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Around the League: 2019 Off Season


SpeedFlex27
Message added by Rich

For minor off-season non-Bomber CFL news.  Any significant stories or news that is likely to generate significant discussion may have its own thread created. General Bomber news can be found here.

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There's another factor here- the more eyeballs watching CFL football, the more that advertisers are willing to pay. Multi-national corporations like Coca Cola, Adidas etc are willing to fork out big bucks to reach international audiences. Big foreign ratings are not going to come immediately, but its always wise to build for the future.

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3 hours ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

If Ambrosie doesn’t want to be second rate to NFL he better stop employing Americans.

This league doesn’t have energy or resources (including time of the minimal staff they have) to waste.  If Ambrosie things these partnerships are going to bring significant growth he’s really staking his future on it because they don’t have much else going in terms of league initiatives, beyond a bleak looking Atlantic expansion.  This while at least three CFL markets are in crisis.

BTW Canadians have always gone to play in these leagues and other semi-pro leagues in Canada too.  Tons of ex-CFL players have as well, even between CFL stints.  This isn’t treading on new territory.

So much assumption and inference in this post...

Firstly, where did Ambrosie say that we are "second rate" or that we somehow need to compete with the NFL?  Sure compared to the NFL we are a much smaller league and our salary and expense structure reflects that.  But we're not here to compete with the NFL.  We're here to be the CFL.  We offer Americans a chance to play pro ball, in our league.  If they don't want to come here, no worries, we'll find someone else, which seems to be a part of what Ambrosie is doing in these trips.  

Secondly, what makes you think that this is the only thing he's working on?  Sure he doesn't have huge numbers of staff, but that doesn't mean that multiple irons might not be in the fire.  He knows about the player agreement negotiations and the markets that are struggling.  There are always issues like negotiations and markets that are struggling.  The agreement will get hammered out, as those things always do, but he doesn't have magic at his disposal to fix  struggling teams, and for the most part that's not his job anyway.  Those teams have owners.  Maybe those owners should be dealing more directly with that.  Or maybe those "hundreds of thousands of fans" that one of our Argo fanboys likes to talk about need to get off their collective asses and maybe, ya know, actually be a fan and go to a game?  Don't see Ambrosie having too much to do with that.  

Lastly, what he's doing is formalizing or exploring relationships with Mexican and European leagues.  That's completely different.  The odd guy wandering to Europe or Mexico to play ball doesn't mean much of anything.  Ambrosie exploring new markets and opportunities in Mexico and Europe is not at all the same thing.  Not even close.

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22 hours ago, TBURGESS said:

I don't understand how this 'don't pay offseason bonuses' is legal. Players have contracts that say they will receive X dollars on Y date. Wouldn't not paying the contractual obligation put the CFL and the teams in breach of contract?

I think the issue was that existing contracts were valid and would require fulfilling bonus payments, but that new contracts would not be registered that had bonus components this off season until a new CBA was in place. 

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34 minutes ago, DR. CFL said:

I think the issue was that existing contracts were valid and would require fulfilling bonus payments, but that new contracts would not be registered that had bonus components this off season until a new CBA was in place. 

If it's just new contracts, then it wouldn't be a breach. With the number of players being re-signed, it would still effect a large percentage of the league.

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7 hours ago, Noeller said:

You're way off on this one, Iso.....Dave Naylor actually just had an article about how the whole "CFL players make no money" thing is really a misnomer and part of their image problem. You can't compare it to "other leagues" because what other leagues are in the same situation as the CFL? Same number of teams, same TV deal, etc....where's the direct comparison? 

I was referring to sports leagues only. Rather than someone in another industry or line of work that isn't pro sports. In that regard, it's very difficult to compare what a welder does to playing pro football. An entry level salary of $70,000 plus is great money for anyone. But if compare it to other sports leagues & it isn't. That is what I was talking about. But I do get your point, Noeller.  Interesting what kind of "agenda" some people think I have when it comes to player salaries.  The only thing I want is for our players to be well paid so these fly by night leagues that come & go can't steal our guys.

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16 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

What agenda would that be? Please tell me as I'm curious to know myself.

If you would like to know yourself and are having trouble with that, ask the RCMP. They probably have an extensive file on you.

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8 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Then it should be easy to translate to fans who weren't there.  How come it's so hard?

Well, others have pretty much stated it. Essentially he wants the league to begin to have more of an international focus in order to increase viewership both around the world and in Canada. So they have begun to reach out to these football federations in order to build partnerships (not like the NFL going in and dictating but an actual partnership). The thought is that the best of their players will eventually play in the CFL and that Canadians who can't make the CFL will end up in those leagues.This will led to other venue streams from these nations which will increase the league's revenue. As well, he mentioned the differences in markets across the league. His belief is that places like Toronto with some many first and second generation Canadians are more attracted to leagues they view as international in nature.

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49 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Well, others have pretty much stated it. Essentially he wants the league to begin to have more of an international focus in order to increase viewership both around the world and in Canada. So they have begun to reach out to these football federations in order to build partnerships (not like the NFL going in and dictating but an actual partnership). The thought is that the best of their players will eventually play in the CFL and that Canadians who can't make the CFL will end up in those leagues.This will led to other venue streams from these nations which will increase the league's revenue. As well, he mentioned the differences in markets across the league. His belief is that places like Toronto with some many first and second generation Canadians are more attracted to leagues they view as international in nature.

He may be right. I have no idea how to get Toronto fans back. That should be Job 1. 

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15 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

I was referring to sports leagues only. Rather than someone in another industry or line of work that isn't pro sports. In that regard, it's very difficult to compare what a welder does to playing pro football. An entry level salary of $70,000 plus is great money for anyone. But if compare it to other sports leagues & it isn't. That is what I was talking about. But I do get your point, Noeller.  Interesting what kind of "agenda" some people think I have when it comes to player salaries.  The only thing I want is for our players to be well paid so these fly by night leagues that come & go can't steal our guys.

NLL 12 team league, third highest attendance of any indoor sporting league behind only NHL and NBA, $400 000 USD soft salary cap. $34 000 for a "franchise player"

What about the new Canadian professional soccer league, what do their guys make?

Independent Baseball ie Winnipeg Goldeyes.

Any of these guys would be over the moon with $70 000.

 

Or compare it to anyone getting paid to do what they love, many would love to be able to make $70 000 a year. 

I can't even fathom why I bothered to reply but your logic was so circular I was getting dizzy.

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15 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

He may be right. I have no idea how to get Toronto fans back. That should be Job 1. 

I lived there from 2005 to 2011 and attended a ton of argo games.

1) In game experience. It was *great* from 2005 to 2009. Lots of promos, on field action, etc. It was normal to get 25K plus.

2) Friday night games were most popular but were an issue if they couldn't link up with Jays games.

3) Competitive team. 

 

Team ownership got cheap and sponsors started bowing out after and the on field product started to suffer so people stayed away. The jays were just as affordable for a 500 level ticket which on a friday night was a blast. 

 

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Just now, rebusrankin said:

Anybody else see the piece about the Raiders possibly doing an exhibition game at Mosaic? Isn't it bad enough those guys have to live in Oakland?

That's pretty bad. 

But, they would be playing the Packers?

Wow. What a mess the Raiders are. They're playing at the SF Giants field this year and not in Oakland. 

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4 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Anybody else see the piece about the Raiders possibly doing an exhibition game at Mosaic? Isn't it bad enough those guys have to live in Oakland?

I think that the idea is to stop the players from complaining about being in Oakland.  Sort of a "Look around boys, Regina makes Oakland look like Hawaii, doesn't it?"

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2 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

Anybody else see the piece about the Raiders possibly doing an exhibition game at Mosaic? Isn't it bad enough those guys have to live in Oakland?

There's a good chance that whoever in the Raiders' organization will sober up enough soon to say, "WTF was I thinking?" and cancel the whole thing.

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