Okay, so the off season officially begins now that the Grey Cup is over. Lots of topics for discussion in the months to come with the Bombers & the League. A new CBA needs to be negotiated sooner rather than later.  Will there be an eventual agreement or a lockout? How much will the salary cap go up? Randy Ambrosie is on record that wants the cap to significantly go up so that is a positive.  Will Bo Levi Mitchell sign with an NFL or perhaps another CFL team? What about Mike Reilly & Trevor Harris who are also free agents? There's a new start up league called the  AAFL & there are legit concerns that it'll draw star CFL players away or hamper free agent signings with CFL teams. Coaching changes in BC & Toronto. The continuing evolving story of the expansion Halifax Schooners & possible exhibition games in Mexico. 

Edited November 27, 20187 yr by SpeedFlex27

Perhaps it has to be done now due to the cba as a lot of the changes being made for cfl global the players would need to sign off on? 

The territorial protections should incent teams to support local grass roots football within their territories.  It should also help teams to increase their local content.  The second should help with the first.

Right now Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton and BC should have huge advantages over the rest of the league.  Funny that three of those teams have perennial financial issues. 

The four prairie teams should be disadvantaged the most by this move, but they are the strongest at this time.

If I am the league, it makes sense to do it as quickly as possible.

The rest of us don't have to like it.

Every player in the BCFC unless they had already been to another CFL training camp belong to the BC Lions. In Winnipeg, it's just the Rifles. Edmonton it's the Huskies & Wildcats. There's definitely unfairness in the system. 

56 minutes ago, MC said:

The territorial protections should incent teams to support local grass roots football within their territories.  It should also help teams to increase their local content.  The second should help with the first.

Right now Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton and BC should have huge advantages over the rest of the league.  Funny that three of those teams have perennial financial issues. 

The four prairie teams should be disadvantaged the most by this move, but they are the strongest at this time.

If I am the league, it makes sense to do it as quickly as possible.

The rest of us don't have to like it.

Until that crutch breaks too.

Funny - how Winnipeg had to solve its own financial problems. 

I don't enjoy audio/video content...always prefer to read.....but having said that, this is a really good interview with Scianetti on TSN Radio Edmonton:

https://www.tsn.ca/radio/edmonton-1260/audio/scianitti-i-don-t-think-there-s-a-cause-for-concern-yet-1.1292728

On 2019-04-22 at 1:39 PM, SpeedFlex27 said:

Every player in the BCFC unless they had already been to another CFL training camp belong to the BC Lions. In Winnipeg, it's just the Rifles. Edmonton it's the Huskies & Wildcats. There's definitely unfairness in the system. 

It didn't say who would be eligible based on territory, just that the league would compile a list.  I'd hope they'd make the shift from the previous rules for junior players (who are now draft eligible) to a system based on where players played minor/high school football.

@ArashMadani

The CFLPA is holding a strike vote among its entire membership Wednesday (April 24) to determine what course of action #CFL players want to take.

A complicating factor? - Report and pass bonuses.

The Canadian Football League Players’ Association (CFLPA) has reaffirmed its promise that a new CBA will not be signed unless the league agrees to pay out report-and-pass bonuses.

But multiple sources believe that players will forfeit report-and-pass bonuses should they choose not to report to training camp — and personnel people were well aware of that prior to the CFLPA’s memo encouraging players not to report to camp.

One source indicated the league even added language to contracts following the last round of CBA negotiations in 2014 specifically designed to cancel report-and-pass bonuses in the event of a strike.

- 3downnation  

👁‍🗨This should be an interesting vote today and seeing whether the results will be made public will also be interesting.

 

Let's say the players don't report and the teams don't pay the report-and-pass bonuses, that will create a lot of animosity between the players and the league. Also, frees up more cap space to bring in more players to replace the players that didn't get their report-and-pass bonuses.

 

Everything is fine. 

On 2019-04-22 at 1:39 PM, SpeedFlex27 said:

Every player in the BCFC unless they had already been to another CFL training camp belong to the BC Lions. In Winnipeg, it's just the Rifles. Edmonton it's the Huskies & Wildcats. There's definitely unfairness in the system. 

They have more quantity, but in my experience, they suffer in quantity. I hope it leads to the spread of more Junior teams in more provinces though. Id love to see teams in brandon, winkler/morden and steinbach. 

 

 

16 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

They have more quantity, but in my experience, they suffer in quantity. I hope it leads to the spread of more Junior teams in more provinces though. Id love to see teams in brandon, winkler/morden and steinbach. 

 

 

If they can support a team in Chilliwack certainly a team in Brandon should be doable. 

On 2019-04-19 at 8:57 PM, Noeller said:

Wasn't Konar an absolute liability for the Esks last two years?? Lapo OWNED him with mid-level catch-and-runs.... 

Konar was a guy who got paid in FA a couple years ago and I remember thinking "why???"

Band-aid also

7 hours ago, wbbfan said:

They have more quantity, but in my experience, they suffer in quantity. I hope it leads to the spread of more Junior teams in more provinces though. Id love to see teams in brandon, winkler/morden and steinbach. 

 

 

BCFC has produced way more CFLers.  Has any Rifle made the CFL directly aside from Jordan Matechuk?

1 hour ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

BCFC has produced way more CFLers.  Has any Rifle made the CFL directly aside from Jordan Matechuk?

That's true, but peak talent isn't the same as the overall level of play. Also with the sheer volume of teams, you're gonna hit more guys like that. 

 

But will 97% stand by that vote when push comes to paycheque?

On 2019-04-24 at 11:34 AM, SpeedFlex27 said:

If they can support a team in Chilliwack certainly a team in Brandon should be doable. 

Brandon isn't anywhere near fielding a CJFL team for 2 reasons:

Finance:    It costs approx 350,000 per year to field a team in the PFC, driven by very high travel costs.   Unless a very wealthy benefactor steps up, it's not likely to happen.   The costs are lower in the BCFC as they can "day trip" to most of their games.

 

Market Size:  There have been some very good football players come out of Brandon, but it and the surrounding area just don't have enough players to compete at a national level.   There are 3 high school teams in Brandon, that simply is too small of a pool of players to draw from.    They are better suited to the MMJFL, where the costs are much lower.

Chilliwack wouldn't be able to compete in the Prairie Conference.  Actually none of the BC teams would.    It's been 10 years since a BCFC team beat a PFC team in any game (there were a few inter-locking games a couple of years ago) and it really was only a small window "the Andrew Harris years" when a BC team won   (06, 08, 09),   The 07 game went to the PFC, as did every game for the 5 years before.     The level of play is just much higher on the prairies. 

Most CJFL players that go on to the CFL do so through U sports.   Typically a player will be with a CJFL club for 3-5 years and then jumps to the university level and plays there for another 2-4 years.   There are some who go from CJFL directly to the CFL, but they are rare.  

5 hours ago, Jaxon said:

Brandon isn't anywhere near fielding a CJFL team for 2 reasons:

Finance:    It costs approx 350,000 per year to field a team in the PFC, driven by very high travel costs.   Unless a very wealthy benefactor steps up, it's not likely to happen.   The costs are lower in the BCFC as they can "day trip" to most of their games.

 

Market Size:  There have been some very good football players come out of Brandon, but it and the surrounding area just don't have enough players to compete at a national level.   There are 3 high school teams in Brandon, that simply is too small of a pool of players to draw from.    They are better suited to the MMJFL, where the costs are much lower.

Chilliwack wouldn't be able to compete in the Prairie Conference.  Actually none of the BC teams would.    It's been 10 years since a BCFC team beat a PFC team in any game (there were a few inter-locking games a couple of years ago) and it really was only a small window "the Andrew Harris years" when a BC team won   (06, 08, 09),   The 07 game went to the PFC, as did every game for the 5 years before.     The level of play is just much higher on the prairies. 

Most CJFL players that go on to the CFL do so through U sports.   Typically a player will be with a CJFL club for 3-5 years and then jumps to the university level and plays there for another 2-4 years.   There are some who go from CJFL directly to the CFL, but they are rare.  

My son played qb for the Rifles in 2009 & 10 & coached in the BCFC in 2016 & 2017 & he agrees with you that the better players & superior quality of play are in the PFC.  The day trips analogy is absolutely true. Vancouver Island has 2 teams & Kelowna has the Sun. Those 3 could compete in the PFC but the rest can't.  The community in Kelowna is 110% behind their team. The support is tremendous.

On 2019-04-23 at 10:55 AM, Noeller said:

I don't enjoy audio/video content...always prefer to read.....but having said that, this is a really good interview with Scianetti on TSN Radio Edmonton:

https://www.tsn.ca/radio/edmonton-1260/audio/scianitti-i-don-t-think-there-s-a-cause-for-concern-yet-1.1292728

I didn’t watch the video (yet) but gave your comment a like since I’m also someone who much prefers to read rather read sports news rather than listen/watch to audio/video content. 

10 hours ago, Blueandgold said:

I didn’t watch the video (yet) but gave your comment a like since I’m also someone who much prefers to read rather read sports news rather than listen/watch to audio/video content. 

Was just having a conversation with a marketing person at my office about this, because they're always trying to get us to do more Video/Audio content for use online, and I was raging about how that **** is stupid, and whatever happened to a quality written piece...? Blargh. At any rate, the link I shared is just a radio interview between the TSN Edmonton guys and Scianetti....it's pretty good.

12 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Was just having a conversation with a marketing person at my office about this, because they're always trying to get us to do more Video/Audio content for use online, and I was raging about how that **** is stupid, and whatever happened to a quality written piece...? Blargh. At any rate, the link I shared is just a radio interview between the TSN Edmonton guys and Scianetti....it's pretty good.

lol this ages you a bit my friend. 

13 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Was just having a conversation with a marketing person at my office about this, because they're always trying to get us to do more Video/Audio content for use online, and I was raging about how that **** is stupid, and whatever happened to a quality written piece...? Blargh. At any rate, the link I shared is just a radio interview between the TSN Edmonton guys and Scianetti....it's pretty good.

But the kids today, they don't read, gotta be visual or audio so they can spend the minimum effort. Our generation was the last one that isn't useless. Get off my lawn!

anyone under 30 today is a moron....easily distracted by shiny things....

When I click on a news item and it is a video, I never watch it.   The level at which news articles are written are purposefully an easy read and it is faster for me to read it than watch a video.  I can also scan and decide if the content is work my time.

Suppose that ages me as well...

Welcome to my world...

 

If labour piece isn't reached before a strike I think you can consider Randy Ambrosie's term as Commissioner a huge failure & I would hope he is asked to leave when his contract expires.  The league withholding bonuses due in the off season as well as the frustrating delay of 3 weeks in bargaining this month has hurt Ambrosie's  credibility with fans & players. I really don't know of many who either like him or think he is doing a great job.  It's one thing to hate Gary Bettman but the NHL is 50 times bigger than the CFL.  Fans will boo Bettman but still attend games. With the CFL, the league is much smaller. If fans are angry at Ambrosie, it's because he isn't doing a good job, they don't feel a connection to him any longer & he's messing with something we feel belongs to us. That is ours. A part of our own.  That's a pretty sleep slope to maneuver if the CFL chooses to go down it.

The other thing I find frustrating is Ambrosie & the CFL bargaining committee should have said to the Players Association to roll up their sleeves as we're going to keep meeting until we get a deal instead of just Monday & Tuesday.  It's like they're not taking any of this seriously.