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 hour ago, rebusrankin said:

Well this guy has Canadian citizenship and has something to say to you

Lol. I heard him complain about his kid's hockey practice, with a sarcastic 'thank you Canada'

Trevor Harris 20/26 for 259 yards & 2 TD's. No interceptions. Nice stats but again as per usual when Harris needed to get a score to win, he couldn't deliver. Eighteen points in the first half. Zero in the second. 

6 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Trevor Harris 20/26 for 259 yards & 2 TD's. No interceptions. Nice stats but again as per usual when Harris needed to get a score to win, he couldn't deliver. Eighteen points in the first half. Zero in the second. 

Harris took them down the field for the score that would have put the Als up by 2 scores. It's not his fault that the RB fumbled. Stop chugging the hateraide.

2 hours ago, TBURGESS said:

Harris took them down the field for the score that would have put the Als up by 2 scores. It's not his fault that the RB fumbled. Stop chugging the hateraide.

One drive. What about the others in the second half? No, typical Harris performance. 

14 hours ago, Mark H. said:

Lol. I heard him complain about his kid's hockey practice, with a sarcastic 'thank you Canada'

He's in Chicago now. Probably never coming back. 

Well my Burris joke backfired. Honestly just wanted to post that gif again and make a joke.

11 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Trevor Harris 20/26 for 259 yards & 2 TD's. No interceptions. Nice stats but again as per usual when Harris needed to get a score to win, he couldn't deliver. Eighteen points in the first half. Zero in the second. 

 

4 hours ago, TBURGESS said:

Harris took them down the field for the score that would have put the Als up by 2 scores. It's not his fault that the RB fumbled. Stop chugging the hateraide.

I agree with both of you. Harris is well known to put up big numbers with low points. That's  ot hateraide it's just how it is. And there was more than 1 drive in the 2nd half. 

But also, he DID put together a decent drive into scoring zone and someone else messed up. Can't fault him for that.

Edited November 20, 20214 yr by Bigblue204

5 hours ago, TBURGESS said:

Stop chugging the hateraide.

If Toronto can't sell 10k advanced seats for the east final the game should be moved to the winner of mtl ham. If they get less than 20 mlse should be kicked out. 

Gonna look soo bad when they have 8k in the stands. 

I was all aboard the MLSE train when they took over the Argos. They've built brands in TO. But, the negligence they've shown the Argos is astonishing. The franchise deserves better. The few fans, who have stuck it out, deserve better. Toronto (spit) deserves better. 

Edited November 20, 20214 yr by JCon
Typo

8 minutes ago, JCon said:

I was all aboard the MLSE train when they took over the Argos. They've built brands in TO. But, the negligence they've shown the Argos is astonishing. The franchise deserves better. The few fans, who have stuck it out, deserve better. Toronto (spit) deserves better. 

100 percent. I felt the same way. Mlse has become the worst cfl team owner since the gliebermens

2 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

100 percent. I felt the same way. Mlse has become the worst cfl team owner since the gliebermens

We know that they were also pushing the XFL merger. 

13 minutes ago, JCon said:

We know that they were also pushing the XFL merger. 

The biggest pushers of it from what the 3dn articles say. And they may try to take the argos and flee if the cfl doesnt go back to the table with them. 

12 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

The biggest pushers of it from what the 3dn articles say. And they may try to take the argos and flee if the cfl doesnt go back to the table with them. 

Perhaps an expansion team outside the GTA might work 

4 hours ago, Goalie said:

Perhaps an expansion team outside the GTA might work 

If they can't support the 100 year old Argos a fly by night league with out any thing going for it that's folded twice isn't gonna do better. 

Plus the nfl is starting to kick around to. 

https://3downnation.com/2021/11/22/edmonton-cleans-house-elks-fire-presson-sunderland-elizondo/

The board of directors of the Edmonton Elks Football Club has terminated the contracts of president and CEO Chris Presson, general manager and vice president of football operations Brock Sunderland and head coach Jaime Elizondo, effective immediately.

 

FLUSHHHHHHHH

Edited November 22, 20214 yr by MOBomberFan

Definitely not a surprise.

The only person sad to see this is probably Cornelius, his biggest booster is suddenly out of a job

3 minutes ago, MOBomberFan said:

https://3downnation.com/2021/11/22/edmonton-cleans-house-elks-fire-presson-sunderland-elizondo/

The board of directors of the Edmonton Elks Football Club has terminated the contracts of president and CEO Chris Presson, general manager and vice president of football operations Brock Sunderland and head coach Jaime Elizondo, effective immediately.

FLUSHHHHHHHH

 

It was inevitable that they clean house.   I wonder who they reach out for head coach? 

3 minutes ago, Brandon said:

 

It was inevitable that they clean house.   I wonder who they reach out for head coach? 

Chris Jones just put his beer down

Edited November 22, 20214 yr by Nolby

2 minutes ago, Nolby said:

Chris Jones just put his beer down

Eww.

16 minutes ago, Geebrr said:

Definitely not a surprise.

And they are probably not done with the gallows march.

Absolutely wouldn't be shocked if they brought in Jones, even though he totally ****** them like 5 years ago........ "Desperate, ehhhh....??" 

25 minutes ago, Brandon said:

 

It was inevitable that they clean house.   I wonder who they reach out for head coach? 

You often see a GM and HC go but to let the CEO/President go is a huge change. There will be a lot of personnel and players turned over that’s for sure. I too suspect Chris Jones going back and that’s   pretty gross. 

Makes you wonder if Chris Jones isn't already a done deal.   He loves to be GM, Head Coach, and DC.   Now they've cleared house to set that up.

They are desperate despite him previously ******* them over.