Moncton!

It was already pretty much known that Moncton was going to get a series of CFL regular season games, but New Brunswick premier Shawn Graham let the cat out of the bag. Drew Edwards is reporting that the Cats will not be the team losing the home game next year. Likely the Argos will be the team giving up a home game in return for guaranteed revenue from the league for the event. The Argos will probably choose an opponent that doesn't historically draw well, which probably means the Riders and Cats are out. Winnipeg is a possibility, as is BC, which would be humorous from a time zone perspective. The Argos giving up a game likely makes things more flexible for them with regards to sharing the dome with the sad sack Jays and one would expect that the home game chosen would be one where two home games in a row are scheduled. Plus the other benefit for the Argos is that they are likely to still be a mediocre team next year, with a better possibility of improvement the following year.

For the Cats, it would not shock me for them to the team to have their home game in Moncton in 2011. Considering the attendance from the past two home games against the Stamps and Alouettes which were on consecutive weeks, losing one of these games would reduce Bob Young's losses by increasing attendance for the other eight games, especially removing a back to back game. Burlington Minor Football had a huge turnout to the Calgary game, moving these tickets to the Montreal game would have made for a relatively big number. For opponents, the Cats shouldn't have the Argos (obviously), the Alouettes, or the Riders. Winnipeg, BC or Calgary would seem to be the logical choices. I have relatives near Moncton, so I would even consider getting on a WestJet flight from Hamilton airport to spend a few days out there and catch the game.

Incidentally, the 60,000 plus crowd last week for the Smos at home against the Riders is a remarkable accomplishment. I looked at which team was the best road draw in 2008 in a blog post, with Saskatchewan the clear winner. With this crowd, the Riders will be even farther above the next best team for 2009.