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.

Who exactly is Ottawa spending money on?

Just now, rebusrankin said:

Who exactly is Ottawa spending money on?

I think its as much a thing of they couldnt pay most top FAs enough money to come play for them. Nichols is still getting starter money though. I think that D has some decent money, plus ward and leone. 

Just want to say how nice it is to know that the Bombers are the best team in the league with no ifs, ands or buts.  It was not hard to realize during Swaggerville that our offense sucked.

This year is some good kind of different.

Real barn-burner we got going on here......

Battle of FGs

If it hasn't been said today, it isn't being said enough... I really appreciate that they've moved to digital ads on the broadcast, removing the on-field ads. It makes it so much more pleasant when watching the game in person. 

On 2021-10-02 at 1:37 PM, M.O.A.B. said:

What a **** GM this guy is. He's clueless. I don't even think he believes his job is in jeopardy. Give the RedBlack fans some hope.

Edited October 4, 20214 yr by SpeedFlex27

Duke Williams signs with the Riders.....imagine getting to choose where you want to go, and you choose the team that has Cody Fajardo at QB........LOL. 

Saskatchewan Roughriders sign former NFL, CFL all-star receiver Duke Williams
October 4, 2021
By Justin Dunk
The Saskatchewan Roughriders have signed former NFL and CFL all-star receiver Duke Williams, per sources.

The connections on the current Riders football operations staff, offensive coordinator Jason Maas and assistant general manager Paul Jones helped draw Williams to the green and white. The best recruiter currently wearing Saskatchewan colours: Nick Marshall. He was his quarterback while the two were teammates at Auburn University.

Great signing for them, I’m still not worried

i'm sure it will be a 7 game career there....good signing for sure, but with no QB or oline to allow him time to get a ball will be funny to see his talent wasted....this signing won't put them over the top

Agreed.

Not sweating it.

Good player though

He played with a better QB with better receivers around him and won nothing.

So,  it is what it is.

Ain't gonna make Nick Marshall less terrible either.

Would of loved Duke but the Bombers WR is so balanced right now. Seems we have two studs in Lawler and Demski and three guys who on any week can have a game plan that takes of advantage of them. 

Just now, Jpan85 said:

Would of loved Duke but the Bombers WR is so balanced right now. Seems we have two studs in Lawler and Demski and three guys who on any week can have a game plan that takes of advantage of them. 

I would still like to see us get a bully who can put the body on smaller defensive backs … basically Duke. It’s an element we are missing but it doesn’t prevent us from being the GC favorite and it doesn’t put the Riders over the top so whatever.

now we will see more pics from Faj as he tries to force it there now..over and over...you can book that...half of Dukes 50/50 wins were Offensive pass interference, and u need a QB to be able to put a ball in a place to make the catch...that hasn't changed with the Duke signing

3 minutes ago, Mike said:

I would still like to see us get a bully who can put the body on smaller defensive backs … basically Duke. It’s an element we are missing but it doesn’t prevent us from being the GC favorite and it doesn’t put the Riders over the top so whatever.

He really is a perfect fit for us. Watch him come here next year.

This definitely makes the ssk O better. How much is still to be determined. Hope Cody starts hitting those deep balls cause he has no one else to blame now.

Sorry was that too harsh? Don't want to upset Cody on social media....

 

 

Surgery and it will be more like 4 weeks.

Chris Long always says he hates these timelines because it puts pressure on the player.

This time is the time frame of when it medically heals, it doesn't mean you are ready to play.

He makes good points

BC missed on Duke Williams sweepstakes. Burnham and Duke would look good together. Although what they need is an RB and OL. 

Isn't Rhymes on BC? What happened to that guy? 

5 minutes ago, Geebrr said:

Isn't Rhymes on BC? What happened to that guy? 

He's on IR. 

20 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

This definitely makes the ssk O better. How much is still to be determined. Hope Cody starts hitting those deep balls cause he has no one else to blame now.

Sorry was that too harsh? Don't want to upset Cody on social media....

Cody can't throw a deep ball. In the first half of 2019 it was almost comical how his receivers were bailing him or how lucky he was getting with DBs tipping it right into his receivers hands etc. His luck ran out in the last half of 2019 and has stayed that way since. He chronically underthrows and overthrows receivers. Duke is going to find out that Cody will make him earn every catch he makes.

Not that it's happening but Pierce and Collaros will make good use of Chris Matthews (31) to be honest.