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.

Its interesting to see who among the Bombers players who will take a pay cut to help the others get signed. 

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

Its interesting to see who among the Bombers players who will take a pay cut to help the others get signed. 

I would bet Harris and Bryant would...off top my head, or come back at same salary if it worked

I'm interested to know what we've already done but haven't announced. Sometimes management keeps these things close to the chest.

They dont gain anything by delaying the announcement though if they really have FA signings made already.

$404K in 2021, $500K in 2022.

And hopefully more of this:

"Imagine going all in on Cody Fajardo" -- Raydawg

hahaha....good luck with that..especially with zippidy do dah for an o-line

Noodle arm and teams aren't gonna let him get away with that stupid spin move all the time. What's he got then? 

 

11 hours ago, blue_gold_84 said:

$404K in 2021, $500K in 2022.

And hopefully more of this:

They signed Fajardo to an expensive contract & now some veteran Rider players will be released. Even guys who just re-signed. 

11 hours ago, 17to85 said:

Noodle arm and teams aren't gonna let him get away with that stupid spin move all the time. What's he got then? 

 

what he's had for 5 years...a seat on the bench due to lack of starter talent....Shows how out to lunch Rider Management must be to reward a guy that after 1 season of moderate success...it's not like he lit things up and only led the league in passing because every other starter went down hurt...but good signing...for the other 8 teams!!

Riders: *score 0 TDs in western final*
Riders fans: "best young qb in the league"

7 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

They signed Fajardo to an expensive contract & now some veteran Rider players will be released. Even guys who just re-signed. 

Cue the release of guys like Hughes or Elimimian then Riders starts dishing them off

that CFL News Twitter feed is running a bunch of quotes from Fajardo talking about how he's "not that interested in the NFL".... "The money is there, sure, but........" blah blah.... LIKE HE WOULD HAVE A LEGITIMATE CHANCE! 

It is staggering to me that a career 3rd string CFLer is all of a sudden being talked about as the second coming of Ricky Ray.....staggering! 

21 minutes ago, Noeller said:

that CFL News Twitter feed is running a bunch of quotes from Fajardo talking about how he's "not that interested in the NFL".... "The money is there, sure, but........" blah blah.... LIKE HE WOULD HAVE A LEGITIMATE CHANCE! 

It is staggering to me that a career 3rd string CFLer is all of a sudden being talked about as the second coming of Ricky Ray.....staggering! 

Thats how Rider fans view things....always has been...They shat all over his original signing...now he is the best in league...laughable

Fajardo's signing guarantee's 4 stripes for a few more years

when you look at his numbers, he averaged 239 yards passing with 1 TD and .44 picks per game... ran for 10 TD's as well...and couldn't lead them to a home win in their own barn in a playoff match where winner gets to cup...Are those 500k a year and elite QB creds?? .and best QB in league...yeah I didnt think so either....which makes it even more funny 

Conversely Strev accounted for 20 Td's (passing and running) in probably 1/3 of the reps...was a key component in play-off wins with 2 games on the road (on a broken foot to boot) as well as key in winning a Grey Cup...interesting...also of note in only his second year in the CFL and really only his 3rd real year as an actual full fledged QB 

 

Here's to two more years of building these kind of memories.

What astounds me most about the deal is that the Riders were bidding against themselves. No one is interested in him. 

 

 

But, the Riders will probably be spending to the cap again. They probably have more flexibility than anyone else on this. They have the room and will probably do well in FA. 

3 hours ago, Noeller said:

that CFL News Twitter feed is running a bunch of quotes from Fajardo talking about how he's "not that interested in the NFL".... "The money is there, sure, but........" blah blah.... LIKE HE WOULD HAVE A LEGITIMATE CHANCE! 

It is staggering to me that a career 3rd string CFLer is all of a sudden being talked about as the second coming of Ricky Ray.....staggering! 

Fajardo has figured out how to read CFL defenses & finding the extra 12th man which means he's a legit starter.  I mean, we're expecting the same big things from Sean McGuire as a fanbase ourselves. I've seen qbs who initially struggled become productive starters & champions. Some guys take longer than others. Just playing Devil's Advocate here & giving the other side of the story. I've seen inexperienced qbs who initially looked lost on the field suddenly figure it out & become league champions, award winners & all stars. If anyone here remembers Dieter Brock's first start against Edmonton in 1974 you know what I mean. 

Edited January 6, 20215 yr by SpeedFlex27

2 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

It looks like Fajardo has figured out how to read CFL defenses.  It looks like he has which means he's a legit starter.  I mean we're expecting big things from Sean McGuire as a fanbase ourselves. I've seen qbs who initially struggled become productive starters & champions. Some guys take longer than others. Just playing Devil's Advocate here & giving the other side of the story. 

I don't know that we're expecting big things. I think we've seen the skillset in practice and are encouraged to see if he can do it on the field in a game. We're not starting him now, anyhow. 

 

Yes, perhaps Cody has figured some stuff out but he's so flawed in many areas. I don't expect him to be able to overcome his deficiencies but he'll likely get better. 

2 minutes ago, JCon said:

I don't know that we're expecting big things. I think we've seen the skillset in practice and are encouraged to see if he can do it on the field in a game. We're not starting him now, anyhow. 

 

Yes, perhaps Cody has figured some stuff out but he's so flawed in many areas. I don't expect him to be able to overcome his deficiencies but he'll likely get better. 

If defenses can take away his cute little reverse step to the right when the pocket collapses That would be a start. My son used that move when he played & he got destroyed a couple of times. He didn't see a linebacker or DL rushing on his opposite side & he stepped right into them. BOOM! The same thing will happen to Fajardo except CFL players hit a lot harder than college. 

I know of exactly 1 29 year old career 3rd stringer-turned-starter, Mr Fajardo, and you sir, are no Khari Jones.......

Edited January 6, 20215 yr by Noeller

I don't think he figured them out...caught many off-guard at first, as he was generally just a runner, but as season rolled on...his stats declined. Plus teams were flatfooted on a lot of his deep throws...most of which hung up there and basically was a 50/50 or one where db was in chase a bit, as nobody knew he could, or would throw...Those balls will be easy picks now, as they wee moreso later in season...he has a noodle arm, and not a lot of pocket poise

 

McGuire has a cannon..throws on a line, and can and will stand in the pocket...looking forward to more reps from him this year

Fajardo isn't absolutely god awful as some of the people on here are making him out to be.  That being said I'm not sure who else in the league would be looking his way since each team seems to be set at QB so they could of gave him a more prove me deal.    Either way it will be interesting to see how the season goes for him and if people take away his run game from him and force him to throw in the pocket. 

Just now, Noeller said:

I know of exactly 1 career 3rd stringer-turned-starter, Mr Fajardo, and you sir, are no Khari Jones.......

Backups who struggled but became starters & champions. Dieter Brock, Khari Jones, Rick Cassatta, Tom Wilkinson, Anthony Calvillo, Danny McManus. Off the top of my head. Dave Dickenson was a third string backup to Doug Flutie & Jeff Garcia in 1996. It took him 4 seasons to become the Stampeder starter & lead his team to the 99 Grey Cup. So, it does happen. 

36 minutes ago, JCon said:

I don't know that we're expecting big things. I think we've seen the skillset in practice and are encouraged to see if he can do it on the field in a game. We're not starting him now, anyhow. 

 

 

My expectations as a fan is that he's our next long term starter. That's what I hope. That he can develop into a star. Do I expect it? Nope. Can I wish? Absolutely.