LOOK BACK TO GO AHEAD
Vanstone’s idea on how CFL might salvage season
The key to the Canadian Football League’s short-term future just might be found by revisiting its distant past.
Suppose that the Canada-u.s. border remains closed well into the fall, as it should when you consider the chaos that reigns south of the 49th parallel.
Suppose that relaxed social-distancing restrictions allow people to visit sporting facilities, provided that all spectators are separated by at least six feet.
Suppose that there is a burning desire to proceed with some semblance of a truncated season, punctuated by a Grey Cup game at Mosaic Stadium on Nov. 22.
Well, this might just be the recipe.
Revive the Western Interprovincial Football Union concept, as it is existed from 1954 (when the B.C. Lions staged their inaugural kickoff ) through 1960, after which interlocking play began in Canadian professional football.
Take the five WIFU 2.0 teams — the Lions, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Eskimos and Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Have each team play a homeand-home set with each of its WIFU rivals.
This would allow for a regular season, consisting of eight games per team, that could begin in the fall.
The East Division teams, meanwhile, could play an imbalanced schedule that would still result in eight-game slates.
Regional rivalries would be accentuated, and perhaps strengthened. At the same time, there would be a reduction in travel costs. Buses could be used, except in extreme situations.
Regina to Winnipeg? Easy. Regina to Calgary? No problem.
Regina to Vancouver? Problem, but not one that is irresolvable.
Costs could be defrayed by a reduction in overall expenses. Reduce the rosters to, say, 34. Choose among the players who are actually in Canada and available to play in the CFL.
If a few American players already happen to be in our home and native land, fine. If not, tough luck, for these are tough times.
This could create an inequitable situation whereby many teams are without their marquee quarterbacks.
The Stampeders’ Bo Levi Mitchell resides in Alberta, for example, whereas Roughriders marquee player Cody Fajardo is based in the United States.
But if it turns out that there is a shortage of American quarterbacks, what might be perceived as a problem could also be turned into an opportunity.
Isn’t it time that a few Canadians got a chance to start at quarterback?
Hello there, Adam Sinagra. Nice to see you again, Noah Picton. Et cetera.
A smaller roster would eliminate the need for swollen coaching staffs.
Streamline the expenses to allow for gatherings of perhaps a few thousand socially distanced souls who would pay, say, $20 to watch a CFL 2.0 that globe-trotting commissioner Randy Ambrosie had never envisioned.
Gleefully accept cheques from TSN — which is currently starved for sports programming — that would otherwise not be forthcoming.
If some money does arrive from the federal government, spend it judiciously.
As a thank-you to Justin Trudeau, the league that once gave us Sonny Wade could celebrate Sunny Ways.
The objective should be for the CFL to do whatever it can, however it can, to resiliently and resourcefully get by for a year.
The next step would be to hope that everything has improved enough by the spring of 2021 that normalcy can be restored.
Granted, this a Hail Mary, but it is preferable to throwing a bomb that would blow up an entire season.