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.

Just now, rebusrankin said:

So let's say you get him to cut it by $150,000, that's basically one good offensive lineman. Does that do enough? Does he strike you as the type of guy to take a cut? He doesn't to me.

That would be a start. But no I don’t think he would. 

On 2021-12-04 at 8:13 AM, Mark H. said:

Starting with OL. The have to be considered one of the all - time best OLs in the CFL. 

Now that would be a great discussion. 

On 2021-12-04 at 10:22 AM, TrueBlue4ever said:

I would not agree with a statement that sweeping just yet. Early results are very encouraging though. 

9 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

So let's say you get him to cut it by $150,000, that's basically one good offensive lineman. Does that do enough? Does he strike you as the type of guy to take a cut? He doesn't to me.

The only difference between the 19 riders ol and the 21 ol is the 21 was young and the rider fans knew they were bad. The 19 ol was old and the rider fans thought they were better. 

The riders aren't 1 ol away. Not even a prime Bryant away. If I was them I'd be going hard after gray and Eli. Or especially desjarlais if he's a fa. 

 Nothing and I mean nothing will fix Fajardo. Doesn't matter what line or wrs or running game he has. This in ability to throw 20 yards down field is between his ears. No outside force will change that. 

12 hours ago, Bomber_fanaddict said:

Look what Bighill did this year just to stay with the Bombers. Took a large cut so they could spend elsewhere and keep the team together. 

Difference is Bighill is a team player and backs up what he says. Fajardo cries about the criticism he gets and can't hold himself accountable. I wouldn't compare those two players on equal footing. Champ vs. chump.

I think Vanstone has lost his mind.

2 hours ago, wbbfan said:

The only difference between the 19 riders ol and the 21 ol is the 21 was young and the rider fans knew they were bad. The 19 ol was old and the rider fans thought they were better. 

The riders aren't 1 ol away. Not even a prime Bryant away. If I was them I'd be going hard after gray and Eli. Or especially desjarlais if he's a fa. 

 Nothing and I mean nothing will fix Fajardo. Doesn't matter what line or wrs or running game he has. This in ability to throw 20 yards down field is between his ears. No outside force will change that. 

Faj needs permanently strained obliques.  I rewatched the '19 Division Final and he looked way better in that game than at any time this season.

https://3downnation.com/2021/12/07/paul-lapolice-wants-chris-streveler-as-his-starting-qb-with-ottawa-redblacks-for-2022-season/

Trigger warning: This article contains GRAPHIC IMAGES of Strev photoshopped into an RB uniform. You've been warned.

Just now, MOBomberFan said:

https://3downnation.com/2021/12/07/paul-lapolice-wants-chris-streveler-as-his-starting-qb-with-ottawa-redblacks-for-2022-season/

Trigger warning: This article contains GRAPHIC IMAGES of Strev photoshopped into an RB uniform. You've been warned.

Not worth looking at.

20 minutes ago, MOBomberFan said:

https://3downnation.com/2021/12/07/paul-lapolice-wants-chris-streveler-as-his-starting-qb-with-ottawa-redblacks-for-2022-season/

Trigger warning: This article contains GRAPHIC IMAGES of Strev photoshopped into an RB uniform. You've been warned.

Jaysus!  3Down has become something to avoid, unless you're the kind who likes to venture into antivaxx groups for entertainment.

That's too bad, because the CFL needs more eyeballs and stories.  Just not like this.

Just now, Wideleft said:

Jaysus!  3Down has become something to avoid, unless you're the kind who likes to venture into antivaxx groups for entertainment.

That's too bad, because the CFL needs more eyeballs and stories.  Just not like this.

I mean, Dunk is pretty solid. 

1 minute ago, Mike said:

I mean, Dunk is pretty solid. 

True.  Maybe they need to divide the website into "Dunk" and "Non-Dunk" sections.

What about Duck Hodges who has a three year deal?

10 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

What about Duck Hodges who has a three year deal?

3 year deal, 10 year deal...irrelevant.

Bryant...dude is still in his prime....best ever in my opinion

Gray and Eli won't leave here, and we wont let them either....guys wanna be here, and will accommodate like last year to do it...Play-off money speaks volumes, and people under estimate the brotherhood of this locker...case in point...who did we all see in the stands....having a blast on sunday...that speaks volumes too

If they win again...damn straight everyone will want that dynasty 3 in a row, and if they eff up and lose?....will fuel them even more

Strev, if he comes back...it will be here....He won't go anywhere else, definitely not to play in a Lapo watered down system...no way..no how...he's made close to well over a million bucks the last 2 years, he will be fine being 1b here behind Zack for another year...

2 hours ago, MOBomberFan said:

https://3downnation.com/2021/12/07/paul-lapolice-wants-chris-streveler-as-his-starting-qb-with-ottawa-redblacks-for-2022-season/

Trigger warning: This article contains GRAPHIC IMAGES of Strev photoshopped into an RB uniform. You've been warned.

Does streveler want to play in the lapo system? Somehow I am not so sure... and go to a tire fire of a team... you gotta think there are better landing spots in the cfl. 

I think Strev would go there if they offered him an actual starting position. I'm not sure a lot of teams would do that. 

1 hour ago, 17to85 said:

Does streveler want to play in the lapo system? Somehow I am not so sure... and go to a tire fire of a team... you gotta think there are better landing spots in the cfl. 

Go back and play as a starter for the guy who he won a Grey Cup with and whose offensive schemes developed his game and showcased him enough to get him a look in The Show and over $1 million in salary? Yeah, who wants that? 🙄

He will go where the money and the opportunity (quite possibly in that order) is best. Loyalty means as much to a player as it does to a team, which is to say not much a sizeable amount of the time, especially where dollars are involved. 

1 hour ago, 17to85 said:

Does streveler want to play in the lapo system? Somehow I am not so sure... and go to a tire fire of a team... you gotta think there are better landing spots in the cfl. 

I'm purely guessing but I think CS remains 100% committed and focused to continuing to try to secure a spot in a NFL system. The CFL is currently only on his radar from a cheering perspective.

7 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

I'm purely guessing but I think CS remains 100% committed and focused to continuing to try to secure a spot in a NFL system. The CFL is currently only on his radar from a cheering perspective.

This would be a very smart decision by CS. As much as I’d love to see him back in blue and gold I can’t see him coming back anytime soon. And why would you want to go to a team and get beat up behind a bad o line. 

19 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

Go back and play as a starter for the guy who he won a Grey Cup with and whose offensive schemes developed his game and showcased him enough to get him a look in The Show and over $1 million in salary? Yeah, who wants that? 🙄

He will go where the money and the opportunity (quite possibly in that order) is best. Loyalty means as much to a player as it does to a team, which is to say not much a sizeable amount of the time, especially where dollars are involved. 

If anything..Lapo's system and use of him and what he prepared for him actually stagnated and regressed him....sure it showcased his running style, but he totallly neutered his passing and any work on it...His first season, he passed fairly well for a true raw rookie....

1 hour ago, 17to85 said:

Does streveler want to play in the lapo system? Somehow I am not so sure... and go to a tire fire of a team... you gotta think there are better landing spots in the cfl. 

I think it may actually be a good system for him.

Outside of the guy calling plays who is the main issue.

God would it knife my soul to play against him.

That being said I think Baltimore is the perfect spot for him.

Yeah I guess I don't see streveler back in the cfl next season. And at that point there are other places where a starting gig might be available. Toronto? Cause MBT ain't so **** hot. Edmonton, BC possibly. Maybe calgary if blm is done and they **** around with Maier. 

 

Lapos system might be fine, but his play calling was detrimental to Streveler. Don't believe the lapo fanbois who think he made the NFL notice streveler. He was on the radar before and opted to play in the cfl rather than just go for tryouts and Minicamps.  

 

I ain't saying he won't sign in Ottawa, but it won't be for Lapo, it would be for an opportunity to start plain and simple.

Streveler would be crazy to turn down the Ottawa starting job.

...that said maybe he is crazy enough to turn it down for a better franchise 🤫

Edited December 7, 20214 yr by Dr Zaius

4 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

What about Duck Hodges who has a three year deal?

CFL contracts aren't guaranteed.

 

2 hours ago, Noeller said:

I think Strev would go there if they offered him an actual starting position. I'm not sure a lot of teams would do that. 

LaPo being LaPo. 

So, I'm the prospective Ottawa GM who starts his new job already hancuffed to the sandbag that is Lapo.

Now I find out that he's looking hard at Strevy to be his starter.

Who the hell would want this job?

 

Edited December 8, 20214 yr by Pete Catan's Ghost