ALOUETTES SIGN SAM
Gay player joins CFL team
Jim Popp, the general manager of the Montreal Alouettes, was asked Friday if he thought Michael Sam, his marquee CFL signing, was landing in Canada because his sexual orientation had made it more difficult for him to find work in the National Football League.
“No idea, couldn’t begin to answer that,” Popp said. “And, personally? I don’t think so. I don’t know, but I don’t think so.”
The question has lingered over the 25-year-old defensive end for more than a year since he announced he was gay. He made the announcement before the 2014 NFL draft, where his stock suspiciously plummeted; a projected earlyround pick taken way down in the seventh round. He went to St. Louis, then Dallas and then into limbo. All the while, Popp waited. “If he can come up and be successful in our league, it may take that to sway some people to believe he can play on their team at that position,” he said, after announcing a contract that was a year in the making. “Right now, there’s probably some doubters without ever having seen him.”
On Friday, the Alouettes announced they had signed Sam to a two-year contract. The first openly gay player to be drafted in the NFL will report Wednesday to camp, a day after an introductory news conference in Montreal. His jersey was already being advertised on the team website — on sale for $109.95.
Robin Church is an associate professor in the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto. He said the signing would help “continue the conversation” around gay and lesbian workplace issues, but perhaps not to the same extent that it did in the U.S.
“Because in Canada, a lot of this has been sorted out, at least at a high level in terms of legislation and workplace policies in comparison to much of the United States — where there’s still not legislation protecting people from being fired simply for being gay or lesbian,” he said.
The CFL has already fined more than one player for public commentary disparaging Sam and his sexuality, including one (now former) Alouettes player. Arland Bruce published a long, homophobic message on social media last year, urging Sam to “submit to God.”
Maurice Price, then a member of the Calgary Stampeders, was also fined. Price wrote his faith “won’t allow me to ACCEPT what took place” over the NFL draft weekend.
Sam has not appeared in a regular season game in professional football. He was cut out of training camp last year with the St. Louis Rams, despite recording 11 tackles and three sacks through the pre-season.
The Dallas Cowboys signed him to the practice roster, from which he did not advance.
The 6-foot-2, 260-pound Sam has the potential, in Popp’s mind, to follow the path set by other pass-rushers who found success in Canada after struggling to find a home in the NFL. In that best-case scenario, he could become another Elfrid Payton or even another Cameron Wake, whose dominant play with the B.C. Lions led him back to a starring role in the U.S.
For now, though, Sam still has to make the team.
“This is a signing like any other free agent,” Popp said. “I don’t care if they’re street free agents or if they’re CFL free agents that come to your team. They’ve got to come in, they’ve got to perform and they’ve got to make your team.”