https://www.tsn.ca/naylor-many-questions-but-few-answers-on-a-2021-cfl-season-1.1543725

The Canadian Football League has been outrageously quiet since it pulled the plug on its season more than two months ago, leaving behind a wake of speculation about where things are headed next.

With the reality setting in that COVID-19 is likely to still be around in some form next summer, there is real concern about what the 2021 season might look like or if it will occur at all.

There are teams that believe it is vitally important to play in 2021 and that without a season the CFL is in danger of being mothballed. Whether every team believes that is another question. And there is a lot to sort out before anyone can accurately predict what a season might look like and how much pain the teams are collectively willing to stomach to make it happen.

The league and its franchises are currently running through various scenarios for next season, trying to get a handle on true costs of each and working at ways to trim budgets and save money. That’s likely to continue until the league can truly choose a course of action, which feels like next April at the earliest.

Why? Well, there’s not much point in fully committing to a scenario that’s seven months away if that scenario might be totally unrealistic by the time you get there.

There has been no 2021 business plan presented yet, only regular updates to the presidents and governors about what the league is doing to prepare for the unknown.

It should be noted that teams will need to make decisions about retaining assistant coaches with expiring contracts by December, which will be the first real economic commitments to a 2021 season. Restrictions on signing players will need to be lifted well before the opening of February free agency, where players are likely to meet a cautious market – one in which signing bonuses will probably be absent.

There’s a collective bargaining agreement to amend, if not renegotiate, with the players, which will require some kind of pressure point because it always does. But the league can’t sit down with the players until it gets a true handle on revenues and it can’t do that until it chooses a course of action.

Will CFL teams be allowed to have full stadiums next summer? It doesn't seem likely. But just what percentage of capacity will be allowed – if any at all – is impossible to guess. It seems as if the league is counting on the restrictions that currently prevent fans from being in stadiums being lifted. But to what degree?

When will we see a schedule? Good question. Or could we see multiple schedules for different scenarios? Never say never.

Could it be a 21-week, 18-game season played in home stadiums? Unlikely, given the losses teams are expected to take with reduced numbers of fans in the stands. Could we see a return to the 10-week bubble? Maybe. A nine-game schedule played in home stadiums before fans? Perhaps.

The point is no one knows, so demanding answers to questions that can’t possibly be answered right now is a waste of time.

All we know is that there’s going to be a lot less revenue for teams to operate with under any scenario, not just because of crowd restrictions but also due to older fans choosing to stay home for their safety. The CFL’s fan demographics do it no favours in this regard.

Getting consensus on a best course of action won’t be easy for the CFL’s nine teams. Back in the summer, there were teams that were willing to play without government support and teams that weren’t. And just like then, the biggest challenge commissioner Randy Ambrosie faces now is finding a scenario they can all live with.

Adopting a revenue-sharing model so that each team absorbs the same amount of red ink would certainly make consensus-building easier, which many believe should be the direction for the future, COVID-19 or not.

The other elephant in the room is federal government, which many in the CFL believe left it high and dry last summer after months of back-and-forth talks where the league believed it was making progress.

Is the CFL prepared to go down that road again, knowing it doesn’t control the timeline and larger forces can change things in an instant? Perhaps, although it’s not as though the feds don’t have a long list of people coming at them with their hands out.

There will be voices demanding the owners suck up the losses of playing a season under any circumstance, as owners have done in other sports. But the business calculation in sports such as MLB, NFL, NHL and NBA is different because of the percentage of revenues those leagues derive from television.

Losses sustained by playing in those leagues can also be viewed as investments towards protecting massive franchise values. That’s not the case in the CFL, where teams can’t just float money on the backs of their franchise values, and where one third of the teams are publicly owned.

It would be beneficial for the league to soon announce its formal commitment to play some kind of season in 2021.

But beyond that, get ready for months more of waiting with lots of questions and speculation but very few answers.

Just the bare facts...as we’ve expected, but said out loud.

 

12 hours ago, wbbfan said:

yeah weve seen a lot of flash in the pan qb's falter after defenses adjust to them. Fajardo and adams will both have to deal with that. 

I have a very strong feeling that Fajardo will get "figured out" and become yesterdays news.

I am relishing the thought of ridernation eating it's own in a war of "is Fajardo Done".

*Drools* I can hear the snipping comments, gnashing of teeth and watermelons exploding... This is what Christmas feels like...

Edited December 17, 20205 yr by wanna-b-fanboy

4 hours ago, wanna-b-fanboy said:

I have a very strong feeling that Fajardo will get "figured out" and become yesterdays news.
I am relishing the thought of ridernation eating it's own in a war of "is Fajardo Done".
*Drools* I can hear the snipping comments, gnashing of teeth and watermelons exploding... This is what Christmas feels like...

What pipe dream world do you live in where they have teeth?

59 minutes ago, Eternal optimist said:

What pipe dream world do you live in where they have teeth?

Sorry, gnashing of tooth.

On 2020-12-16 at 11:07 AM, GCn20 said:

We will have some roster turnover for sure. 32 FAs and a reduced SMS kind of seal that deal. Lots of guys on the lower echelon of the pay scale may choose to move on from football and just find jobs down South. The good news is that the upper echelon players will likely begrudgingly take the shave. In my estimation, the new spending policy will just make it really tough on recruitment as well. Losing Rigmaiden couldn't have come at a worse time for us. We may need to shave some luxury items off our list like the extra NAT OLs and a NAT receiver, and carrying 3 KRs is probably something we won't be doing this year either. Some hard decisions on a couple vets are likely as well. Pat Neufeld immediately comes to mind...

SMS hasn't been reduced, but most teams will just spend to the SMS floor....

Als doesn't seem to have problem signing their free-agents. Just saying.

Think Walters said yesterday they were going to spend 500,00 to 600,000 less this year.

15 minutes ago, Jpan85 said:

Think Walters said yesterday they were going to spend 500,00 to 600,000 less this year.

basically hit the floor

4 hours ago, M.O.A.B. said:

Als doesn't seem to have problem signing their free-agents. Just saying.

They do have some problems with winning...just saying.

4 minutes ago, Mark H. said:

They do have some problems with winning...just saying.

They're 10-8 in 2019 2nd in the East. We're 11-7. Not much of a difference. 

11 minutes ago, M.O.A.B. said:

They're 10-8 in 2019 2nd in the East. We're 11-7. Not much of a difference. 

 

15 minutes ago, M.O.A.B. said:

They're 10-8 in 2019 2nd in the East. We're 11-7. Not much of a difference. 

on top of the fact that WE'RE THE ******* CHAMPS (!!!!!!) they also played in the absolute JOKE that is the East Div. Their record means next to nothing...

Sounds like Walters is going to have to get creative to keep the players they want together, that cap hair cut is pretty severe but other teams are probably in the same boat, Walters and the rest will figure it out.

what is the relevance of resigning pending 2021 FAs with winning GC in 2019?

Edited December 18, 20205 yr by M.O.A.B.

4 minutes ago, M.O.A.B. said:

what is the relevance of resigning pending 2021 FAs with winning GC in 2019?

The guys we are re-signing have won a cup more recently than anyone they are re-signing?

Jesus christ, are we really getting to the off-season time of "why isn't Walter's doing anything?"

We all know teams have till Feb 2021 right?

Edited December 18, 20205 yr by Bigblue204

I love that someone is actually sour right now. By gar, it's good to be back into it......

I'm a little concerned we haven't signed anyone yet but nowhere near panic mode. Just wondering when an announcement will come. Walters needs to throw us a bone.

Edited December 19, 20205 yr by SpeedFlex27

It's Walters guys. He works hard. I'm not worried

17 hours ago, M.O.A.B. said:

They're 10-8 in 2019 2nd in the East. We're 11-7. Not much of a difference. 

We were 14 - 7, they were 10 - 9.

That's a huge difference, sir.

We had a pretty average season. 3rd in the West. 4th overall. The difference last year is that we had a great playoff run.

The east is a weaker division, but that only gets the eastern teams 2 extra games against the weaker teams and you can't exactly call BC a strong team last year.

18 hours ago, M.O.A.B. said:

what is the relevance of resigning pending 2021 FAs with winning GC in 2019?

What is the relevance of resigning pending 2021 FAs with winning 11 games in the East Division?

1 hour ago, TBURGESS said:

We had a pretty average season. 3rd in the West. 4th overall. The difference last year is that we had a great playoff run.

The east is a weaker division, but that only gets the eastern teams 2 extra games against the weaker teams and you can't exactly call BC a strong team last year.

I would argue that the Bombers had a slump during the season and were pretty damned good other than that. 

36 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

I would argue that the Bombers had a slump during the season and were pretty damned good other than that. 

The win/loss record speaks for itself. All teams went through slumps. All teams had injury issues. Hamilton had to replace their starting QB before we did. They got 1st in the east. Regina had to replace their starting QB before we did. They got 1st in the West. 4th in a 9 team league is pretty much the definition of average.

42 minutes ago, TBURGESS said:

The win/loss record speaks for itself. All teams went through slumps. All teams had injury issues. Hamilton had to replace their starting QB before we did. They got 1st in the east. Regina had to replace their starting QB before we did. They got 1st in the West. 4th in a 9 team league is pretty much the definition of average.

I take issue with the average except for a great playoff run assessment. I say good start, good finish and little hiccup in the middle. So what do you choose to go with? The few games they were ho-hum or the bulk of the season where they were one of the best teams? It is hard to compare western teams to Eastern teams because of the difference in quality between divisions.