The Markcast®

CFL, USFL AND USFL news this week on a truly “jam-packed” show.

Jeffrey Pollack is out as president and CEO of the XFL, the USFL is potentially setting up shop in Birmingham, Alabama and we have all your CFL week 11 news to cover as well.

Dave Campbell, colour analyst for the Edmonton Elks joins us to figure out what the HECK is going on with the quarterback position in Edmonton. Trevor Harris is out, Taylor Cornelius (cough cough a former XFL quarterback) and Dakota Prukop will both dress as QB 1 and 2 for their game Friday against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Dave and Reid try to make sense of the mess in Edmonton and what they can possibly do to turn their season around.

Scott Radley of the Hamilton Spectator and 900CHML stops by on the Hamilton Ticats “bye” week to chat Grey Cup standings, Toronto attendance issues (yes it’s still worth talking about) and who he seems leading the East headed into CFL week 11. Gemma Karstens-Smith of the Canadian Press also makes an appearance to talk about America’s CFL team the BC Lions who will be facing the Calgary Stampeders at home this Saturday with Reid and Dorothy of The Markcast in attendance. Will the “bye” week help the Lions? What will the team do without Lucky Whitehead?? We discuss.

Finally Dylan Smith of Yellowhammer News graciously comes on the show to go in detail about his latest report on the USFL setting up a “bubble season” in Birmingham, Alabama with FOX Sports leading the charge. Where "Has Brian Woods name been brought up?" "Where is the money coming from?" "Where did the TV numbers come from?" "How long has this been in motion?" “Who owns the USFL trademarks now?” These questions and more asked and answered.

If that wasn’t enough, Ben Fischer from the Sports Business Journal reports that the XFL is parting ways with league President & CEO Jeffrey Pollack, effective immediately. What does that mean for the other alternative-football league, when will we see an announcement of the forever rumored “Chief Football Officer”? We discuss and break it all down.

Plus we have our big 1500 subscriber giveaway announcement, we chat Rod Black’s retirement, Hamilton hosting the 2021 AND 2023 Grey Cups, Jake Maier testing for the big “C”, Vernon Adams Jr.’s injury, the potential of Nick Arbuckle being traded, CFL TV ratings and attendance numbers, and even some FAN CONTROLLED FOOTBALL NEWS BABY for those still keeping up!

Jeff Hamilton, Chris Walby and Matt Baker join us to preview week 10 of CFL football action. The Edmonton Elks organization is having the worst week ever (it’s not even close), and Jeff Hamilton gives his thoughts on the recent Eddie Steele firing from 630CHED and the Brock Sunderland drama involving recent personnel releases and locker room decisions. We also cover the Kenny Lawler Winnipeg Blue Bomber suspension and the other latest happenings from the Canadian Football League.

Chris Walby, former 3x Grey Cup champion with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers joins us to chat how dominant the Blue Bombers’ performance has been through 9 weeks of CFL action so far leading into their week 10 matchup against the previously mentioned Edmonton Elks and who he thinks will face the currently 7-1 Blue Bombers in the Hamilton Hosted Grey Cup in December.

Finally, Matt Baker, Manager of Communications and Content for (America’s team) the BC Lions joins us on their bye week to chat through how the team is preparing to come off of back-to-back home losses to the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers. We cover Lucky Whitehead’s injury/recovery and preview the Calgary Stampeders traveling to BC Place to face the Lions with Paul, Reid and Dorothy of The Markcast live in attendance!

Finally we have honest to goodness Fan Controlled Football news with an announced season 2, as well as a potential partnership (not really) between the XFL and the NFL as we dissect and debunk the latest Instagram postings from Dwayne and Danny.

Dustin Nielson, Reid Wilkins and Steve Milton join us to preview and chat about week 9 of the CFL as we are HALFWAY through the season, if you can believe it!!! Reid co-host of The Markcast has laid down the gauntlet to CFL Hall of Famer and friend of the show Milt Stegall in a social media avatar vs. social media avatar challenge between the winner of the BC Lions and the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

We’re joined by TSN1260’s Dustin Nielson to recap the Edmonton Elks surprising LOSS to the Ottawa REDBLACKS, we also preview the BC Lions hosting the Winnipeg Blue Bombers coming into town for their Friday night matchup.

Reid Wilkins of 630CHED stops by to chat the ongoing issues with Edmonton as well as to give his thoughts on the BC Lions, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Calgary Stampeders.

Steve Milton of the Hamilton Spectator makes an appearance to run down the latest personnel changes with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats as they host the Montreal Alouettes and Vernon Adams Jr. who are looking to make a run for the Grey Cup. We’re halfway through the 2021 CFL season and the teams are really starting to take shape!

Finally, the Rock finally acknowledges the XFL, we cover the latest on Cody Fajardo and his tirade against social media, Dane Evans opening up about his family lineage and how Football Canada is embracing the support of acknowledging indigenous communities throughout Canada by revamping their logo.

AND, Paul gets a surprise gift from a listener, don’t miss it!

It’s a CFL week 8 preview show with Darrell Davis and Sean Campbell rehashing the horrendous showing from the Ottawa REDBLACKS hosting the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Wednesday night. CFL fans are becoming upset about the lack of offense and excitement in the recent weeks of CFL gameplay and we try to figure out why.

Canadian Hall of Fame report Darrell Davis and Sean Campbell of TSN690 and Play by Play announcer of the Montreal Alouettes also preview the upcoming week of CFL games including the aforementioned Alouettes traveling to Toronto to take on the Argonauts and the 4-2 Saskatchewan Roughriders flying to BC to take on the similarly ranked BC Lions. Who will be ranked second in the CFL West division? We will soon find out.

Also Steve McAllister, a long-time Canadian sports media and communications expert stops by the program to chat about single-game sports betting as it relates to the CFL and their business model moving forward. What steps are being taken in terms of harassing the revenue that comes along with single-game sports betting and is CFL management and the on-air talent doing enough to take advantage of it?

Finally Dany Garcia had another one of her infamous Instagram stories XFL news “drops” by mentioning a dinner meeting with some of her fellow XFL business partners and Redbird Capital. We also cover the latest news of XFL darling Taylor Heinicke’s meteoric rise with the Washington Football team including his latest sponsorship deal with Bud light.

Be sure to listen to the end of the show for directions to be entered into our 1,500 subscriber giveaway!!!

**Note from Paul: The BC Lions are NOT America's CFL team.**

Milt Stegall, Mike Hogan and Guilio Caravatta join us to preview week 7 of the CFL! Milt Stegall a CFL Hall of Fame and legend gives his thoughts on the CFL season thus far break’s down this weekend’s matchup of games including the Stampeders taking on the (now sans Dane Evans) Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the Toronto Argonauts heading to Saskatchewan to take on the reeling Roughriders, America’s CFL team the BC Lions cross-country trek to face the Montreal Alouettes and the league-leading Winnipeg Blue Bombers facing the Edmonton Elks who recently announced the injury of lead quarterback Trevor Harris.

Mike Hogan, play by play announcer of the Toronto Argonauts shares his thoughts on the Argos recent quarterback issues, ways the defence can improve and what he thinks about them coming into the Roughrider’s home to face the once heavily favored team coming off of two big losses.

Finally the voice of America’s CFL team the BC Lions Guilio Caravatta comes onto the program to share his feelings on the new ownership of the BC Lions franchise under Amar Doman, as well as ways the team can look to grow amongst younger viewers. Guilio also gives insight as a former quarterback into the Tiger-Cats recent struggles under center with Dane Evans’ injury and the news about Trevor Harris being placed on a 6-game injured reserve list.

We also break down the latest CFL new including Devlin “Duck” Hodges being signed by the Ottawa REDBLACKS, Chris Jones’ return to the CFL with the Toronto Argonauts, recent CFL player fines of Greg Ellingson and Justin Renfrow and the latest on Montreal Alouette’s head coach Khari Jones.

Finally we break down Taylor Heinicke’s WINNING performance with the Washington Football Team in his Thursday Night Football debut against the New York Guardians and talk a little XFL with the news of Jonathan Coachman still waiting on some unpaid checks by the bankrupt league.

AND DON’T FORGET, we also announce the rules to enter our big 1,500 subscriber giveaway!!!

It’s the CFL 2021 Banjo Bowl and we are here to give you all the coverage you need ahead of the Saskatchewan Roughriders heading to Winnipeg to take on the Blue Bombers. Ted Wyman, of the Winnipeg Sun and Britton Gray of 980 CJME join us to run down the “heated” Banjo Bowl rivalry!

We also preview the rest of CFL week 6 including the Hamilton Tiger-Cats traveling to Toronto to take on the Argonauts, the Calgary Stampeders rematching against the Edmonton Elks at home and the Ottawa REDBLACKS traveling to BC to take on the Lions with Ted Wyman, Britton Gray and Adam Laskaris from Daily Hive. Adam also gives his thoughts on the CFL season thus far, and what the Hamilton Tiger-Cats need to do to keep up the momentum they are building in the 2021 CFL season.

There’s plenty of other news and notes around the CFL season and we tackle all of those as well including Tiger-Cats owner Bob Young buying beer for the Labour Day Classic attendees, the REDBLACKS hosting frontline workers, Nick Arbuckle’s status with the Argonauts and the latest TV ratings for the CFL.

Finally we run down the latest CFL power ranking which sees the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at the top of the heap with Reid (and America’s) BC Lions slipping to number 7. Also Washington Football Team is close to picking their new franchise name and both Reid and Paul have some things to say about that!

Please like and subscribe, we’re close to hitting that 1,500 subscriber mark!!!

*This episode was recorded before the CFL’s announcement today of the successful rescheduling of the Edmonton Elks and Tor onto Argos game which was postponed during week 4. The game is now scheduled to be played Tuesday, November 16 at 7:30 pm EST in Toronto.

It’s a Mark’s (cast) CFL Labour Day Weekend preview on this episode with BOTH Jason Gregor and Gord Randall. We run down the weekend’s matchups including the Montreal Alouettes at the Ottawa REDBLACKS, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers facing the undefeated Saskatchewan Roughriders, the Toronto Argonauts taking on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Edmonton Elks coming on an official “bye” week traveling to Calgary to do battle against the Stampeders. Gord also breaks down the BC Lions season thus far, talks new owner Amar Doman and what America’s CFL team needs to do to be successful in the CFL West.

We chat the latest news coming out of Edmonton including the release of Jacob Ruby and statements from their president Chris Presson, and we cover news and notes from the rest of the CFL teams. Could the Ottawa REDBLACKS make a change at quarterback? Sounds like that was a possibility after losing to America’s CFL team the BC Lions last week.

The NFL cut down their rosters this week, and we keep track of all the latest movements from some of your favorites from the XFL and The Spring League including PJ Walker, Michael Dunn and former AAF MVP Garret Gilbert.

FINALLY, there’s some honest to goodness XFL news to chat about this week as Redbird Capital’s Rob Klein talks potential team owners, where they are at with hiring a commissioner and more.

We preview week 4 of the CFL this week with Tim Baines talking the Ottawa REDBLACKS home opener vs. America’s CFL team the BC Lions, and Tim Capper shares his analysis on the Montreal Alouettes at home against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. We also cover the latest on the Edmonton Elks inability to play against the Toronto Argonauts because of an outbreak on the team and discuss the latest happenings around the CFL league when it comes to player and fan protocols and what commissioner Randy Ambrosie has to say on the matter.

We bring on CFL Hall of Fame reporter Mike Beamish to give his thoughts and analysis of the recent purchase of the BC Lions by Amar Doman and what is needed to regrow a diminishing CFL BC Lions fanbase in the greater Vancouver area.

Finally we DO cover a little XFL news including Oliver Luck potentially being brought in to help stabilize the Big 12 conference and update Jordan Ta’amu’s status with the Detroit Lions. Paul does a big unboxing of a listener sent in gift, a Toronto Argonauts jersey, and we low-key announce a potential live show in Hamilton on Grey Cup weekend in December.

We're doing another LIVE CFL show before the Edmonton Elks take on the BC Lions in their home opener.

The Markcast will be previewing the Elks/Lions matchup as well as chatting about the Montreal Alouettes taking on the Calgary Stampeders (minus a recently injured Bo Levi Mitchell), the Winnipeg Blue Bombers facing the Toronto Argonauts (hopefully with McLeod Bethel-Thompson at the helm) AND the Ottawa REDBLACKS going up against the Saskatchewan Roughriders at home.

TSN Sports reporter Darrin Bauming will join the show to chat Blue Bombers as well as help us run down the week 3 matchups in the CFL and talk about how the CFL 2021 season is going thus far.

Besides previewing week 3 of CFL play, we'll also be running down the latest CFL and XFL news as well as touching on recent USFL developments.

It’s your pre-game semi-live show for week 2 of the CFL season! CFL insider Dave Naylor joins the program to preview week 2 of the CFL 2021 season in including the BC Lions taking on the Calgary Stampeders, the Toronto Argonauts facing the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the Montreal Alouettes at the Edmonton Elks and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats going up against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Dave Naylor also shares his thoughts on the QB situation in BC, how C-218 and single-game sports betting will affect the CFL business model moving forward and gives some perspective to the CFL week 1 television numbers and live attendance figures. We also gush about the CFL’s new hotness McLeod Bethel-Thompson and go over why he just might be the new “king” of the 2021 CFL season.

Plus all of your other CFL and XFL news including Cole Boozer and WFT, the new AAF documentary “Alliances Broken” and Jordan Ta’amu trying out for the New England Patriots.