The CFL's Geographical Imbalance Just Got Much Worse
Three teams from the West Division are undefeated at the moment – Calgary, Winnipeg, and the BC Lions. Meanwhile, no team in the East Division even has a winning record.
We thought this problem would even out – eventually.
But, after the most recent week of games and results, the problem is getting worse.
Friends, the Canadian Football League has a serious problem.
All the good teams are in the western half of the country, and thus, they play in the West Division. That leaves the mediocre and bad teams in the eastern half of the country, in the East Division.
Take a look at the five teams in the West, and four teams in the East:
Now, take a look at the standings though the first four weeks of the 2022 season:
Some findings:
(1) This past week, all the East teams lost to West teams.
(2) The East Division is a combined 2 wins and 11 losses. The West division is a combined 13 wins and 4 losses. Take away the Edmonton Elks, and the West is 12-1!
(3) Three teams from the West Division are undefeated at the moment – Calgary, Winnipeg, and the BC Lions. Meanwhile, no team in the East Division even has a winning record.
(4) West Division teams have on the last three Grey Cups. It's been five seasons since an East Division team won – which was Toronto in 2017.
(5) Toronto plays versus Winnipeg on Monday night. Since the Blue Bombers are favoured, that could mean the Argos might stay in first place with a 1-2 record!
Obviously, these level of disparity can't continue. As the current season goes along, East teams will win a few more games (since they play each other) and West teams will lose more games, including expected losses by undefeated teams (when two undefeated teams play, one of them has to lose).
Nonetheless, the talent balance has never been more heavily skewed in one direction as it is now.
The real problem is that it's conceivable the best four teams in the CFL are all in the West Division. So, what happens come playoff time when the next Grey Cup championships is contested between the winners of the CFL's East and West Divisional playoffs? Will we continue to get mismatches?
Obviously, it would be ideal for the CFL to have at least one more team, thus rounding out the East and West with five teams each. However, there's not much to be done about that now.
It appears the CFL will remain a West-dominated league for some time to come.
