Rebuffed by American fans and owners, the Canadian Football League has returned home this season with a ‘Radically Canadian’ positioning that emphasizes its roots and explains how it differs from the u.s. game.

Geoff Fardy, director of marketing for the cfl, says the net worth of the league’s Radically Canadian positioning is $6 million, more than the cfl has ever spent on promotion.

A good part of the cfl’s marketing spend will go toward advertising.

The league has commissioned three 60-sec. television spots, which will air on tsn and cbc, among other services, and is supporting them with full-page ads in papers published by The Sun newspaper chain.

The cfl is also distributing five million Radically Canadian pocket schedules through sponsors and partners Cantel Cellular, NTN Corporation/QB1, Sports Only, Gatorade, Chrysler Canada, FedEx, Canadian Airlines International, Tim Horton’s and The Sun.

Also new is a line of ‘Get Radical’ hats, golf shirts, T-shirts and the like, which are being sold via a toll-free number that appears on all advertising.

cfl commissioner Larry Smith and the league’s chief operating officer Jeff Giles appeared on The Shopping Channel June 20 promoting the new clothing.

The cfl produces its advertising in-house. Its Web site is www.cfl.ca.

Substantial support for the cfl’s Radically Canadian positioning comes from The Corel Corporation in Ottawa, the league’s new presenting sponsor.

This year, says Pat Reid, Corel’s director of sponsorships and promotions, the software company’s contribution to the cfl’s coffers will be worth about $3.5 million, with similar amounts earmarked for the next two seasons.

Reid, interviewed at the cfl’s Toronto unveiling of its Radically Canadian initiative June 18, said the cfl is a key marketing vehicle for Corel.

He says an investment of the magnitude Corel has made in Canadian football lets the company play a major role in the league; investing such an amount in the Olympics, on the other hand, would make Corel just one of many companies vying for attention, he says.

Corel, best known for its Corel Draw graphics software and its recent purchase of WordPerfect, supports sports in a big way. It sponsors the Canadian bobsled team, women’s tennis, the Corel Centre, where the NHL Ottawa Senators play their home games, and now the cfl.

Fardy says he is talking to another six sponsors about supporting the cfl and expects more to follow.

The cfl opened its 1996-97 season June 23 when the Calgary Stampeders met the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina in game televised on tsn.