Blueandgold

Not going to lie, the possibility of seeing the Bombers is a huge reason I decided to get vaccinated. I can’t ****ing wait to be back at IGF. 

Meeting starts shortly...all signs pointing to a yes vote today. Tons of good news coming along, including team managers and players being told to proceed as if everything is a go, with TC starting in a few weeks. Ontario government announced they're allowing training/practices for pro/elite amateur sports. And the legalized single-game-betting bill is trending toward becoming law before they end their current sitting of parliament/senate. 
Really great start to the day for CFL.....Hopefully in about an hour or so, we have some REALLY good news to cheer about......

Alberta will approve it for sure. They will approve ANYTHING.... right now it's just about optics for them. But I have zero doubts that Alberta will be among the first (if not THE FIRST) to sign off on having the CFL fire up with fans in the stands. 

Farhan Lalji's Twitter feed:
From Bo Levi Mitchell: I think we are all disappointed, not in the league or the govt. b/c everyone is trying to do what they think is right, but just in the fact that we aren’t playing & we just want to play. It’s what we do. We’re football players. It’s what we love. We miss it.
 
I'm with Bo on this one.

https://www.tsn.ca/cfl-announces-plans-for-shortened-season-starting-in-august-1.1627462
The Canadian Football League has announced a plan to cut its 2021 regular season from 18 to 14 games, while moving its start date back nearly two months from June 10 to Aug. 5.
The Grey Cup, originally scheduled for Nov. 21 in Hamilton, is now slated to be played on Dec. 12.
  While a target date to resume play is a welcome bit of clarity for the CFL’s various stakeholders, the league stopped short of committing to play without governments lifting restrictions on fans attending games.
It all points to a period in mid-June when the league will have to assess whether its new start date is attainable.
“Aug. 5 is based on a lot of conversations with public health authorities that we would have a lot more information and will see a real decline as this third wave passes through,” said commissioner Randy Ambrosie. “With more and more people getting vaccinated, there’s a lot of indication that early June will give us more information for a final decision to go.
“In early June we’ll be collecting all of our data and be in contact with public health officials.”
Ambrosie said he could not be specific about what percentage of stadiums would have to be open to fans for the league to play, given the different capacities.
“We will work with each team and their local health authorities to see what is possible in their market,” he said.
The CFL’s announcement follows a meeting of club presidents and governors on Tuesday, roughly three weeks before rookies were due to report for training camp.
While a delay to the start of the season has been obvious for at least the past couple of weeks due to the third wave of COVID-19 in Canada, the league has been under pressure to reveal as much of its plan as possible.
The CFL has received at least verbal approval of its return-to-play protocol from four of the six provinces in which it plays, with Ontario and Quebec as the exceptions. That isn’t expected to be an issue once the third wave subsides.
But the issue of fans in stands remains a potential hurdle. If restrictions on fans in stands are lifted in Western Canada sooner than in Eastern Canada, the league is prepared to relocate early-season games to the west.
“We may think about taking our teams on the road from the east to play in a place where they may have opened up fans in the stands,” Ambrosie said. “There is a commitment to play in 2021 and all the work that will happen to where we can make a comfortable final decision to go.”
Making a decision to go could mean such things as eliminating preseason games, rookie camps or shortening training camp.
“All of those issues are up for grabs,” said Ambrosie. “Everything is on the table.”
A new start to the season will also require an amended collective agreement with the Canadian Football League Players’ Association.
“I’m confident we can work together to put together a plan,” Ambrosie said.
As for what happens if the league cannot commit to its Aug. 5 start date by mid-June, Ambrosie said the league would continue to press on with alternate plans.
“We have backup plans and backup plans to our backup plans … we are committed to playing in 2021,” he said
 
 
Interesting stuff about moving East games out West, in order to get fans in the stands. I have absolutely no doubt that AB will be among the first to allow fans in attendance. Limited capacity, with masks, at outdoor venues sometime in June, I truly believe. Alberta will go Full Texas, and try to reopen fastest....for better or worse.

Yeah but why cover the CFL when they can stuff a mic in Jeff ONeils face and let him verbally fellate the Leafs?

Ambrosie had 2 plays this whole pandemic  beg the federal government for money with no plan, or try and sell out to a league that doesn't exist. 
What great leadership.

I don't buy that "a significant number of people want 4 down football"....bullshit. A significant number of people want the NFL. There's a difference there. It's not like they want the NFL because it's 4 downs...they want it because of the hype. People who only watch NFL aren't suddenly going to start watching the CFL because it's 4 downs. I refuse to believe that.

Jackson Jeffcoat had a great tweet this morning about the CFL needing to tell the players the season plan so that the players could make arrangements to be here and for their out of football life stuff.

Absolutely, not to mention the impact a CFL video game could have on potential young fans. I know growing up my friends would have loved a CFL video game and it likely would have made them life long fans.

I'm beating a dead horse here but the CFL has made its own bed. 
How long have the fans been screaming for more information?
We want to know who's on the neg list but for years they wouldn't tell us who's on it. Why? Finally, they open up 10 names. A joke. 
We want to more about salaries and cap management but they never tell us. Why? It's some sort of secret despite every other pro league manages to get that info out. 
Gambling is a big deal and all major sports leagues get that but not the CFL. 
There's money out there to be made. There is a large demographic of fans being ignored because the CFL won't give us the information that every other league provides. 

classier than durant. 

Just because the XFL has a billion dollar hedge fund behind it doesn't mean they have unlimited capital. I guarantee that they have a dollar figure amount they are willing to lose and it isn't anywhere close to what some people here think it is. The XFL has no franchises per se, and will have a very limited rope on losses before their backers pull out. Just like XFL 1.0, AAF, XFL 2.0. the USFL and all the other defunct leagues littered amongst the football landscape. It's a business and anyone thinking the XFL is going to give us the 60 million dollars to operate based on some good will is dreaming in technicolor. They are talking to us because they NEED us, they NEED our viability and history as a league to differentiate themselves from every other failure league that came before. SMH, at those that think the XFL will save us. Good lord....it's the other way around and we will charge them a hefty fee for doing so and we hold all the leverage.

I got a feeling that attendance will be up once we are back to normal. People have spent the last year in their houses people will want to get out and do stuff again. 

It's shame that the Bombers lost all that momentum from winning the Grey Cup. We were looking and big bump in attendance and earnings and now the CFL is hoping The Rock can save the league. 

The day the CFL drops 3 down football is the day I’ll stop being a die hard fan.
I’ll likely still go to and watch Bomber games, but my investment would decrease significantly if we adopt American rules. 

The day the CFL drops 3 down football is the day I’ll stop being a die hard fan.
I’ll likely still go to and watch Bomber games, but my investment would decrease significantly if we adopt American rules. 

The day the CFL drops 3 down football is the day I’ll stop being a die hard fan.
I’ll likely still go to and watch Bomber games, but my investment would decrease significantly if we adopt American rules. 

The day the CFL drops 3 down football is the day I’ll stop being a die hard fan.
I’ll likely still go to and watch Bomber games, but my investment would decrease significantly if we adopt American rules. 

The day the CFL drops 3 down football is the day I’ll stop being a die hard fan.
I’ll likely still go to and watch Bomber games, but my investment would decrease significantly if we adopt American rules. 

Here's the highlights of that "game" if one could call it that.
 

It seems like most provinces are aiming to have all adults given at least one dose by June. If that’s the case, why can’t we have fans? 

It seems like most provinces are aiming to have all adults given at least one dose by June. If that’s the case, why can’t we have fans? 

Don't we all want a Milt/Arland Bruce combo at SB?

It seems like most provinces are aiming to have all adults given at least one dose by June. If that’s the case, why can’t we have fans?