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.

25 minutes ago, bigg jay said:

Say what you want about him on the field but off-field Matt Nichols is phenomenal.

 

 

 

One good thing about the Nichols move to Ottawa for me: we were not supposed to play the Argos at home this year due to the imbalanced schedule. At least now when the RedBlacks show up Oct. 2 the club can give Nichols a proper video tribute (which he deserves) and the fans can applaud him (which he even more so deserves) for all he did to bring the Bombers back from the dead into the playoffs and ultimately into a Grey Cup champion in his time here, not to mention all his community work and charitable donations. 

Edited February 3, 20215 yr by TrueBlue4ever

1 hour ago, bigg jay said:

Say what you want about him on the field but off-field Matt Nichols is phenomenal.

 

 

A few xmas's ago my brother got my girls a Harris and Nichols jersey. 

 

I Instagramed a pic of the girls wearing the jerseys and tagged both players. 

 

Nichols shared the pic on his feed and thanked my girls and wished them a merry xmas.  

 

Class act, I have nothing but love for Matty Ice. 

Oops, meant to post this in the FA thread. Anyhow, I'll leave it here too. 

 

At least Hughes won't have to drink so much anymore, he'll no longer have to be in Regina as much. 

Edited February 3, 20215 yr by JCon

I may have missed this but, 

 

I'm wondering if anyone has an idea how Buck is gonna run our Offense? 

Im sure Lapo will have influenced his schemes but this is another storyline im really looking foward to seeing. 

 

I dont see him being a scheme before players strenghts guy. 

4 hours ago, Dodge and Burn said:

I may have missed this but, 

 

I'm wondering if anyone has an idea how Buck is gonna run our Offense? 

Im sure Lapo will have influenced his schemes but this is another storyline im really looking foward to seeing. 

 

I dont see him being a scheme before players strenghts guy. 

I don’t think LaPo was the “scheme over talent” guy many would claim. The talent on this offence was a big o-line, a bull at running back who was a great receiver out of the backfield, one deep threat who had OK but not world class speed, and a QB with good accuracy and could run through progressions but a middling arm and was not a risk taker. LaPo crated a ball control offence that would not light it up but could control the time of possession and limit turnovers, and took advantage of a robot at kicker to get points on the board more often than risking turnovers that kept points off the board. Not as flashy as a high risk/reward quick strike offence, but took the tools he had and maximized its effectiveness and working around its shortcomings. When he had Milt, Khari, and Roberts in his first go-round he loaded up the playbook to use them. When Streveler came in he adapted to incorporate a strong running pivot with much less accuracy and made him a viable weapon that could throw just enough to keep defences off balance. When Collaros came in, the longer pass plays were then incorporated to work to his strengths. People knocked LaPo for a “predictable, boring” offence but it played to the ball control grind it out strengths we had and it won us a Grey Cup. At least that’s how I saw it. Many would chafe at the lack of excitement and non-sexiness of the “not a gun-slinger” style of offence, but you can’t argue with the ultimate result, and it for with the strengths of the talent we had. 

5 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

I don’t think LaPo was the “scheme over talent” guy many would claim. The talent on this offence was a big o-line, a bull at running back who was a great receiver out of the backfield, one deep threat who had OK but not world class speed, and a QB with good accuracy and could run through progressions but a middling arm and was not a risk taker. LaPo crated a ball control offence that would not light it up but could control the time of possession and limit turnovers, and took advantage of a robot at kicker to get points on the board more often than risking turnovers that kept points off the board. Not as flashy as a high risk/reward quick strike offence, but took the tools he had and maximized its effectiveness and working around its shortcomings. When he had Milt, Khari, and Roberts in his first go-round he loaded up the playbook to use them. When Streveler came in he adapted to incorporate a strong running pivot with much less accuracy and made him a viable weapon that could throw just enough to keep defences off balance. When Collaros came in, the longer pass plays were then incorporated to work to his strengths. People knocked LaPo for a “predictable, boring” offence but it played to the ball control grind it out strengths we had and it won us a Grey Cup. At least that’s how I saw it. Many would chafe at the lack of excitement and non-sexiness of the “not a gun-slinger” style of offence, but you can’t argue with the ultimate result, and it for with the strengths of the talent we had. 

I would agree on all that. It worked and came to head in the big game, Harris was the catalyst of our game plan and we dominated. 

 

We pretty much have the same personal as the grey cup winning team minus Strev plus Harris who is year older. 

 

Nobody knows if Harris has lost a step. 

 

Does Buck base his offense around Harris and misdirection/short passes like Lapo or not? 

A lot of that probably depends on where Harris is at after 18 months of inactivity, and the evolution of both our offence around Collaros and other teams’ defences. Hopefully we adapt as others teams will have tape on what we already did. 

51 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

I don’t think LaPo was the “scheme over talent” guy many would claim. The talent on this offence was a big o-line, a bull at running back who was a great receiver out of the backfield, one deep threat who had OK but not world class speed, and a QB with good accuracy and could run through progressions but a middling arm and was not a risk taker. LaPo crated a ball control offence that would not light it up but could control the time of possession and limit turnovers, and took advantage of a robot at kicker to get points on the board more often than risking turnovers that kept points off the board. Not as flashy as a high risk/reward quick strike offence, but took the tools he had and maximized its effectiveness and working around its shortcomings. When he had Milt, Khari, and Roberts in his first go-round he loaded up the playbook to use them. When Streveler came in he adapted to incorporate a strong running pivot with much less accuracy and made him a viable weapon that could throw just enough to keep defences off balance. When Collaros came in, the longer pass plays were then incorporated to work to his strengths. People knocked LaPo for a “predictable, boring” offence but it played to the ball control grind it out strengths we had and it won us a Grey Cup. At least that’s how I saw it. Many would chafe at the lack of excitement and non-sexiness of the “not a gun-slinger” style of offence, but you can’t argue with the ultimate result, and it for with the strengths of the talent we had. 

Ok but did lapo get the players he wanted to make his scheme work? Remember when we hired him how he talked about getting more say in his players? Even in 02 he used dump offs to roberts and sellers a crap load. The guy runs a very similar offence everywhere he goes.

"does Buck base his offense around Harris...." 

If he doesn't, he's a dummy. And Buck's no dummy... 

40 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Ok but did lapo get the players he wanted to make his scheme work? Remember when we hired him how he talked about getting more say in his players? Even in 02 he used dump offs to roberts and sellers a crap load. The guy runs a very similar offence everywhere he goes.

I don’t think he said “Hmm, Milt Stegall better fit into my short pass scheme or he has to go for a better fit”. But yes, his schemes would probably highlight some players more than others, and in some cases individual production would either exceed expectations or suffer. Still, I don’t think Drew Wolitarsky and Julian Feoli-Gudino are 1,500 yard receivers that got wasted by Lapo’s short pass offence. Maybe with Mike Reilly they hit 800 yards or scrape to 1,000 in a career year. 

Edited February 4, 20215 yr by TrueBlue4ever

1 hour ago, 17to85 said:

Ok but did lapo get the players he wanted to make his scheme work? Remember when we hired him how he talked about getting more say in his players? Even in 02 he used dump offs to roberts and sellers a crap load. The guy runs a very similar offence everywhere he goes.

Idk, did he get the players he wanted? Enough to win a grey cup yeah? 

2 hours ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

I don’t think he said “Hmm, Milt Stegall better fit into my short pass scheme or he has to go for a better fit”. But yes, his schemes would probably highlight some players more than others, and in some cases individual production would either exceed expectations or suffer. Still, I don’t think Drew Wolitarsky and Julian Feoli-Gudino are 1,500 yard receivers that got wasted by Lapo’s short pass offence. Maybe with Mike Reilly they hit 800 yards or scrape to 1,000 in a career year. 

Sorry, disagree about Wolitarsky. He was woefully under used in LaPo's schemes & with Nichols doing checkdowns. He's a thousand yard receiver easily with Bo Levi Mitchell & Trevor Harris.. 

11 hours ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

Still, I don’t think Drew Wolitarsky and Julian Feoli-Gudino are 1,500 yard receivers that got wasted by Lapo’s short pass offence.

Those two aren't remotely comparable... wolitarsky is significantly better, and yes I truly believe ha can be a 1000 yard guy if used differently. Might not happen here because of how good and versatile Harris is though.

12 hours ago, Noeller said:

"does Buck base his offense around Harris...." 

If he doesn't, he's a dummy. And Buck's no dummy... 

Any team employing Harris is going to base their offence around him. It's a no brainer and a pretty obvious formula for success no matter what the Lapo detractors are trying to sell here. The proof is in the pudding. Grey Cup Champs!!

35 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

Any team employing Harris is going to base their offence around him. It's a no brainer and a pretty obvious formula for success no matter what the Lapo detractors are trying to sell here. The proof is in the pudding. Grey Cup Champs!!

Not to mention some of the best offensive production in the league in recent years. #33 is the straw that stirs in the drink in Bomberland.

On 2021-02-03 at 2:02 PM, TrueBlue4ever said:

 

One good thing about the Nichols move to Ottawa for me: we were not supposed to play the Argos at home this year due to the imbalanced schedule. At least now when the RedBlacks show up Oct. 2 the club can give Nichols a proper video tribute (which he deserves) and the fans can applaud him (which he even more so deserves) for all he did to bring the Bombers back from the dead into the playoffs and ultimately into a Grey Cup champion in his time here, not to mention all his community work and charitable donations. 

Appreciate this but wouldn't hold your breath on fans in the stands

5 hours ago, GCn20 said:

Any team employing Harris is going to base their offence around him. It's a no brainer and a pretty obvious formula for success no matter what the Lapo detractors are trying to sell here. The proof is in the pudding. Grey Cup Champs!!

Speaking of Grey Cup Champs... shouldn't you change your name?

1 hour ago, CodyT said:

Appreciate this but wouldn't hold your breath on fans in the stands

So much can change so quickly.......but right now I'd bet on no fans for the first half of the season, and then limited fans starting after Labour Day...

1 hour ago, Noeller said:

So much can change so quickly.......but right now I'd bet on no fans for the first half of the season, and then limited fans starting after Labour Day...

Yeah. Completely agree.

On 2021-02-03 at 2:16 PM, JCon said:

Oops, meant to post this in the FA thread. Anyhow, I'll leave it here too. 

 

At least Hughes won't have to drink so much anymore, he'll no longer have to be in Regina as much. 

So, everyone spend to the salary cap floor but the asshat Argos look to be spending to the ceiling. ThE CFL can be so bush league at times & why Ambrosie won't open the books to the govt or CFLPA. 

3 hours ago, Noeller said:

So much can change so quickly.......but right now I'd bet on no fans for the first half of the season, and then limited fans starting after Labour Day...

The Ottawa game is on October 2. I would say odds are better that we will have fans in the stands than not by that time. 

On 2021-02-03 at 3:39 PM, Dodge and Burn said:

I may have missed this but, 

 

I'm wondering if anyone has an idea how Buck is gonna run our Offense? 

Im sure Lapo will have influenced his schemes but this is another storyline im really looking foward to seeing. 

 

I dont see him being a scheme before players strenghts guy. 

I suspect we will see less gimmick plays, a slightly more balanced attack, and progressive passing offense. Instead of constantly just targeting what the defensive gives under coverage and then having wrs try to turn it up field for first downs, I think we will see that used to set up deeper shots, so we push the defenders back and open up the mid section beyond the classic hook/curl/flat zone.  More slants/skinny post/ F post multi post  plays creating rubs etc. 

I could see some evolution in the type of running plays, as well as more demski touches too. Less hard nosed between the tackle running and maybe more off tackle stuff. When we've run counter trap stuff its been really effective. 

22 hours ago, Noeller said:

So much can change so quickly.......but right now I'd bet on no fans for the first half of the season, and then limited fans starting after Labour Day...

Can the CFL even start with no fans in the stands?

Just now, bryan35 said:

Can the CFL even start with no fans in the stands?

I don't think they can without gov't support. I expect that they will bring a plan this time and receive support from the Feds. Most Prov gov'ts are already supporting the clubs through their stadiums. 

49 minutes ago, bryan35 said:

Can the CFL even start with no fans in the stands?

One year of the TSN deal alone split evenly between the teams pays for more then 95% of the salary cap.