MISSTEPS KILLING THE CFL’S HOPES
Two-month wait to ask for financial aid is a time-count violation league can’t afford
In one of those reports that make you go “Huh?,” we were told on Friday the CFL has asked the federal government for financial help.
That’s right, apparently threedown football needs help from Johnny and Jenny Taxpayer to stay afloat.
Wait a minute — didn’t that already happen, like, months ago?
Well, yes, it did.
It was late April when word first leaked out that CFL boss Randy Ambrosie had held out his hat in the general direction of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
I wrote a column about it on April 29, as a matter of fact, pointing out that the link between the Trudeau family and the CFL goes back half a century, to when Justin’s colourful pop, then-pm Pierre Elliotte Trudeau, used to perform the ceremonial opening kickoffs to the Grey Cup.
Ambrosie said the league needed $30 million right away to cover off-season expenses, and up to $120 million more if the 2020 season gets sacked before the opening kickoff.
Within 10 days of Ambrosie’s ask going public, the commish went one step further, appearing before the House of Commons standing committee on finance to plead his case.
“The CFL is a valuable and integral part of Canadian life, and its future is very much in jeopardy,” Ambrosie said near the beginning of his virtual presentation. “And it would be terribly sad if this pandemic were allowed to take it away.”
So given all that, Friday’s news, delivered by the league’s TV partner, TSN, came as a head-scratcher.
“The CFL has submitted its request for financial aid to the federal government, with the CFLPA endorsement,” tweeted reporter Dave Naylor.
Canadian Press later reported the ask was for $42.5 million.
Deja vu, all over again?
Actually, those last four words are key: “with the CFLPA endorsement.”
Astute readers may recall the commish overlooked that little detail in his first virtual trip to Parliament Hill.
That’s right, he ran his own route, outside the scheme he so often touts, a scheme that calls for a partnership with the players association.
Even the politicians saw through it at the time, and that breed has often shown the vision of Stevie Wonder.
Little wonder, then, that Ambrosie was sent home with an empty hat and told to get the other half of the partnership, the part the Canadian public pays to watch, to the table.
More than two months later, he’s finally got the players union on board, the biggest waste of time since Geraldo Rivera cracked open Al Capone’s safe on live TV.
Perhaps the feds would have cracked open the taxpayer safe by now, had the CFL and the players had their ducks in a row earlier.
Instead, they’re just getting a proposal they should have had in their hands a month ago, if not two.
Like the team down by a couple of touchdowns with two minutes to go, the league is now fighting the clock, as well as the opponent, COVID -19.
The lost time has us looking at a less-than-satisfactory six-game regular season, barely enough time for Willie Jefferson to break a sweat.
Since that’s not enough of a schedule to separate the men from the boys, they’re going to let everybody but one team into the playoffs.
In other words, those six games will hold only slightly more value than a pre-season affair.
Naylor went on to divulge some detail on the CFL’S request for assistance, saying the money would go to paying players, not to compensate owners for losses, a statement with more spin than a Dieter Brock spiral.
Aren’t the two inseparably linked?
That’s like a gambling addict telling his bank manager the ten grand he wants to borrow is to pay the rent and buy food, not to take to the casino. He’ll use a different account for that.
Funny, though, how the CFL’S shaping of the request has changed over these two-plus months.
Back when he was first asking for help, Ambrosie told me the federal money was for salaries and benefits for front-office staff, football operations personnel and other administration costs, plus some off-season player bonuses.
He couldn’t say at the time whether any of it would pay player salaries.
Now, apparently, it’s all going to player salaries.
Look, I feel for the guy, and the players union types, too. But mostly for the players and staff during as unpredictable and chaotic a time as we’ve ever lived through.
But with an ever-shrinking season in the balance and time running short, those two squandered months are a time-count violation the league just couldn’t afford.
And they have nobody to blame for that penalty than themselves.