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.

 

Edited November 15, 20214 yr by blue_gold_84

On 2021-11-13 at 9:04 PM, Noeller said:

I don't trust anyone who doesn't outright abhor the Riders franchise and especially their fan base.....

You don’t trust Bob Irving? He’s a Sakatchewite by birth and respects the fan base. Not necessarily a fan boy, but he doesn’t abhor them or the team, he acknowledges the strength they bring to the CFL, as he does with the Bombers and their fans. 

11 hours ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

You don’t trust Bob Irving? He’s a Sakatchewite by birth and respects the fan base. Not necessarily a fan boy, but he doesn’t abhor them or the team, he acknowledges the strength they bring to the CFL, as he does with the Bombers and their fans. 

Why do you think it's your place to constantly correct people here? You just never stop. 

3 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Why do you think it's your place to constantly correct people here? You just never stop. 

I thought that was what everyone else here was doing too 😂

15 hours ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

You don’t trust Bob Irving? He’s a Sakatchewite by birth and respects the fan base. Not necessarily a fan boy, but he doesn’t abhor them or the team, he acknowledges the strength they bring to the CFL, as he does with the Bombers and their fans. 

What the heck is a Sakatchewite? At any rate, Bob says the politically correct things on air and like all Bomber faithful loathes them with all his heart. It's all part of being a Bomber fan. Also, who says you can't respect someone you hate? I have a healthy respect for every CFL team outside of Winnipeg....but I hate them all.

Edited November 16, 20214 yr by GCn20

1 hour ago, GCn20 said:

What the heck is a Sakatchewite? At any rate, Bob says the politically correct things on air and like all Bomber faithful loathes them with all his heart. It's all part of being a Bomber fan. Also, who says you can't respect someone you hate? I have a healthy respect for every CFL team outside of Winnipeg....but I hate them all.

I think everyone who lives there is Saskatchewhite.

Everyone there is a Saskwatch

2 hours ago, Eternal optimist said:

I thought that was what everyone else here was doing too 😂

I seem to set him off more than others do though. Not sure if it is personal (not sure why that would be, we don’t know each other at all) or if he just doesn’t have a cloud to yell at today. But it’s OK from my end, we are all here to engage in healthy debate, and won’t agree on everything. My wordy style and penchant for fact checking isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, I’m happy to trade barbs with others so long as it doesn’t get nasty or violate the community standards here. The internet is a playground, after all. 

Go Blue!

Edited November 16, 20214 yr by TrueBlue4ever

8 hours ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

I seem to set him off more than others do though. Not sure if it is personal (not sure why that would be, we don’t know each other at all) or if he just doesn’t have a cloud to yell at today. But it’s OK from my end, we are all here to engage in healthy debate, and won’t agree on everything. My wordy style and penchant for fact checking isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, I’m happy to trade barbs with others so long as it doesn’t get nasty or violate the community standards here. The internet is a playground, after all. 

Go Blue!

I think you're talking about me so I'll respond. For the record, it isn't personal. I don't dislike you as I wouldn't know what you look like if we crossed paths in public. I actually think you are pretty knowledgeable & I do read your posts. You're style is wordy, I get that. Maybe it's just the way you say things as was your response to Noeller, If he wants to hate other teams, that's his right. I don't know why Bob Irving came into the conversation. Anyway, I have no axe to grind with you. So, it's all good. And since we're on the record here, I don't yell at clouds. I spit at them.  

2 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

And since we're on the record here, I don't yell at clouds. I spit at them.  

Wait, what? I thought that was rain! There’s goes one of life’s simple pleasures. 

 

Well played, sir. Well played. 

On 2021-11-15 at 2:38 PM, wbbfan said:

If they shoot him up with ac Leonard juice he could possibly kick it up into Jamie Stoddard gear. Other wise he's gonna have to be happy with wade Miller time. 

AC should be due for another failed pee attempt soon I would think. Poor guy, has a bladder like a camel.

12 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

AC should be due for another failed pee attempt soon I would think. Poor guy, has a bladder like a camel.

He's an evolutionary miracle - just adapting to the drought this summer - should be able to pee after the next freezing rain. 

Interesting.........

 

2 hours ago, Noeller said:

Interesting.........

 

This is odd, isn't it? His legal troubles from college didn't prevent him from playing here before... did something happen recently we haven't heard about? Or was his history just overlooked the first time around? I really wonder what the heck is going on.

4 hours ago, Noeller said:

Interesting.........

 

This is the first I've heard of this. This never came up last year when he played for the Stamps or when he tried out for the NFL. 

Must be something that hasn't come out yet publically. He was acquitted for his college troubles and the NFL has an even more prohibitive policy on this than the CFL. Gotta be something that just happened very recently.

 

That POS Lawrence has all of TSN working on his behalf. Dirtiest player in the CFL. Takes opposing players out & he gets celebrated for it. 

1 hour ago, GCn20 said:

Must be something that hasn't come out yet publically. He was acquitted for his college troubles and the NFL has an even more prohibitive policy on this than the CFL. Gotta be something that just happened very recently.

As Evander Kane proved, stupid is often not a one-time thing.

1 minute ago, Tracker said:

As Evander Kane proved, stupid is often not a one-time thing.

Whatever it is, his CFL career is over.

6 hours ago, Noeller said:

Interesting.........

 

Idk the story here. But I love that the cfl is making a character decision like this. I hope it's a standard they hold tight to. 

13 hours ago, wbbfan said:

Idk the story here. But I love that the cfl is making a character decision like this. I hope it's a standard they hold tight to. 

I've read about the accusations....and if true (I mean there's text messages and videos from multiple woman, so at this point it basically looks like a slam dunk) it's the right move by the CFL.

My understanding is he was found not guilty of the serious felonies but plead guilty to lesser charges of stalking and intimidation... but this was history before his draft day, nevermind his CFL stint. I bet his past was simply overlooked the first time around and, now that he has a higher profile, the scrutiny has ramped up and his skeletons have tumbled out of his closet.

2 hours ago, MOBomberFan said:

My understanding is he was found not guilty of the serious felonies but plead guilty to lesser charges of stalking and intimidation... but this was history before his draft day, nevermind his CFL stint. I bet his past was simply overlooked the first time around and, now that he has a higher profile, the scrutiny has ramped up and his skeletons have tumbled out of his closet.

unfortunately there are new allegations coming to light.

For those wondering, the new allegations would be in the same category as the Habs draft pick Logan Mallioux but with multiple victims.