to take this existing infrastructure and really build on it,” Ambrosie said.
The French American Football Federation includes 23,000 members, 15,000 football players and a first-division league of 12 teams.
It is responsible for 300 affiliated tackle football, flag football and cheerleading associations. France’s national team are the reigning European champions.
The French federation is just the latest group to sign onto Ambrosie’s vision to strengthen the CFL and football around the world by strengthening ties between countries where gridiron football is played.
The CFL recently reached a similar agreement with the German Football League and its governing federation. It also recently held a Combine and Draft in Mexico as part of an agreement with the Liga de Futbol Americano Profesional (LFA), the pro league in Mexico.
Ambrosie also plans to hold meetings here in Europe with football leaders from Austria, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
He has said the international component of CFL 2.0 is designed to expand the CFL’s talent pool, give Canadian players more opportunities around the world and pave the way for international broadcast and streaming deals for the Canadian professional league.
5 comments:
CFL aligning with flag football cheerleaders associations, what next? The PICKLEBAALL league of regina.
Dom
I guess marketing and growing your products exposure is too much for you to comprehend Dom.
Marketing and growing your product. Hmmm... forsee, forecast somewhere in the future the Canadian in CFL won't exist after these hurried signed agreements by Ambrosie as it's very obvious player roster ratios will have to be adjusted accordingly. International inexperienced players imposed on team operations by mandating each team draft, have player/team attendance at various camps only adding up to extra costs in a league that just recently imposed team caps (think all cost logistics involved, scouting etc etc...). Mexican, German, French, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway who know nothing on how to play the CFL game only waters down the product. These Ambrodie agreements take away a uniquely Canadian institution called the Canadian Football League (CFL). That's not growth for Canadian football on any level. A lagging to be determined negotiated CFL CBA will have it's say. A paying league fanbase will soon determine if the product is worthy of their hard earned money or if that money is best spent elsewhere. Marketing by Ambrosie on the wrong path to disaster.
Dom
I wonder which is going to do most to turn the league back in to competitive entertainment for the paying fans:
- having international agreements with leagues we are unlikely to follow.
or
- the cfl team budget process controlled by the head of the league. Im still little confused
when Arash Madani phoned in to the Bob Magowan show in early December to explain to them that it was Riders who asked for operation cap an lined up Bombers an Ticats as main supporters. He said that the Riders wanted the cap because they couldn't control Jones spending methods. I found it interesting that only Arash speaks of this. Ehen Jones got a contract extension, you knew it wasn't for real an wasn't going to be here after his disagreement with the club. probably for best a sad way for riders to go about handling a problem. This will be the last year for this group of coaches I suspect.
The Bob McGowan show was early December when Rod was away. coincident.
Nice conspiracy theory Dom, you are totally out of touch.
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