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.

2 hours ago, bryan35 said:

Just what finished it.

For sure.

Jackson Jeffcoat had a great tweet this morning about the CFL needing to tell the players the season plan so that the players could make arrangements to be here and for their out of football life stuff.

13 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Jackson Jeffcoat had a great tweet this morning about the CFL needing to tell the players the season plan so that the players could make arrangements to be here and for their out of football life stuff.

ehhhhhhh I get where he's coming from, but the bottom line is the league doesn't know anything...nobody can make plans because it's a pandemic and everyone's flying by the seat of their pants. The government is the only one who can say anything, and even they're not really sure. So it's not like the league is intentionally holding the players in the dark....they just have no way of knowing anything right now. I get really tired of the players whining like the league is intentionally trying to screw them...

I think we all know that training camps & the season aren't going to start on time so just inform the media, players & fans to make it official. That's all Ambrosie has to do. 

1 hour ago, Noeller said:

ehhhhhhh I get where he's coming from, but the bottom line is the league doesn't know anything...nobody can make plans because it's a pandemic and everyone's flying by the seat of their pants. The government is the only one who can say anything, and even they're not really sure. So it's not like the league is intentionally holding the players in the dark....they just have no way of knowing anything right now. I get really tired of the players whining like the league is intentionally trying to screw them...

CFLPA should be keeping the players updated. Commish should be keeping the owners updated. Then the individual clubs should be telling the fans. 

They could at least let us know under what conditions they're going to start camp in a month. 

If they need fans in the stands, then they can clearly postpone until September or probably just cancel the season. If they can get by with no or very few fans, then May should be a go. 

Are they waiting the CFLPA to approve the new salary structure? 

The gov'ts have approved a variety of return to play scenarios that have similar requirements as the CFL. That should not be an issue, unless their plan is flawed. 

I think the variants and vaccine rollout (lack thereof) are definitely throwing a wrench into things. Gov't is a lot more cautious right now, as they should be. The way the pandemic is going right now, I'm not sure football is very high on the priority list. Just look at situation in Vancouver with the Canucks... I think that's going to put a halt to any risks anyone might have taken. So with all that being said, why release a statement that essentially says nothing? 

Just now, Noeller said:

So with all that being said, why release a statement that essentially says nothing? 

So that we can criticize the league for releasing a statement that essentially says nothing!

2 hours ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

CFLPA should be keeping the players updated. Commish should be keeping the owners updated. Then the individual clubs should be telling the fans. 

If any thing is clear in this off season, the CFLPA doesnt know any more than the fans do. 

9 hours ago, Noeller said:

I think the variants and vaccine rollout (lack thereof) are definitely throwing a wrench into things. Gov't is a lot more cautious right now, as they should be. The way the pandemic is going right now, I'm not sure football is very high on the priority list. Just look at situation in Vancouver with the Canucks... I think that's going to put a halt to any risks anyone might have taken. So with all that being said, why release a statement that essentially says nothing? 

At what point to we stop making excuses for the league and just admit they've ****** up this entire situation?

32 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

At what point to we stop making excuses for the league and just admit they've ****** up this entire situation?

Ghosted again. 

For those wondering why CFL has not given us all the answers yet:

 

regarding this...I'm trying to find the document that I saw online, but I *DID* see a letter from Alberta CMOH Deena Hinshaw to the Alberta Rodeo and Race Association regarding attendance at outdoor events for this year. Alberta is planning on 15% capacity  for End of May (up to 500 people) and increasing every 2 weeks following that, to "full attendance, no cap" by July. So that is certainly their PLAN.....we'll see how the vaxx-ing goes, and how out of hand the variants get. As of today, Alberta announced that the British variant is the dominant strain in Alberta, and that if you test positive, you are to assume it's the UKV. It is 99% of all confirmed cases and is currently raging out of control in this province. Soooooooooo.......... we'll see how that outdoor attendance thing goes......

 

2 hours ago, JCon said:

 

That's friggen hilarious.  Made my day.

Kid is raised right.

not a HUGE deal, but interesting......

 

4 minutes ago, Noeller said:

not a HUGE deal, but interesting......

 

I suspect some of these guys across the league will "unretire" if there is a season.

4 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

I suspect some of these guys across the league will "unretire" if there is a season.

I doubt it. The season, if we get anything, will be short and the pay won't be good. I bet these players have made the decision based on their careers outside football. They're done. 

1 minute ago, JCon said:

I doubt it. The season, if we get anything, will be short and the pay won't be good. I bet these players have made the decision based on their careers outside football. They're done. 

I read where Walters said he left the door open for Bryant Mitchell to come back if he wants. 

From what I can glean from "Covid Tracker Canada " a U of S project, we( MB ) are a shade under %14 vaccinated.  Alberta a bit over %14. BC + Ontario a bit over% 17. Quebec over% 20 .Nova Scotia is under %11. What I'm not sure about is if those numbers include our indigenous communities and if all provinces report that the same.

Well crap!  Wrong discussion ! 

Edited April 9, 20214 yr by the watcher

I 100% agree with SF......I think we'll see un-retirements once things are rolling again....

2 minutes ago, Noeller said:

I 100% agree with SF......I think we'll see un-retirements once things are rolling again....

Maybe for some younger players. But Franklin/Mitchell are long in the tooth.

27 minutes ago, Noeller said:

not a HUGE deal, but interesting......

 

Are these more of "big name" players we were told have been considering retirement? What will the league do without who ever that WR is and a career backup qb? I do love that this kinda screws with the riders though.

What will the Riders do now with only 25 QBs under contract?

1 minute ago, rebusrankin said:

What will the Riders do now with only 25 QBs under contract?

That's one less bunk to fill.