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.

1 minute ago, Tracker said:

If its structural damage to Harris' knee, he's done for the year, and bringing another NI running back would make sense.  Especially if he's a good one. Harris has more days behind him than in front of him and retirement is inevitable for all players.

Cooper is 🇺🇸 American

Further to Wilder's situation: its been proven again and again that talent is not enough. He will not be missed- the only ones to suffer from him being cut will be his family and community in the US.

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

Cooper is 🇺🇸 American

Then we can do without him if needed. He would have to be darned good to crack the lineup.

1 hour ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

If you don’t want to out him, then you really should not be dropping hints. It is a health privacy issue in a way. 

Did I really drop hints? No. I responded to a poster saying it’s probably a nobody on the team and then said “no, not them” to a couple responses and said I won’t be naming names and explained why when people started to guess.

 

 

7 minutes ago, Tracker said:

Further to Wilder's situation: its been proven again and again that talent is not enough. He will not be missed- the only ones to suffer from him being cut will be his family and community in the US.

Then we can do without him if needed. He would have to be darned good to crack the lineup.

Short of brady getting hurt too, I think his best shot at cracking the line up would be if grant wasnt able to go. Then he could DI as the KR. Other wise if we used a DI on mcknight and grant again we could sit mcknight and DI shaq. But then we'd have to have a strong package planned for him to make that worth It and I dont see that happening. Especially when demski can run the ball too as needed. 

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

So from what I get, you are not excited on luxury cars 🚗 but excited on flowers 🌹?

I'm a sports car guy actually. A cooper isn't a luxury car in any way shape or form, but it goes like stink and rides like it's on rails.

Flowers are for my wife when I F up.

54 minutes ago, TBURGESS said:

I'm a sports car guy actually. A cooper isn't a luxury car in any way shape or form, but it goes like stink and rides like it's on rails.

Flowers are for my wife when I F up.

F up as a husband? Tell me more.

55 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

F up as a husband? Tell me more.

We almost need a therapy thread about that... @17to85can lead the way..... I have no doubts my wife will tell you I'm a perfect husband in every way......... 

1 minute ago, Noeller said:

We almost need a therapy thread about that... @17to85can lead the way..... I have no doubts my wife will tell you I'm a perfect husband in every way......... 

She’s not at home right now, is she?

3 hours ago, Mike said:

Did I really drop hints? No. I responded to a poster saying it’s probably a nobody on the team and then said “no, not them” to a couple responses and said I won’t be naming names and explained why when people started to guess.

 

 

Well, not part-time, star, not Bailey, Lawler or Bryant, and would force us to shuffle  our game day roster a bit are all hints to my mind. Not trying to bust your chops here Mike, we all love the inside info you give, just don’t want you to get any heat from the club for discussing an inside issue that does have a privacy component to it, just for the sake of satisfying the curiosity of the chattering masses here, myself included. We can all guess names and if nothing is said, no one is closer to figuring out the masked singer. Like you have said, should be a non-issue by playoff time anyway. 

4 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

Well, not part-time, star, not Bailey, Lawler or Bryant, and would force us to shuffle  our game day roster a bit are all hints to my mind. Not trying to bust your chops here Mike, we all love the inside info you give, just don’t want you to get any heat from the club for discussing an inside issue that does have a privacy component to it, just for the sake of satisfying the curiosity of the chattering masses here, myself included. We can all guess names and if nothing is said, no one is closer to figuring out the masked singer. Like you have said, should be a non-issue by playoff time anyway. 

So... Biggie?

 

😁😆😅

 

 

 

 

Edited October 21, 20214 yr by wanna-b-fanboy

4 hours ago, 17to85 said:

Obviously it's Mourtada. He tried to go to the clinic to get his shot but couldn't line it up right and couldn't get through the doors. 

He missed the clinic.

12 minutes ago, wanna-b-fanboy said:

So... Biggie?

 

😁😆😅

 

 

 

 

Could be a NI… Woli? 😅😅😅

7 hours ago, Noeller said:

this is always fun: 
https://3downnation.com/2021/10/20/insider-talk-montreals-trade-capital-torontos-rising-receiver-lawlers-breakout-season/

 

I’m not surprised that Kenny Lawler has played so well this season. He didn’t see the ball a lot in 2019 because of scheme but he really looked great on film. He was bound to produce at a higher level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

LaPo being LaPo. Schemed the guy right out of the offense. 

Let’s not gossip about people’s private health information guys. We’re better than that. 

5 hours ago, Tracker said:

If its structural damage to Harris' knee, he's done for the year, and bringing another NI running back would make sense.  Especially if he's a good one. Harris has more days behind him than in front of him and retirement is inevitable for all players.

Except If your name rhymes with Tom Brady

Edited October 21, 20214 yr by Nolby

11 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

LaPo being LaPo. Schemed the guy right out of the offense. 

He's done that a lot. We've had plenty of talented guys at wr who have been wasted. Used to seem like every year we had another NFL cast off wr who looked good then refused to come back to the team the following TC. 

 

10 hours ago, Nolby said:

Except If your name rhymes with Tom Brady

There is almost always an exception to rules. Brady will simply be a little later in his retirement. I pity him with all that money and a gorgeous wife to fall back on. 

58 minutes ago, Tracker said:

There is almost always an exception to rules. Brady will simply be a little later in his retirement. I pity him with all that money and a gorgeous wife to fall back on. 

What a crummy fate.  Poor guy will have to keep himself busy making super charismatic commercials and adding to his ridiculous fortune that way -sigh-

Just now, BigBlueFanatic said:

What a crummy fate.  Poor guy will have to keep himself busy making super charismatic commercials and adding to his ridiculous fortune that way -sigh-

It gets worse. As he ages, he's going to have a difficult time lifting his arms with all those rings on his fingers. 

5 minutes ago, JCon said:

It gets worse. As he ages, he's going to have a difficult time lifting his arms with all those rings on his fingers. 

Yeah it wont be long before he's not even able to lift his bucs superbowl ring high enough to hold under belichicks nose. He might have to hire gronk to hold his hands up for him. 

3 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Yeah it wont be long before he's not even able to lift his bucs superbowl ring high enough to hold under belichicks nose. He might have to hire gronk to hold his hands up for him. 

Gronk will be able to help him with just one hand though, since he cant lift his other hand with his own rings also. 

Just now, M.O.A.B. said:

Gronk will be able to help him with just one hand though, since he cant lift his other hand with his own rings also. 

Maybe they could partner for a time share on dan marino. He has nothing but time and free hands to help gronk and brady. 

https://www.cfl.ca/2021/10/21/cfl-statement-covid-19-testing-results-3/

 

TORONTO — Between Weeks 6 and 11 of the CFL season, the league administered approximately 14,200 COVID-19 tests to Tier 1 personnel, which includes players, coaches and support staff.

Those tests returned a total of four positive cases. Please note that, on occasion, tests that come back positive may later be determined to be false positives upon re-testing.

Any individual who tests positive for COVID-19 is prevented from joining – or is removed from – team activities and is isolated or quarantined in accordance with the CFL’s Return to Play Health and Safety protocol and applicable government public health protocols.

As of Week 12, eight-of-nine clubs have met the 85 per cent fully vaccinated milestone. Based on upcoming scheduled vaccination dates, the league anticipates that 93 per cent of current players will be fully vaccinated by October 31. Being fully vaccinated refers to individuals who have had their second dose for a minimum of 14 days.

The CFL will continue to provide updates on tests administered to Tier 1 personnel. But, as a matter of policy, affected individuals and clubs will not be identified.

FYI: Edmonton is the only team under 85%

I hope you were all sitting down when you read that. 

Shocking that the Alabama/Missouri of Canada is the only team.

It's crazy to think 2 Jets players are in covid protocol already when only 4 positive tests have shown up traveling Canada only in the CFL  

Edited October 21, 20214 yr by Goalie