For some teams, the CFL Offseason is here. Rather than lose all the coaching movement discussions to the Regular season thread, I thought we could start putting it here.

Those teams currently lost in the wilderness:

Ottawa

Toronto

BC

Montreal

Calgary

Edmonton

Saskatchewan

Hamilton

The champs are here.. the champs are here... Winnipeg*

 

*Grey Cup Champions

The notion of a Hub cities works for the NHL because they don’t need fans in the arenas for it to work. Realistically the CFL needs fan in the stands. This doesn’t really work under the Hub city format.

1 hour ago, Mr Dee said:

 

 

Maybe HC and GMs don’t need to make 400K....maybe you really don’t need 11 Assistant Coaches. Do you need 70 players around all year? It’s all well and good that you have IR lists that don’t count against the Cap....but it’s  budget money and gets used to keep players around. There were no mini camps and free agent camps so TC rosters are going to be greatly expanded and you have Dickinson in Sask saying he is looking to fill you are four roster spots...you need 90-100 camp bodies for that? The problem in pro sport is somebody does something so everybody else does it.

It’s like the morning skate in hockey. It was started because equipment managers weren’t always great at sharpening skates...the morning skate was to insure your skates were good for the game....then it became an extra practice time because everybody was doing it. Ironically some teams are scaling back on it as load management is now the buzz word.

35 minutes ago, DR. CFL said:

The notion of a Hub cities works for the NHL because they don’t need fans in the arenas for it to work. Realistically the CFL needs fan in the stands. This doesn’t really work under the Hub city format.

I think the CFL needs to plan for a entire season without fans. I know that there is still hope somewhere that the fans will be able to be there but that's rather unlikely. 

I'm sure their pitch to the gov't includes a reduced schedule, no fans, and rely on TSN revenue with (multiple levels) gov't providing the rest of the funds or offsets. 

2 hours ago, DR. CFL said:

Maybe HC and GMs don’t need to make 400K....maybe you really don’t need 11 Assistant Coaches. Do you need 70 players around all year? It’s all well and good that you have IR lists that don’t count against the Cap....but it’s  budget money and gets used to keep players around. There were no mini camps and free agent camps so TC rosters are going to be greatly expanded and you have Dickinson in Sask saying he is looking to fill you are four roster spots...you need 90-100 camp bodies for that? The problem in pro sport is somebody does something so everybody else does it.

It’s like the morning skate in hockey. It was started because equipment managers weren’t always great at sharpening skates...the morning skate was to insure your skates were good for the game....then it became an extra practice time because everybody was doing it. Ironically some teams are scaling back on it as load management is now the buzz word.

Yeah, 46 players & 3 coaches. Yep, that'll work. 

8 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Yeah, 46 players & 3 coaches. Yep, that'll work. 

Limited numbers of fans could enter draws to be on-hand emergency backups for every game. Who wants to see an eleven year old kid with MS playing Right Guard? I can't be the only one

Seen on reddit, thought I'd share:

32 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Yeah, 46 players & 3 coaches. Yep, that'll work. 

Nobody said 46 players and 3 coaches did they? 

1 hour ago, DR. CFL said:

Nobody said 46 players and 3 coaches did they? 

Point is if the league is unable to make a profit as a whole and are also unsuccessful at increasing revenue, their options are to cut costs or go directly out of business, that's the way it  generally works.

Edited May 21, 20205 yr by Throw Long Bannatyne

1 hour ago, DR. CFL said:

Nobody said 46 players and 3 coaches did they? 

You have all these cheap solutions to make it sound so easy.  The way  you'd have it they'd go back to three coaches & a 32 man roster.  

47 minutes ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

Point is if the league is unable to make a profit as a whole and are also unsuccessful at increasing revenue, their options are to cut costs or go directly out of business, that's the way it  generally works.

They don't make a profit as a whole. The 3 teams in BC, Toronto & Montreal lose money.  The others make or just break even.  The nine teams aren't going to cut loose nearly 200 players & 54 coaches. 

 

5 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

You have all these cheap solutions to make it sound so easy.  The way  you'd have it they'd go back to three coaches & a 32 man roster.  

Well let’s just let the government fund the league. When you let your operating costs get way out of hand and far exceed your revenues...how does any business succeed?  It doesn’t....and the people running the business are to blame. If you want a league and  32 man roster and 3 coaches is the only way you can afford it so be it. I worked in the league when it was 39 man roster and 6 coaches....and amazingly it worked and it was just as exciting. What is your solution?

32 minutes ago, DR. CFL said:

Well let’s just let the government fund the league. When you let your operating costs get way out of hand and far exceed your revenues...how does any business succeed?  It doesn’t....and the people running the business are to blame. If you want a league and  32 man roster and 3 coaches is the only way you can afford it so be it. I worked in the league when it was 39 man roster and 6 coaches....and amazingly it worked and it was just as exciting. What is your solution?

The CFL has a salary cap. You could remove ten players per team and the cost wouldn't go down, the share would just go up. 

And, then dump some poorly paid, over worked coaches? So that you don't develop anyone? 

7 hours ago, Mr Dee said:

 

Not play, lose money. Play without fans in stands, lose more money.

32 minutes ago, DR. CFL said:

Well let’s just let the government fund the league.

How do you think those maple leafs got on the helmet 🤔

6 hours ago, Mr Dee said:

Randy went from the league in great shape to 150m would cover our losses for the year in (covid)19 weeks.

8 hours ago, JCon said:

The CFL has a salary cap. You could remove ten players per team and the cost wouldn't go down, the share would just go up. 

And, then dump some poorly paid, over worked coaches? So that you don't develop anyone? 

What’s your solution?

well if the league was running as usual...it would pull in about 60 million in gate revenue alone between the 9 teams and thats a bit conservative using only an average ticket price of 30 bucks a seat on a league wide avg attendance of 25k...not included in that is box/club seats revenue

Also lost in that is any game day revenue brought in by concessions...parking...booze, as well as game day corporate and business sponsorship and ads in each stadium above and beyond what the league pulls in.

So basically that 150 million number to me is bang on when you add in the lost TV money and if covid hadn't happened things would be rolling along as usual and not in dire straights....Winnipeg..Sask..Hamilton..Ottawa, and usually Edmonton would operate in the Black..Calgary usually is just under..or just over and new Ownership and proper management in Mtl will allow them to not bleed money again...BC...T.O...Who knows there but MLSE has deep assed pockets and are trying to do things to make that team viable and noticed again

Covid has been a good thing and has forced teams and league to take a look at things. and tweek their model to make it stronger....Roster and Coaching numbers are just fine...smart management and savy business minds are key moving forward...just like basically any big business these days

Edited May 21, 20205 yr by Booch

This may have been posted elsewhere already and if so, my apologies. Ambrosie today announced that the league is exploring several season-opening scenarios but the most likely one is a September opening of the season. Good news!

I have absolutely no problems playing games into november/december. Given that we have Andrew Harris and the best OL in the league let's get the shittiest weather possible and just bulldoze everyone. 

3 hours ago, DR. CFL said:

What’s your solution?

All players and coaches are required to be in one of these at all times. We know the Bombers have at least two in stock. You're welcome CFL!

 

4 hours ago, DR. CFL said:

What’s your solution?

It's certainly not to reduce the amount of coaches or players. Reduce the players and you're going to have more injuries. Pretty sure that's a bad thing.

 

This year is anomaly. Treat it as such. Get the government to cover the loss of ticket sales, concessions and TV revenue. Reduce staff where you can but don't cripple the organization. 

 

Look for two hub cities (one East, one West)  that can host the teams and the games for cheapest possible scenario. Play 8 games against teams in your division. No bye weeks but arrange it so some teams can get longer breaks between weeks. Travel costs are reduced. 

 

Winnipeg would be good because of the location of the stadium. Three practice facilities right next door, plus the stadium, means that 4 or 5 teams could practice at once. 

 

Heck, this is anomaly year and let's treat it like such. Players are going to sacrifice a lot this year, so why not look at ways of integrating practices? Get teams to line up against each other. It will give players more chances to show what they have if they're on the bubble with their team. Other teams may be interested. 

 

This is about surviving the storm. 

1 hour ago, JCon said:

This is about surviving the storm

this right here is all that needs to be said. Weather the storm this year and next year things should be more normal. 

7 hours ago, 17to85 said:

I have absolutely no problems playing games into november/december. Given that we have Andrew Harris and the best OL in the league let's get the shittiest weather possible and just bulldoze everyone. 

can you imagine Brandon banks playing when it's minus 30?? Those antelope receivers on the Ti Cats will be crying... The cold weather will take a lot of finesse players out of their game. 

24 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

can you imagine Brandon banks playing when it's minus 30?? Those antelope receivers on the Ti Cats will be crying... The cold weather will take a lot of finesse players out of their game. 

as guys like Woli..Harris..Demski revel in it...Not to mention that nasty O-line who always seem to thrive in cold...weather...as seen the last 2 post seasons

1 hour ago, Booch said:

as guys like Woli..Harris..Demski revel in it...Not to mention that nasty O-line who always seem to thrive in cold...weather...as seen the last 2 post seasons

Yeah a guy like Banks on a warm, dry track is definitely Speedy B. But put him in a situation of extreme cold where he relies on his speed to beat a defender & he is neutralized..