CFL boss comes to town
But commish mum on 2019 Grey Cup,
Randy Ambrosie scored a touchdown after touching down in Regina.
The CFL commissioner was engaging, entertaining and informative while meeting with approximately 250 Saskatchewan Roughriders season-ticket holders Saturday at Mosaic Stadium.
Regina was the sixth stop on Randy’s Road Trip. The crosscountry excursion includes all nine CFL centres plus Halifax, which has a chance to land an expansion franchise.
Before Saturday’s town-hall meeting, Ambrosie addressed a number of issues in a questionand-answer session with the Regina media.
Q What will you do with the information you’ve gathered when Randy’s Road Trip is concluded?
A We’ve been asking a lot of questions and we’ve had some fantastic responses. There have also been some inconsistencies and not every fan base or every fan sees things the same way. The most important thing is we continue to work hard on our engagement with our fan base. We’re also making sure that we’re keeping the CFL in the news 12 months a year. We should never go quiet and we should always be part of the national conversation. Those are some of things that will come out of this road show.
Q Is there a common theme among the stops that you’ve made?
A Officiating seems to come up everywhere. It has been a good, healthy conversation and I’ve been able to share some insights. Darren Hackwood has taken over as head of our officiating this year. He’s a wonderful, strong guy and I’ve been sharing those updates with our fans. They like what they are hearing, so that’s good. We always seem to get into a conversation about the challenge flags and the command centre. I’ve been able to tell them what’s coming up there. Q When will Regina play host to a Grey Cup game at new Mosaic Stadium?
A We’re taking bids for the 2019 Grey Cup game to the board of governors at the end of February. We expect to make the announcement on the 2019 Grey Cup within a month or so. After that, we’re going to start the bidding process on Grey Cups earlier because we want to give the successful bidding cities more time. The more time you give a city to prepare for a Grey Cup, the better the Grey Cup festivals can be. We’re going to watch the process for 2020 and we expect a lot of strong bids to come in for that game.
Q How have the fans reacted to suggestions of starting the season three to four weeks earlier?
A We’ve talked to a lot of fans about it and it’s different in different cities. Out east, it was almost 50-50. Calgary was almost 95 per cent in favour of it. It was 60-40 in favour with the fans that we met in B.C. We should keep talking to our fans and to our stakeholders and partners about it until it comes to a conclusion based on a lot of robust conversation.
Q What is your response to the CFLPA launching an investigation into side deals that reportedly allowed some CFL players to pursue NFL opportunities before their contracts were up?
A We should be respectful of each party’s perspective on this. They have a job to do and I respect the CFLPA. They have a mandate to fulfil for their players and you have to appreciate that’s what they think is right. For me, I’m going to stand on the sidelines, be respectful of the process that everyone uses and try to be a positive contributor to whatever outcome occurs from any investigation. More importantly, I sent a memo to the teams that we have a rule in place and I expect it to be followed. I expect all of our rules to be followed consistently by all of the teams. If there is a strong feeling that we’re not doing it right and if something should be changed, then let’s sit at a table and have that conversation. Let’s be thoughtful, considerate and make sure that we’re adjusting our rules to fit the situation and the current times.
Q Halifax doesn’t have a CFL franchise or even a suitable stadium, so why was the city included in Randy’s Road Trip?
A Like the building of our national railway, it wasn’t done until it was done. There was a last stretch of track that had to be laid down and the last spike that had to be pounded into the ground to be able to boast a national railway. It’s the same for the CFL. The Maritimes are our unfinished piece of track and we can’t be a complete CFL until the Maritimers have a team of their own to cheer for. What I wanted to do with this trip was to make sure that the people in the Maritimes know that we love them and we think of them as part of the family. We’re going to treat them like that and everything we do across this league will include our friends from the Maritimes. They are part of the CFL and we hope on the path to one day having a team to watch from that great region.
Q How would you describe your first eight months as the commissioner?
A It has been nothing less than a thrill. There is a lot to learn and you don’t do everything right. I would tell anyone who was listening that sometimes you make a decision and you can sound confident, but that doesn’t mean you think that you’ve done everything perfectly. It doesn’t mean that there isn’t time for reflection and consideration on how you might do things differently. I would never want to be that person where I think that we have everything right and be arrogant about it. I would rather be humble and reflect on things that we’ve decided. I’m very proud of many of the things that we’ve done. I believe that we can still keep working towards making the league bigger and stronger and that I can continue to grow into this role.