If either of the QBs gets nicked I wonder if Tachinski gets any reps under center 😂

56 minutes ago, bearpants said:

When I read it, I understood that they would hire their own crew... and I had the exact same thought as you

It's interesting because it's in Canada and the US that they have exclusive rights, but they are stepping into the CFL+ role for outside that market, so are they just going to provide the TSN stream for those markets or are they going to have to actually cover all those games? It would be kind of lame if they did remote commentary outside of Saturday... Even if I wouldn't typically be subjected to it.

I wonder if the CBS Sports contract is still in effect at the start of this or if there is going to be a further announcement about the 60 game slate in the US

42 minutes ago, 3rdand1.5 said:

how many casual eyeballs, heck even dedicated eyeballs are really going to drop that extra money....

DAZN has 20 million subscribers globally. In Canada they are probably the best way to watch the NFL and Soccer so they should have a reasonable Canadian subscriber base.

I can't imagine that people who only watch their own teams games will shell out 35/mo to catch the 2-4 games that get caught up in this.

And if you enjoy watching all the games week over week 35 is still fairly steep

They are definitely counting on existing subscribers to make it worth their while. CFL is a summer league so it could fill some of the gap for them between Club and European Soccer and the NFL

If anyone is curious like I briefly was if this deal was implemented this year it would affect Week 18 (away at MTL) and week 19 (home vs Calgary)

8 minutes ago, Super Duper Negatron said:

An additional $3.5 million a year per team is a giant boost to sustainability, no? Sucks to have to pay for another service, but better than having no league.

Would be a big boost to any potential expansion fees as well

1 hour ago, Colin Unger said:

This announcement is boring without financial details…

1 hour ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

How much is it worth to each team financially?

Sounds like $500 Million over 6 years. 66% increase over the last deal. Each team should get about an extra $3.5 million/yr.

2 hours ago, Goalie said:

He prob could have been that 3rd and inches guy

I don't pick the teams but it seemed to me like Wilson was more the 'oh **** we should probably carry a second guy with pro 3-down experience on the roster' guy. Elgersma has the size teams seem to be looking at for a short yardage guy, and Perkins won the UFL MVP with his legs. I don't recall him really standing out in the role, other than that one big run he broke against the Riders in the playoffs.

It would be great if Lawler were still on the team but I don't think he signs a million dollar contract this year if he had Collaros, Streveler, and Wilson throwing him the ball last year

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

CFL.ca

A.J. Allen's top 5 running backs in the CFL - CFL.ca

From Justin Rankin to Brady Oliveira, Ottawa REDBLACKS linebacker A.J. Allen counts down his top five running backs to play against in the CFL.

When explaining what makes Brady Oliveira special and why he’s been included in the linebacker’s rankings, Allen only had one thing to say.

“They give him the ball a ton,” laughed Allen.

Why don't other teams give their running back the ball more? Are they stupid?

48 minutes ago, Goalie said:

lol. The only one that streams cfl games you mean??? I think we get the rider announcers for this one tho. And good luck watching any position battles. Really, unless the camera work been greatly improved, this is gonna be a tough watch. I’ll watch but it’s gonna be a hard one to watch and listen 2.

It's just the in stadium feed so you can pretend you are just watching everything on the jumbotron

But isn't this game being played in Saskatoon? So I imagine it would be worse than usual.

16 minutes ago, Noeller said:

You don't find the timing even a little bit odd... The day before a game?

3 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

The one time I agree with you. Both knew they had playing time coming. So, go out & show how good they are. To quit a day or 2 before that game makes no sense. From a business sense.

I'm not sure if Thorne had playing time coming... I'm not sure how you give 5 QBs playing time in a game.

For Wilson... maybe I'm a bit cynical but is it that hard to think Wilson who has attempted 39 passes through 4 season of pro football and coming into this 3rd season on a team being told that he'll be battling for the 3rd QB spot finally deciding before live bullets start going that maybe this is the end of the line?

5 minutes ago, Brandon said:

One guy leaving that's not weird... two guys leaving early. I can't remember ever having 2 qbs quit before even getting a chance in a pre season game. Are we recruiting bad character players? Are the guys being treated like ****? Do we just have bad luck? Condell pissing people off? It would be nice to have a reporter speak with the guys and get their side on why they left.

Can I vote for the option of poor roster management? Why bring a guy back for his third year to compete to hold a clipboard all year? I'm guessing for a little bit of continuity but you know what you have in him after 2 full seasons.

We are talking about the 4th and 5th QB on the depth chart who are (or were I guess) current making less than you could be making on EI right?

It's nice to have a romantic view of a team and comradery but at the end of the day it's a business. No one really knows what's being said inside the locker room. You hope that guys are being accurately appraised of their situation. I don't think you can begrudge these guys from seeing the writing on the wall and deciding to go home.

It's not terribly hard to see why either guy left from a football stand point.

As a P4 QB, it's possible that Thorne made more money than Collaros last year and he was likely going to be on the PR.

It's possible that Elgersma is going to be QB2, and Wilson would be going on his 3rd straight year of QB3 if he were to beat out Perkins. Yeah you are playing professional football, but at what point do you pull the plug? He wouldn't be the first person to quit after a few years of not getting Second-team reps, and he won't be the last I'm sure.

Is Schmekel a new injury or a continuation of last years? I'm not sure they ever publicly disclosed what his injury was last year.

With going on the six game I think technically he only needs to miss the first game, and that opens up a roster spot in the meantime right? Or are roster restrictions more loose during camp?

4 hours ago, Booch said:

You don't have to be an "expert" to see we still razor thin at QB and a significant injury there likely kills our hope

"Expert " sentiment isnt required either to see that after our 5 best recievers.. we are razor thin..zero experience let alone depth and no real front runner with exceptional talent to make a difference..which also goes back to the hope ZC has a renesaince again..but he also is a guy who doesn't thrive with inexperienced and less than stellar talent around him at this juncture

The draft..was ok'ish but took a flier on a guy early who we didnt need to, and is a question mark for sure and is only gonna be a bit player as well while missing out on some guys who could likely contribute immediately...then went and took another flier on a guy already signed in NFL and back loaded the rest with a bunch of guys who really won't Crack.. or have no business cracking roster..just more low to no upside guys that we already had a slew of...that being said we nailed free agency so that's a good thing

Isn't this just football? Everyone is varying degrees of ****** if their QB is injured. Bombers did better than most last year with Streveler at 4-1, but everyone else was much worse. Crum at 2-4. MBT 3-5. Doege 0-3. Morgan 0-2. Adams 0-2. Masoli 0-2. Maier 1-1. Walkers, Evans and Shiltz all 0-1. Looks even bleaker if you take Arbuckle as a backup, he was 5-10... looks a bit better with Fajardo who is 6-7 in reserve.

I'm also not sure many teams are breaking camp singing the praises of their 6-7 depth receivers. Most teams were struggling at the position last year, at least I hope the Bombers aren't in any danger of trotting whoever is in QB2 out there this season. When you get that far down the roster it feels like a team can't win... if you bring in experienced guys its the same old retreads (see the discourse around someone like Sterns or Reggie White Jr last year), if you bring in a bunch of new recruits its "who are these bums".

That’s exactly the kind of consistency every player in camp craves and every coaching staff and scouting personnel covets. And for Frederickson, a big target at 6-3, 309 pounds, it’s exactly the same thing he did through a solid collegiate career at Idaho State.

Madden Create-A-Players are leaking into the real world.

50 minutes ago, sweep the leg said:

Forgot to mention we almost lost Banks today. He crashed into the uprights full speed after running a post route. The noise it made echoed in the stadium. Thankfully he was fine.

No one tell the commissioner about this

1 hour ago, Noeller said:

I came across a post on FB, showing a screenshot of a Tweet.... Apparently Lalji was on a podcast and said that the finishing touches for the new broadcast arrangement are being done now, and he wouldn't be surprised if there was a secondary broadcaster to go along with TSN. Said TSN will be involved for sure, but that he wouldn't be surprised if there's another. Not sure if that means traditional or a streamer, but it's interesting anyhow...

If anyone is still on the nazi app, the user CFL News posted a YouTube link along with the quote...

Amazon Prime has been streaming more and more sports. It could make sense that they just extend Thursday Night Football through the CFL season and then into the NFL one.

5 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

The NFL isn't moving their draft either. Are we going to have the CFL draft a week into training camp?

It looks like the plan is to keep the timings similar for next year. Draft is April 13th. Rookie camp 21st. Training camp 24th.

IMO just offer comp picks based on the status of your draft picks. NFL roster: Round -2, PR: Round -4, Futures contract: Round -6.

Puts some onus on teams making sure their picks will play but doesn't completely screw the team if they don't show up. Can maybe extend it to include players like Damien Alford where if they dip after a year you can get a comp pick by forfeiting their rights or allowing them to become an RFA if they come back or something

Seems like a rare win for all involved.

Teams can possibly host an additional playoff game and all the revenues that provides.

Players get an extra bonus check on top of their salary.

The additional revenue from the premium games should help to bump up the salary cap and make the tv rights more attractive which are due to be finalized soon

Comments about this on Facebook are about what you'd expect.

Surprised that the Riders let Nield get away if they had any inkling it would come to this

Looks like he has the physical measurements but not the athleticism? Most of the highlights I am seeing are him making contested receptions, no separation but he prides himself on his work ethic and his route running. Also looks like he had compartment syndrome his last year and lost a chunk of the year due to surgery from that?

Could be someone like Wolitarski without the right passport I guess?

3 hours ago, TBURGESS said:

He's going to get the same CFL contract no matter how long he waits.

This is one of the interesting bits. Someone talked about wasting a draft asset (the Bombers got from playing Canadian players anyways so might as well YOLO this one) but the Riders took Rourke, who is two years older, has 2 more surgically repaired knees, and has already fulfilled one year of his ELC sitting on the 49ers injured list. Elgersma could have signed here after he got cut from GB, tolled a year of his contract and tried again in the NFL window, but now he is looking at 3 years of the national minimum before potentially hitting paydirt.

This whole thing feels like fool's gold for Elgersma, but being a bit contrarian is it really the worst thing for his development? It's not like he needs to learn the Canadian game, it's all he has ever played. Glancing at the CFL CBA there really isn't much opportunity for the team to do anything with him until Rookie Camp opens... which would be after week 6 of the UFL schedule. Surely there could be worse things a potential QB3 could be doing with their time than hanging out on a "pro" roster for 6 weeks. In theory he could decide that the visa isn't coming at that point and turn tail up here and make it in time for camp?

Elgersma listed as inactive unsurprisingly. Has missed 20% of the UFL season waiting for his visa.

Elgersma watch continues.

Depth chart for Week two has him at QB2 and Hiers at QB3. No news of his visa status or what happened to the QB the Stallions signed for Week 1. Is he actually allowed to play or is UFL being bush League and not checking things against real life? I guess we'll find out Sunday