Ambrosie’s push for an earlier start not so simple

Rapid Randy Ambrosie, in his short time as CFL commissioner, has definitely been a man of action.

Will he continue to keep his finger on the fast forward button when it comes to the concept of moving up the CFL schedule? Will the league, sooner than later, move their Grey Cup game from the last week of November to the first? After talking to the presidents and general managers, is the track clear from here?

Edmonton president and CEO Len Rhodes, who first put the concept on the agenda four years ago, thinks it is.

“When Randy came in, he was sincere and genuine about having the conversation. And it appears coming out of here nothing seems to be insurmountable in terms of a barrier holding it back.

“I think it’s a question of timing, working with the rights holders and working with the players association but I’m really, really positive it’s going to happen,” said Rhodes.

Ambrosie said there’s a lot involved in moving forward.

“The important question we wanted answered here was if there was anything we might be missing?

“If we’re going to talk to our fans about it as I’m planning to do in the weeks and months ahead, if we’re really planning to have a national conversation about our season, you have to know the logistical issues.

“This was an opportunity to talk to our general managers. And the nice thing to report is that there were no showstoppers. There was no issue that came up that they didn’t see a solution. I’m encouraged. Now we can go to our board of governors having had the conversation and inform them that it was positive. Having these conversations released some anxiety I’ve had about what might we be missing,’’said Ambrosie.

“There’s a carpenter’s axiom. Measure twice. Cut once.

“You don’t want to get all the way to the goal-line and have somebody say ‘Wait. Did you think about this?’

There were several concerns when it came to training camps.

Saskatchewan GM Chris Jones made the point that a lot of clubs, such as the Roughriders at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, use college dorms for training camp.

“We’d have to look at when we’d be able to get access in May. If they wouldn’t be available, we might have to use our own facility in Regina and put them in a hotel. That would cost more I would think. But how much I don’t know.

“One thing that was discussed was that if we did move the schedule up we’d have to move our draft up,” said Jones. “We’d have to move free agency up. There are things like that. But they weren’t obstacles that we wouldn’t be able to overcome.”

The biggest roadblock would appear to be television.

TSN would need to be convinced this would be good for them. Effectively they have a veto. “Obviously we will need to talk to our partners and rights holders, particularly TSN,” said Ambrosie.

It’s a project that can go forward. But not fast forward.