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.

It’s on their Grey Cup rings

It’s also a reason I would believe that they are one of the teams at 85% Vax rate

3 hours ago, Stickem said:

Labatte was bush when he was here...Always counting the days till he could return to bush league country..Finally got his excuse when we were going to move him on the o line, and he used that to head back to the  land of inter- breds ...What a team mate......NOT

 

I have probably told this story before. I met a Riderfan in a Lloydminister hotel. He said Labatte could have made the NFL, but chose the CFL because he was already rich from the family grain farm. 🤣🤣

21 hours ago, Jpan85 said:

It’s on their Grey Cup rings

It’s also a reason I would believe that they are one of the teams at 85% Vax rate

21 hours ago, kelownabomberfan said:

Drool

On 2021-08-12 at 5:47 PM, Noeller said:

FIFO was brought to Wpg (I was made aware of this in 2019) and its a BIG deal in the room. 

Streveler has it tattooed on his leg 

After so many years of bad football from our boys, I am just so grateful for what has been built here. Miller, Walter's and Osh. 

Love it. 

19 minutes ago, Geebrr said:

Streveler has it tattooed on his leg 

That is amazing.... 

9 minutes ago, Noeller said:

That is amazing.... 

I love that kid

https://www.instagram.com/p/CRNO2CPg921/?utm_medium=copy_link

Edited August 14, 20214 yr by Geebrr

2 hours ago, wbbfan said:

Drool

Replicas are available. And the money helps the club. 

38 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

Replicas are available. And the money helps the club. 

Yeah I have one of the replicas the real deal is just spectacular. Or is that different from the fan version. 

2 hours ago, Geebrr said:

I love that kid

https://www.instagram.com/p/CRNO2CPg921/?utm_medium=copy_link

One of my favorite people to play for the Bombers in the modern era. 

On 2021-08-13 at 3:44 PM, kelownabomberfan said:

My favourite part is the 33-12 

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

Yeah I have one of the replicas the real deal is just spectacular. Or is that different from the fan version. 

The player’s ring was white and yellow gold with their name in yellow gold and their number in diamonds, and the inside personalized engraving, with the 11 sapphires along the bottom of the rim for each of the team’s championships. The deluxe replica ring had 3 options: metallic alloy instead of gold and zirconium instead of diamonds and sapphires for $500, real white gold (no yellow) and zirconium for $5800, or white gold and diamonds for $7500. Some versions of the fan replica ring did not have the 11 blue stones along the bottom of the rim. The fan rings did not have the game score or engraving on the inside, and slight modifications on the sides compared to the player rings. On one side where the players had their name and number, the fan rings have “Winnipeg” in place of the name, and the CFL logo in place of the number. In both versions of the ring, the player number or Logo is bracketed by the roof line of IG Field as viewed from the end zone, simulating the view the players would have coming out of the tunnel to start the game. On the other side, the player’s ring had the Grey Cup there with “107” on it, bracketed by the words “Blue” and “Bombers” and the Golden Boy on one side and Esplanade Reil on the other behind the Cup. The fan ring did not have the 107 on the Cup or the words Blue Bombers, and added the Provincial crest and the year 2019. The player’s ring had the “Grey Cup Champions” along the rim in yellow gold with the sapphires, and the deluxe fan ring added the words Blue Bombers, but again that ring is only white gold. The non-deluxe fan ring removed the sapphires and made the rim typing bigger. The faces of all the rings were identical with the “W” in blue enamel surrounded by diamonds or zirconium. There were also a bunch of other pendants and such that could be bought, and of course all are personally sized. The replica ring ($50 and re-issued and in stock at the Bomber store now) is metallic alloy and zirconium and comes only in size 10, meant more for display than wearing. Full details on all the jewelry here:

https://www.bluebombers.com/greycuprings/
 

My ring pictured above is a different thing altogether. It was a limited edition 90th anniversary ring offered to select fans for purchase. Modelled after the player’s Cup ring with the same “W” face (but only zirconium, diamonds not available) but in pure white and yellow gold. The rim is yellow gold with each of the 11 Grey Cup winning years and the sapphires placed in between each year and not all along the bottom. One side of the white gold ring has the CFL logo, with “Grey Cup Champions” over top of it. On the other side is the Grey Cup, Golden Boy, and Esplanade Riel bracketed by the stadium arches, and my personalized name in yellow gold above it. On the bottom of the ring the words Blue Bombers are engraved, and in the inside of the ring, the specific lot number is stamped. Only 90 maximum were being made, first come first served. I am aware of at least a dozen that were ordered. Felt very lucky to be one of those to whom the offer to purchase was made. Don’t ask the cost, my wife does not like to talk about such things (“Will it really make you happy, dear?” was all the permission I needed). But with no football last year, my season ticket money for 2020 was put to good use covering a decent chunk of the cost, and the club said they had a good deal with the supplier to get a cut of the profits. Did not feel right getting a replica of a championship ring for a team I did not play on, but was happy to buy a team ring for their anniversary and help support the club that way. 

Edited August 14, 20214 yr by TrueBlue4ever

39 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

The player’s ring was white and yellow gold with their name in yellow gold and their number in diamonds, and the inside personalized engraving, with the 11 sapphires along the bottom of the rim for each of the team’s championships. The deluxe replica ring had 3 options: metallic alloy instead of gold and zirconium instead of diamonds and sapphires for $500, real white gold (no yellow) and zirconium for $5800, or white gold and diamonds for $7500. Some versions of the fan replica ring did not have the 11 blue stones along the bottom of the rim. The fan rings did not have the game score or engraving on the inside, and slight modifications on the sides compared to the player rings. On one side where the players had their name and number, the fan rings have “Winnipeg” in place of the name, and the CFL logo in place of the number. In both versions of the ring, the player number or Logo is bracketed by the roof line of IG Field as viewed from the end zone, simulating the view the players would have coming out of the tunnel to start the game. On the other side, the player’s ring had the Grey Cup there with “107” on it, bracketed by the words “Blue” and “Bombers” and the Golden Boy on one side and Esplanade Reil on the other behind the Cup. The fan ring did not have the 107 on the Cup or the words Blue Bombers, and added the Provincial crest and the year 2019. The player’s ring had the “Grey Cup Champions” along the rim in yellow gold with the sapphires, and the deluxe fan ring added the words Blue Bombers, but again that ring is only white gold. The non-deluxe fan ring removed the sapphires and made the rim typing bigger. The faces of all the rings were identical with the “W” in blue enamel surrounded by diamonds or zirconium. There were also a bunch of other pendants and such that could be bought, and of course all are personally sized. The replica ring ($50 and re-issued and in stock at the Bomber store now) is metallic alloy and zirconium and comes only in size 10, meant more for display than wearing. Full details on all the jewelry here:

https://www.bluebombers.com/greycuprings/
 

My ring pictured above is a different thing altogether. It was a limited edition 90th anniversary ring offered to select fans for purchase. Modelled after the player’s Cup ring with the same “W” face (but only zirconium, diamonds not available) but in pure white and yellow gold. The rim is yellow gold with each of the 11 Grey Cup winning years and the sapphires placed in between each year and not all along the bottom. One side of the white gold ring has the CFL logo, with “Grey Cup Champions” over top of it. On the other side is the Grey Cup, Golden Boy, and Esplanade Riel bracketed by the stadium arches, and my personalized name in yellow gold above it. On the bottom of the ring the words Blue Bombers are engraved, and in the inside of the ring, the specific lot number is stamped. Only 90 maximum were being made, first come first served. I am aware of at least a dozen that were ordered. Felt very lucky to be one of those to whom the offer to purchase was made. Don’t ask the cost, my wife does not like to talk about such things (“Will it really make you happy, dear?” was all the permission I needed). But with no football last year, my season ticket money for 2020 was put to good use covering a decent chunk of the cost, and the club said they had a good deal with the supplier to get a cut of the profits. Did not feel right getting a replica of a championship ring for a team I did not play on, but was happy to buy a team ring for their anniversary and help support the club that way. 

Didn't realize they had soo many variants I might have to get em all. Thanks. 

BC dumped that poor little Japanese kicker... Poor bugger. We hardly knew ye... 

23 minutes ago, Noeller said:

BC dumped that poor little Japanese kicker... Poor bugger. We hardly knew ye... 

Should have after game one..he cost them the game

On the having one global on the roster, obviously we have the best global in Hansen but noticed a few teams using globals as punters, isn't that or a linebacker type that can play teams the way to go?

1 hour ago, rebusrankin said:

On the having one global on the roster, obviously we have the best global in Hansen but noticed a few teams using globals as punters, isn't that or a linebacker type that can play teams the way to go?

We are playing two global Hanson and Mauro 

42 minutes ago, Jpan85 said:

We are playing two global Hanson and Mauro 

I think we have the 2 best global players and the best prospect in oyelola. 

2 hours ago, wbbfan said:

I think we have the 2 best global players and the best prospect in oyelola. 

i agree....our globals in now way hurt us...actually contribute

 

20 minutes ago, Booch said:

i agree....our globals in now way hurt us...actually contribute

 

Because Kyle walters puts in the legwork to find out about guys. Seriously in my estimation he is the hardest working gm out there.

1 hour ago, 17to85 said:

Because Kyle walters puts in the legwork to find out about guys. Seriously in my estimation he is the hardest working gm out there.

The whole front office. Atleast 2 other guys could be gm of their own team right now. And they all work like they do. It's the best shape the organization has been in in the modern era by far. We are the new Calgary but with out the whiny douchy guys. 

Actually machino is a player too at ol. Nasty strong tenacious and bleeds football. We are soo deep at ol I could see him as a dt but if he doesn't just training under our ol and vs our dl will make for huge improvement. 

11 hours ago, wbbfan said:

The whole front office. Atleast 2 other guys could be gm of their own team right now. And they all work like they do. It's the best shape the organization has been in in the modern era by far. We are the new Calgary but with out the whiny douchy guys. 

Actually machino is a player too at ol. Nasty strong tenacious and bleeds football. We are soo deep at ol I could see him as a dt but if he doesn't just training under our ol and vs our dl will make for huge improvement. 

has there ever been any clarification on how global players work within the ratio?... every team has to roster at least one (I think?) but we still need 7 Canadians starting... is that right? A global player is just another player on the roster?  

 

Wonder if we’ll see O’Connor in two weeks

2 minutes ago, Mike said:

Wonder if we’ll see O’Connor in two weeks

Hope not. I don't want any excuses coming from Dicky and the crew when the Jeffs crush their Oline.