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.

I hear Jefferson and Jeffcoat approve of Hamilton's decision to bring back Chris Van Zeyl.

43 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

I hear Jefferson and Jeffcoat approve of Hamilton's decision to bring back Chris Van Zeyl.

More like Chris TURNSTILE am i right?...

...

I'll show myself out.

This Sun (Jan31) starts the negotiating window between teams and other team's pending FAs.  Window ends the following Sun (Feb7).
Hope there are some leaks who are the Bombers will be negotiating with. 

Edited January 27, 20215 yr by M.O.A.B.

1 hour ago, Stickem said:

So the core of the CFL top tier have not changed......hmmmmm,,,he forgot to add resulting in the same ending....Cup to Bombers....heh heh..

Masoli & his agent are nuts. He could have gone & been the man for another CFL team with more $$$ thrown in. Instead he took a Hometown Discount to be looking over his shoulder at Dane Evans chomping at the bit to play. Having 2 qbs like this is a luxury in the CFL because at some point there will be in juries & the Cats will be locked in with 2 expensive qbs to pay (CFL standards). Waitng another couple of weeks for offers to come in wouldn't have been a bad idea. O|ne or both of those guys will be unhappy at some point this season. 

37 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Masoli & his agent are nuts. He could have gone & been the man for another CFL team with more $$$ thrown in. Instead he took a Hometown Discount to be looking over his shoulder at Dane Evans chomping at the bit to play. Having 2 qbs like this is a luxury in the CFL because at some point there will be in juries & the Cats will be locked in with 2 expensive qbs to pay (CFL standards). Waitng another couple of weeks for offers to come in wouldn't have been a bad idea. O|ne or both of those guys will be unhappy at some point this season. 

Lots of our guys could of bolted for more money as well... sometimes money is not everything.   

Maybe he's happy making less sitting on a bench instead of going to Toronto and getting absolutely mauled for a few extra bucks. 

1 hour ago, M.O.A.B. said:

This Sun (Jan31) starts the negotiating window between teams and other team's pending FAs.  Window ends the following Sun (Feb7).
Hope there are some leaks who are the Bombers will be negotiating with. 

Thing about leaks are that they are usually intended to drive up the price (from the players end) or to get an existing FA to sign (by the team). 

I like when it's quiet (around names) unless it drives up the price for another team, like with Ellingson or Burnham. If we don't get 'em, I hope the price is very high!

 

54 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Masoli & his agent are nuts. He could have gone & been the man for another CFL team with more $$$ thrown in. Instead he took a Hometown Discount to be looking over his shoulder at Dane Evans chomping at the bit to play. Having 2 qbs like this is a luxury in the CFL because at some point there will be in juries & the Cats will be locked in with 2 expensive qbs to pay (CFL standards). Waitng another couple of weeks for offers to come in wouldn't have been a bad idea. O|ne or both of those guys will be unhappy at some point this season. 

So let's Masoli goes to market... Who would want him?

Ottawa, sure, but they have Arbuckle and the Lapo offense. That's not ideal.

Toronto, I guess is the other but they MBT and his ghosts and the Grey Cup winner, Nichols. 

Edited January 27, 20215 yr by JCon

Darren Cameron

 

@Darren_Cameron

·

41s

 

#Bombers announce the team has traded centre Cody Speller to Toronto, along with the 52nd overall selection in the 2021 CFL Draft, in exchange for the 48th overall pick. Speller was a pending free agent in a couple of weeks.

 

Wow... I guess he was gonna leave as an FA and this way they at least get something back in return. Crazy...

4 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Wow... I guess he was gonna leave as an FA and this way they at least get something back in return. Crazy...

Yeah that's a lop sided trade...buut better to get a little something then nothing at all

48 th pic....ouch....BUT something is better than nothing....Speller is a good one and it's better than him taking up residence in the west...especially in the province directly to the west of us...I'm sure he'll help out T.O. ..and lord knows they need all of the help they can get

Speller was only going East, as Booch posted awhile back. Odds are he was going to Toronto anyhow, but this allows them to avoid the headache of someone else driving up the price in a couple weeks. 

yeah it was a given, especially with Neuf re-upping, and the depth we have.

Allows us now to allocate some mid tier salary now to something of more need..especially in this Covid year where SMS will be a bit less available

38 minutes ago, Booch said:

yeah it was a given, especially with Neuf re-upping, and the depth we have.

Allows us now to allocate some mid tier salary now to something of more need..especially in this Covid year where SMS will be a bit less available

Yep. Get that money to re-sign Exume. Walters get 'er done.  

9 hours ago, Brandon said:

Lots of our guys could of bolted for more money as well... sometimes money is not everything.   

Maybe he's happy making less sitting on a bench instead of going to Toronto and getting absolutely mauled for a few extra bucks. 

When he has a bad game & is benched for Evans we'll see how how handles it. 

I'm still convinced Evans will be the Day 1 starter.

6 minutes ago, MOBomberFan said:

I'm still convinced Evans will be the Day 1 starter.

I am too. It's his team now. 

1 hour ago, MOBomberFan said:

I'm still convinced Evans will be the Day 1 starter.

I also dont see any way evans improves on his performance last year. Its impossible to out perform his rookie year, the weight he will have to do that though and what happened in the GC game will make it a tough season for him imo. 

Regardless of who starts the first game, the pressure will be on both to keep their performances up. It could create a great environment of competition, as long as both parties are up for it. 

2 hours ago, JCon said:

Regardless of who starts the first game, the pressure will be on both to keep their performances up. It could create a great environment of competition, as long as both parties are up for it. 

You mean like, see who throws the most picks, or who has the most fumbles? Maybe the starter will be the one that is best at curling into the fetal position like Evans in the Grey Cup lol.

24 minutes ago, Eternal optimist said:

You mean like, see who throws the most picks, or who has the most fumbles? Maybe the starter will be the one that is best at curling into the fetal position like Evans in the Grey Cup lol.

Look, he got his team to the East Final. It was very moving that the TiCats sent a less-fortunate high school team to Calgary. Giving back to the community.

On 2021-01-27 at 1:31 PM, Brandon said:

Lots of our guys could of bolted for more money as well... sometimes money is not everything.   

Maybe he's happy making less sitting on a bench instead of going to Toronto and getting absolutely mauled for a few extra bucks. 

Our guys who took less money will all start whereas no guarantee Masoli will. Or if he does, that after a couple of bad games he won't be benched for Evans. That's when the unhappiness starts, Why not go where the money is & be the undisputed starter? At least listen to offers. 

8 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Our guys who took less money will all start whereas no guarantee Masoli will. Or if he does, that after a couple of bad games he won't be benched for Evans. That's when the unhappiness starts, Why not go where the money is & be the undisputed starter? At least listen to offers. 

Maybe he just likes the situation he's in? Is that so wrong?

22 hours ago, Eternal optimist said:

You mean like, see who throws the most picks, or who has the most fumbles? Maybe the starter will be the one that is best at curling into the feeble position like Evans in the Grey Cup lol.

Fixed that for you.

11 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Our guys who took less money will all start whereas no guarantee Masoli will. Or if he does, that after a couple of bad games he won't be benched for Evans. That's when the unhappiness starts, Why not go where the money is & be the undisputed starter? At least listen to offers. 

Because the only availble options for starting QB are in places where the teams are in rebuild mode in which most likely he will get beaten down over and over again.   He enjoys playing in Hamilton and maybe is loyal to the franchise?