CFL players deserve a pay hike
League’s landmark TV deal with TSN must be used to boost wages
REGINA — Canadian Football League players deserve to hit pay dirt — and not in the conventional sense.
Of all professional athletes, CFLers are the most grossly underpaid. Given the dynamics of Canadian professional football, the players’ salaries will always be modest compared to the wages earned by the stars of the NFL, NHL, NBA and Major League Baseball.
But here’s hoping the stars of three-down football, and even the less-heralded grunters who populate the special teams, all receive healthy raises as a result of the next collective bargaining agreement between the league and the CFL Players’ Association.
The existing CBA is to expire this spring, the day before training camps open. As per terms of the agreement, each team adhered to a $4.4-million salary cap in 2013. The minimum salary: $45,000.
Earlier in 2013, the league and TSN announced a landmark agreement that, according to some reports, will be worth $40 million per season when it takes effect in 2014. The CFL reportedly received $15 million in TV revenues this past season.
Operatives with the CFLPA have assuredly taken notice of the numbers, both real and speculated, and will raise them when negotiations kick off in the spring. Talks have typically been amicable, partially because the CFLPA can hardly be described as militant or hard-line.
The players’ association has been understanding of the financial hardships the league has encountered, with the result being that the CFL has been a lockout-free, strikefree zone for 40 years. The only disruption to date was a 12-day strike in 1974.
The time has arrived for the players to transfer their aggression from the field to the boardroom. They must insist on a deal that is vastly superior to previous CBAs. If not now, when? Overall, the league is strong, as evidenced by the stadium boom. With new or renovated facilities, there will be increased expenses. In fairness, that factor must be taken into consideration.
Nonetheless, this is the time for the players to cash in.
They are the ones who absorb the hits over 18 regularseason games — two more than are played by each NFL team — plus the post-season. They are the ones who allow the CFL and TSN to boast of impressive ratings, especially around playoff time.
Ratings equal cash, but how much of it filters to the players?
Consider the case of Darian Durant, who quarterbacked the Saskatchewan Roughriders to the 2013 Grey Cup title. For his trouble, he earned upward so f$300,000, and that is nice money. But keep in mind the NHL league minimum is $550,000 US.
Or consider Roughriders tailback Kory Sheets, the most valuable player of the 2013 Grey Cup game. According to some reports, Sheets’ 2013 contract called for $60,000, plus bonuses.
Such is the economic climate in the CFL. A salary of $130,000 can raise alarm bells. But what is really alarming? The list of unremarkable NHL players who receive a salary that exceeds the entire payroll of a CFL team.
That scroll of names includes non-Hall of Famers such as Dustin Byfuglien ($5.2M), Ales Hemsky ($5M), Paul Martin ($5M), Stephen Weiss ($4.9M), Ryane Clowe ($4.85M), Jason Garrison ($4.6M), R.J. Umberger ($4.6M), Olli Jokinen ($4.5M), Ville Leino ($4.5M), Jason Pominville ($4.5M) and Mr. Hockey 2.0, the legendary Fedor Tyutin ($4.5M).
Is anyone rootin’ for Tyutin? Didn’t think so.
People do pay to watch the stars of the CFL — Durant, Sheets, Weston Dressler, John Chick, J.C. Sherritt, Jon Cornish, Ricky Ray, et al.
Yet, the salary of each of those players pales in comparison to that of the Columbus Blue Jackets No. 6 defenceman.