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.

Craig Dickenson deserved some COTY consideration for ringing out 9 wins out of that squad of losers.

Bo Lokombo and Jordan Williams had very impressive stats respectively but it should be noted they had many, many more opportunities to make them than almost any other team in the league....and that's why aggregate stats don't really tell the story sometimes.

Edited November 25, 20214 yr by GCn20

Matty's point about Lokombo and Lambert getting all the stats because the O was hot steaming dog **** is an accurate one. **** every reporter who doesn't vote Demski for MOC, and to a lesser extent, Alford for MOR....man, I'm angry about this. 

27 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Matty's point about Lokombo and Lambert getting all the stats because the O was hot steaming dog **** is an accurate one. **** every reporter who doesn't vote Demski for MOC, and to a lesser extent, Alford for MOR....man, I'm angry about this. 

I wouldn't want to be the WR being covered by DeAndre on the 5th,talk about a chip.

Hope the boys channel the end of the last game, any award or all star snubs, any foolish comments by opposing players into a smack down of epic proportions on the 5th.

This team doesn't need awards or snubs to get up. They're going to crush their opponents because they are the best. 

If I know one thing about this team I know they will come out ready to play regardless of anything else. Every game is a street fight with this bunch and I expect nothing different in the playoffs. If a team wants to beat the Bombers they're going to have to slug it out for 60 minutes. 

Gawd... listening to DT on Winnipeg Sports Talk.  Everyone in Riderville is delusional. 

Just as I suspected, the voters only care about stats. DT just confirmed it. 

Who cares if you're on the field 3/4 of the game? You had 15 more tackles!

23 minutes ago, JCon said:

Gawd... listening to DT on Winnipeg Sports Talk.  Everyone in Riderville is delusional. 

I mostly agree, but I was actually glad to hear him not pump up Fajardo. He basically said Fajardo sucks without directly saying it. 

That part surprised me. 

4 minutes ago, Dr Zaius said:

I mostly agree, but I was actually glad to hear him not pump up Fajardo. He basically said Fajardo sucks without directly saying it. 

That part surprised me. 

He said he wasn't getting as lucky this year. I was curious where he was going to put him on the best QB list. 

And, he threw some shade at the fans, which I'm sure wasn't intentional, suggesting they would only come out if it was warmer. 

7 minutes ago, Dr Zaius said:

I mostly agree, but I was actually glad to hear him not pump up Fajardo. He basically said Fajardo sucks without directly saying it. 

That part surprised me. 

It surprises me a tiny bit that it was Fajardo, but it is the modus operandi of that organization to throw someone under the bus when things go badly and DT gets his talking points from Reynolds and crew. Guess we know who the sacrificial lamb they are going to lead to the slaughter on Monday is.

Edited November 25, 20214 yr by GCn20

10 minutes ago, JCon said:

He said he wasn't getting as lucky this year. I was curious where he was going to put him on the best QB list. 

And, he threw some shade at the fans, which I'm sure wasn't intentional, suggesting they would only come out if it was warmer. 

Yeah I understood it as the underlying message was last year was an outlier and he was lucky. I understood it as "yeah.... last year Fajardo basically had a horse shoe up his ass and everything went his way". Especially his comment regarding the catchable  interceptions 

2 hours ago, Noeller said:

Matty's point about Lokombo and Lambert getting all the stats because the O was hot steaming dog **** is an accurate one. **** every reporter who doesn't vote Demski for MOC, 

Can't the same thing be said about our offense being on the field a bunch more due to our dominant D, contribute to Demski getting those amazing stats?

Not saying Demski didn't deserve it- just offering a different perspective.

2 minutes ago, wanna-b-fanboy said:

Can't the same thing be said about our offense being on the field a bunch more due to our dominant D, contribute to Demski getting those amazing stats?

Not saying Demski didn't deserve it- just offering a different perspective.

Our team was the most balanced team in the league. Our offense wasn't on the field more because of a dominant D. It was as close to a 50/50 split as you'd ever see. We're an incredibly well balanced team that plays complimentary football. 

I definitely did not expect Demski or Alford to win the nominations. Very pleased at their All Star status, however.

6 minutes ago, Jesse said:

I definitely did not expect Demski or Alford to win the nominations. Very pleased at their All Star status, however.

I definitely expected Alford too.

He has been the best boundary corner in the league as a rookie.

9 minutes ago, Geebrr said:

I definitely expected Alford too.

He has been the best boundary corner in the league as a rookie.

Yeah, he's gotta be gone to the NFL next year

 

Last game of the year and he couldn't just stick it out? C'mon man. 

Unvaxxed and playtime is a smoke screen perhaps? Or just too much ego to fit in one jersey

Just now, MOBomberFan said:

Unvaxxed and playtime is a smoke screen perhaps? Or just too much ego to fit in one jersey

Probably too much ego. He would be able to play on Sunday if he were unvaxxed. 

But, you have to think anyone who might of signed him in the offseason, now probably won't. Who needs a me-first type guy? 

<Chris Jones has entered the chat>

55 minutes ago, Jesse said:

I definitely did not expect Demski or Alford to win the nominations. Very pleased at their All Star status, however.

Demski no alford yes. No coach in the league would take any of the rookies over alford. He's soo much better it's crazy.  Nfl bound next year. 

14 minutes ago, JCon said:

Probably too much ego. He would be able to play on Sunday if he were unvaxxed. 

But, you have to think anyone who might of signed him in the offseason, now probably won't. Who needs a me-first type guy? 

<Chris Jones has entered the chat>

Honestly I wouldn't sit on the bench behind those long in the tooth trash heeps the riders pay top dollar to. They have the 2 most over rated dbs by a mile. 

Every time I hear DT now I think of Krusty the Clown saying, "They drove a dump truck full of money up to my house. I'm not made of stone."

31 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Every time I hear DT now I think of Krusty the Clown saying, "They drove a dump truck full of money up to my house. I'm not made of stone."

Let's just say it moved me..... TO A BIGGER HOUSE!

Uh oh, I said the quiet part loud and the loud part quiet.

Edited November 25, 20214 yr by Jesse
spelling

4 hours ago, Noeller said:

Matty's point about Lokombo and Lambert getting all the stats because the O was hot steaming dog **** is an accurate one. **** every reporter who doesn't vote Demski for MOC, and to a lesser extent, Alford for MOR....man, I'm angry about this. 

Alford should be ROY. He came in and played a premium position and was probably the best player in the league. The problem is the corner isn't a big stats position and  these awards/all stars seem to be based off stats. 

An example of this is Nick Marshal. As a rider fan I think he is the worst player in our secondary. He doesn't tackle at all. gives up a couple big plays a game and is good for a 15 yard unsportsmanlike every couple weeks, but he is voted an all star because he does make a decent amount of picks and knockdowns. and thats what the voters look like.