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.

On 2021-10-24 at 1:25 PM, SpeedFlex27 said:

Can we send a Christmas card to the soon to be former Ottawa GM for taking LaPo away??? 

This post aged incredibly well 😁

3 hours ago, Albertabomberguy said:

https://3downnation.com/2021/10/26/toronto-argos-trade-quarterback-nick-arbuckle-to-edmonton-elks/

Does anyone else thinks it's a red flag that Dinwiddie is already giving up on Arbuckle...

34 minutes ago, M.O.A.B. said:

From the news yesterday, the RedBlacks wants to keep Lapo. Added to the fact that there's a personnel cap space they're considering. 
So it would really make sense for them hire a GM that will agree on keeping Lapo. 

Does it make sense for us? No. Do we care? No. 

Given the amount of hate spewed his way even after he left and the constant bashing he takes in many quarters with some valid arguments but many overblown or just false, I’d say a good portion here do care. Even wish for his failure. I don’t get the personal anger and vitriol myself, especially since he helped end a 29 year drought here and I figured everyone on that team would at least get a pass if not a statue, but hey whatever makes people feel better about themselves I guess. 
And yes, I am being protective of him again because whatever his failings as a coach, he is a decent guy who gave a lot to the city twice in his time here. I like to remember that every time I want to scream “cut the bum” that there is a human being with a family who has a job that is by definition not permanent, and doesn’t need piling on from a bunch of keyboard coaches who revel in pot shots from the cheap seats to make themselves feel superior by saying “I told you so”. If he has a personality defect or moral character flaw a la Chris Jones’ lack of loyalty to a contract, Mike Kelly’s documented open disdain for media and fans, legal or professional cheating issues, or Joe Mack’s or Marcel Desjardins’ arrogance in the face of pure incompetence, have at it. 

Just now, bearpants said:

Does anyone else thinks it's a red flag that Dinwiddie is already giving up on Arbuckle...

Absolutely. He knows him better than anyone. 

But, Lapo was also lambasted for not wanting him. Score one for Lapo. 

2 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

Given the amount of hate spewed his way even after he left and the constant bashing he takes in many quarters with some valid arguments but many overblown or just false, I’d say a good portion here do care. Even wish for his failure. I don’t get the personal anger and vitriol myself, especially since he helped end a 29 year drought here and I figured everyone on that team would at least get a pass if not a statue, but hey whatever makes people feel better about themselves I guess. 
And yes, I am being protective of him again because whatever his failings as a coach, he is a decent guy who gave a lot to the city twice in his time here. I like to remember that every time I want to scream “cut the bum” that there is a human being with a family who has a job that is by definition not permanent, and doesn’t need piling on from a bunch of keyboard coaches who revel in pot shots from the cheap seats to make themselves feel superior by saying “I told you so”. If he has a personality defect or moral character flaw a la Chris Jones’ lack of loyalty to a contract, Mike Kelly’s documented open disdain for media and fans, legal or professional cheating issues, or Joe Mack’s or Marcel Desjardins’ arrogance in the face of pure incompetence, have at it. 

I think you're kind of missing the point of a discussion forum...

10 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

Given the amount of hate spewed his way even after he left and the constant bashing he takes in many quarters with some valid arguments but many overblown or just false, I’d say a good portion here do care. Even wish for his failure. I don’t get the personal anger and vitriol myself, especially since he helped end a 29 year drought here and I figured everyone on that team would at least get a pass if not a statue, but hey whatever makes people feel better about themselves I guess. 
And yes, I am being protective of him again because whatever his failings as a coach, he is a decent guy who gave a lot to the city twice in his time here. I like to remember that every time I want to scream “cut the bum” that there is a human being with a family who has a job that is by definition not permanent, and doesn’t need piling on from a bunch of keyboard coaches who revel in pot shots from the cheap seats to make themselves feel superior by saying “I told you so”. If he has a personality defect or moral character flaw a la Chris Jones’ lack of loyalty to a contract, Mike Kelly’s documented open disdain for media and fans, legal or professional cheating issues, or Joe Mack’s or Marcel Desjardins’ arrogance in the face of pure incompetence, have at it. 

Nice guy ....bad guy...... indifferent guy ..who gives a rat's ass.....The name of the game is WIN in professional sports and a what have you down for me lately....You should know that......There's very little compassion or time given to players or coaches who don't perform and win.....The criticizm follows when you're under performing and fans who pay the dime have that right to criticize......Tough world out there

16 minutes ago, JCon said:

Absolutely. He knows him better than anyone. 

But, Lapo was also lambasted for not wanting him. Score one for Lapo. 

I believe Dinwiddie actually personally went out and god Arbuckle. The familiarity with him & Rogers/Daniels was a major selling point. So I agree it’s a red flag.

19 minutes ago, bearpants said:

I think you're kind of missing the point of a discussion forum...

That could be the tldr on all his posts tbh

26 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

Given the amount of hate spewed his way even after he left and the constant bashing he takes in many quarters with some valid arguments but many overblown or just false, I’d say a good portion here do care. Even wish for his failure. I don’t get the personal anger and vitriol myself, especially since he helped end a 29 year drought here and I figured everyone on that team would at least get a pass if not a statue, but hey whatever makes people feel better about themselves I guess. 
And yes, I am being protective of him again because whatever his failings as a coach, he is a decent guy who gave a lot to the city twice in his time here. I like to remember that every time I want to scream “cut the bum” that there is a human being with a family who has a job that is by definition not permanent, and doesn’t need piling on from a bunch of keyboard coaches who revel in pot shots from the cheap seats to make themselves feel superior by saying “I told you so”. If he has a personality defect or moral character flaw a la Chris Jones’ lack of loyalty to a contract, Mike Kelly’s documented open disdain for media and fans, legal or professional cheating issues, or Joe Mack’s or Marcel Desjardins’ arrogance in the face of pure incompetence, have at it. 

I wish all the best to the man who's unit was at the root cause of the infamous "too many men" penalty that cost the 'Riders the 2009 Grey Cup. (He was their Special Teams coordinator at that time)

Quote

More recently, Desjardins went out of his way to provide Paul LaPolice with players he was familiar with. The jettisoning of Nick Arbuckle in favour of Matt Nichols came at the request of his head coach. Running back Timothy Flanders, receiver Daniel Petermann and tackles Na’Ty Rodgers and Jamar McGloster were all with LaPolice in Winnipeg. All have been negative impact players in Ottawa.

After Brad Sinopoli retired, per sources, Ottawa’s front office felt uncomfortable with the youth at the position and wanted to add veterans. LaPolice informed Desjardins he didn’t want to add names like S.J. Green, Ricky Collins Jr. and Naaman Roosevelt because his offence didn’t need veteran receivers to be effective.

https://3downnation.com/2021/10/26/during-his-time-in-ottawa-lazy-narratives-emerged-about-former-redblacks-gm-marcel-desjardins/

24 minutes ago, bearpants said:

I think you're kind of missing the point of a discussion forum...

I kind of hoped the point of the forum would include good discussion and debate and be more than just being dicks and kicking people when they are down. Cuz we seem to take issue with the Riderfans forum for acting that way and banning dissenting opinions, and took umbrage with Lyon’ Guy when he called us assholes (the more valid criticism was his backtracking to our face rather Han owning his stance). And I still think in some ways, this forum offers that, which is why I stay. 

12 minutes ago, Stickem said:

Nice guy ....bad guy...... indifferent guy ..who gives a rat's ass.....The name of the game is WIN in professional sports and a what have you down for me lately....You should know that......There's very little compassion or time given to players or coaches who don't perform and win.....The criticizm follows when you're under performing and fans who pay the dime have that right to criticize......Tough world out there

I agree. The problem in this case with that logic is:

- as an OC, he did not for the most part underperform here, and as a head coach he did have some success. But reading comments, you’d think he is useless and undeserving of any job anywhere, and ignores what he did so well, and the success he had (usually dismissed with “it was all the players”). And the. Adding stuff like “he’s arrogant as proven by his arrogance” is a ridiculous personal shot at his character with no substance to back the argument. so why no compassion for the guy who did win here, just because you were seemingly bored with his style of offence? 
- he isn’t here any more anyway, but the hating continues. We’re not suffering or “paying a dime” for his failures, so why care? Yet I read some of the comments and it feels like people want him to crash and burn, like he deserves it. People who have a problem with him should know that he is not our problem any more, so why keep harping on it?

27 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

That could be the tldr on all his posts tbh

If I am missing the point, please enlighten me with a reasoned debate and I will concede. If you can’t muster up a good counter argument, or get past three sentences in a post, don’t use tldr as an excuse to try to make your point. And if you don’t like me personally or my style, you are free to just block me or not respond. No skin off my nose. 

Lapo gets brought up because he was part of this team for a long long time in 3 seperate stretches... and the same problems that were there the first time were still there the 3rd time and followed him to Ottawa too. Yet he still has a legion of fanbois who think he's something special.

28 minutes ago, Eternal optimist said:

I wish all the best to the man who's unit was at the root cause of the infamous "too many men" penalty that cost the 'Riders the 2009 Grey Cup. (He was their Special Teams coordinator at that time)

Kavis Reed? What does he have to do with any of this?

29 minutes ago, Eternal optimist said:

I wish all the best to the man who's unit was at the root cause of the infamous "too many men" penalty that cost the 'Riders the 2009 Grey Cup. (He was their Special Teams coordinator at that time)

LaPo was the OC... Kavis Reed was the STC...

Just now, 17to85 said:

Lapo gets brought up because he was part of this team for a long long time in 3 seperate stretches... and the same problems that were there the first time were still there the 3rd time and followed him to Ottawa too. Yet he still has a legion of fanbois who think he's something special.

Also had a lot of success in his three times here, but that seems to be downplayed or flat out ignored by the haters (since you use fanboys). I thought a Grey Cup ring might be the tiebreaker between the problems and the successes in how he would be remembered. And as was said, isn’t WIN the name of the game? But it appears the bitterness runs too deep for some. Maybe you could give me your take on why you take the latter stance. Is it connected to Joe Mack, who if I remember correctly you were a big supporter of? Was it you who came up with IMWT? 

7 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

Kavis Reed? What does he have to do with any of this?

Ah well, got my personnel wrong (whoops).

Still funny though

2 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

Also had a lot of success in his three times here, but that seems to be downplayed or flat out ignored by the haters (since you use fanboys). I thought a Grey Cup ring might be the tiebreaker between the problems and the successes in how he would be remembered. And as was said, isn’t WIN the name of the game? But it appears the bitterness runs too deep for some. Maybe you could give me your take on why you take the latter stance. Is it connected to Joe Mack, who if I remember correctly you were a big supporter of? Was it you who came up with IMWT? 

Lapo didn't win that much here. As a head coach he needed his defence to get whatever wins they got. He took over a top offence in 02 and presided over a steady decline despite having some all time players to work with. In his latest stint he directly cost us several games with his useless playcalling, I would go so far as to say we might have got a cup sooner if not for him because his game plan in the 2018 west final was utter dogshit. It was crap again in the 2019 west final top but thank God the riders offense was terribad. 

 

So no tagging along for a Grey Cup doesn't make lapo great all of a sudden, he is still the same flawed and over rated coach he has always been.  Honestly does anyone think the Bombers would be 10-1 right now if we had still had Lapo?

1 minute ago, 17to85 said:

Lapo didn't win that much here. As a head coach he needed his defence to get whatever wins they got. He took over a top offence in 02 and presided over a steady decline despite having some all time players to work with. In his latest stint he directly cost us several games with his useless playcalling, I would go so far as to say we might have got a cup sooner if not for him because his game plan in the 2018 west final was utter dogshit. It was crap again in the 2019 west final top but thank God the riders offense was terribad. 

 

So no tagging along for a Grey Cup doesn't make lapo great all of a sudden, he is still the same flawed and over rated coach he has always been.  Honestly does anyone think the Bombers would be 10-1 right now if we had still had Lapo?

This drives me crazy. Was he the head coach or not? Do we give MOS credit for the team or say, without the offense or defense, he's not good? 

 

And, the Grey Cup championship win means he won something here that the 29 years of OCs didn't. 

1 hour ago, rebusrankin said:

My point was that he has a lousy record and its even worse if you take out the one good season meaning he's generally been pretty bad. If Marcel's comments are true about bringing in guys Lapo wanted and him not wanting vets at WR, it shows the arrogance that others have mentioned.

Any GM is going to listen the the HC in terms of what players they would like. This isn't unique to either Lapo or Marcel.

I'm not sure there will ever be a HC that has a good record after 3 years of coaching garbage teams. I'm not saying lapo is a good HC, just that I'm not sure anyone would have done much better in those circumstances.

1 hour ago, Eternal optimist said:

I wish all the best to the man who's unit was at the root cause of the infamous "too many men" penalty that cost the 'Riders the 2009 Grey Cup. (He was their Special Teams coordinator at that time)

Wrong he was OC Kavis Reed was STC

19 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Lapo didn't win that much here. As a head coach he needed his defence to get whatever wins they got. He took over a top offence in 02 and presided over a steady decline despite having some all time players to work with. In his latest stint he directly cost us several games with his useless playcalling, I would go so far as to say we might have got a cup sooner if not for him because his game plan in the 2018 west final was utter dogshit. It was crap again in the 2019 west final top but thank God the riders offense was terribad. 

 

So no tagging along for a Grey Cup doesn't make lapo great all of a sudden, he is still the same flawed and over rated coach he has always been.  Honestly does anyone think the Bombers would be 10-1 right now if we had still had Lapo?

This is what I was gonna say. Sure he helped win a grey cup, but without Richie Halls defence it never would have happened. It wasn't like the O was lighting it up in the playoffs.

And when you look at what the O is doing this year, with essentially the same talent from the playoffs in 2019....there's one missing piece....obviously it's hard to compare it apples to apples but I'm also not sure this is what it would have looked like if Lapo was still here.

31 minutes ago, JCon said:

This drives me crazy. Was he the head coach or not? Do we give MOS credit for the team or say, without the offense or defense, he's not good? 

 

And, the Grey Cup championship win means he won something here that the 29 years of OCs didn't. 

He was the head coach, but he was also the offensive coordinator. For a supposedly brilliant offensive coach why was it the D that was the thing carrying the team?

LaPolice should get canned in the off season and Ottawa needs to start off fresh.    LaPolice can replace Barker on the TSN panel.  

1 hour ago, JCon said:

This drives me crazy. Was he the head coach or not? Do we give MOS credit for the team or say, without the offense or defense, he's not good? 

 

And, the Grey Cup championship win means he won something here that the 29 years of OCs didn't. 

Just for fun who was the best oc in that time and were they in the top tier league wide? Have we been sad to see any oc go idk maybe worman. 

I think in that time we've had some of the best dcs but maybe the worst ocs In the whole league. Pretty crazy for the cfl. 

Edited October 26, 20214 yr by wbbfan

59 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Just for fun who was the best oc in that time and were they in the top tier league wide? Have we been sad to see any oc go idk maybe worman. 

I think in that time we've had some of the best dcs but maybe the worst ocs In the whole league. Pretty crazy for the cfl. 

Marcel Bellfool?  LOL...