CFL’s talks with players’ association to resume

Officials with the Canadian Football League and CFL Players’ Association are ready to huddle up again.

According to a CFL source, “senior leadership from each organization” will resume meeting soon to discuss COVID-19 contingencies. The two sides had formed a working group that held regular conference calls on Tuesdays and Fridays through March and into early April, and there was progress being made on potential changes to the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

However, that amicable arrangement fell apart about two weeks ago, after the CFL postponed the beginning of the regular season from June 11 to at least July 1, and the CFLPA raised paragraph 16 of the standard player contract as a bargaining issue. The league read that act as one

of aggression, given that paragraph 16 states:

It is mutually understood and agreed that if the operation of the Canadian Football League is suspended, this Contract shall immediately be terminated and the remuneration to be paid to the Player shall be on the basis as provided by Paragraph 11 herein.

The CFL told the CFLPA there could not be any further progress made if the players insisted on discussing paragraph 16 and its potential to create a synthetic class of free agents. So talks were shut down.

According to a memo from president Solomon Elimimian to CFLPA members that was posted on 3downnation.com on Monday afternoon, the players have requested a resumption of discussion on paragraph 16. No word yet from the CFL whether that will occur.

But it’s clearly a good sign that the two sides are ready to get back to the table and plan for what will be at best a shortened season, and at worst a cancellation of the entire 81-game campaign. There are obvious financial, medical and pension issues specific to the players that must be addressed.

Commissioner Randy Ambrosie last week confirmed the CFL made a request for $150 million in federal government aid; $30 million up front to offset current losses and a maximum of another $120 million if the entire 2020 season is wiped out.

“This is good news for the future of the Canadian Football League and the only way to protect our game and our livelihood in the wake of this virus,” Elimimian said in the memo to his membership.