Minds needlessly closed at Commonwealth
Restricting media’s locker-room access won’t boost on-field play
So, reporters seeking afterpractice interviews with the ‘nationals’ or ‘internationals’ that make up the roster of the Edmonton Eskimos this season will have to do their work outside the confines of the CFL club’s spiffy sanctuary, er, locker-room.
This is about as quirky and counter-productive as the league’s opting to refer to Canadians and Americans not as non-imports and imports, as was the case in recent years, but, as mentioned, as ‘nationals’ and ‘internationals.’
In the meantime, on the cusp of a season that welcomes Ottawa back to the league’s active roster, CFL fans already have witnessed a short, messy, one-sided labour-management tussle won by the owners, a curious change in roster nomenclature and, in Edmonton, a circling of the metaphorical wagons, by way of stiffarming the media from their locker-room after practice.
Hardly a brilliant way to rouse the fan base as the new season approaches.
For several years, the CFL seemed to have outgrown its long-standing clumsiness on a variety of fronts, especially optics. These events suggest the league’s tradition of inventing dubious remedies to non-existent problems remains proud and strong.
Keep in mind, this Eskimos policy — which is similar to that of six of the nine CFL franchises, according to Eskimos CEO Len Rhodes — is not a reaction to an acrimonious episode between a reporter and a player, or any such unpleasantness. Rather, it was implemented over a period of a week or 10 days, with Eskimos GM Ed Hervey, new head coach Chris Jones and Rhodes all in agreement.
You don’t want to overreact. Reporters will continue to have locker-room access after games, as per CFL policy.
After practice, access will be on the field. Or, if it rains, presumably, in a hallway, or at the Commonwealth Stadium Fieldhouse, just not in the locker-room. Nobody’s civil rights have been violated here. It’s the reasoning behind the policy change that doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.
“A few things,” Rhodes said Monday, by way of explanation. “All the feedback from last year, what we went through last year, the challenging (issues) on the field, people have been pretty clear — we had better improve our on-field performance.
“I’m holding football operations accountable to delivering a better product on the field. Two things that I did going into this year to help them succeed were making sure they had the resources to bring in the coaching staff they require; and providing resources to increase the scouting coverage, as well, across North America.
“There is a lot of pressure on football operations and they felt that to help themselves focus and improve the quality, one aspect was to close the locker-room. Football operations felt strongly about that.
“Given the pressure and the fact that they have to be held accountable for what goes on on the field, I felt the need to support them on that decision.”
Pressure? The Eskimos might want to think about what the Oilers endured last season. The Oilers, led by young 20-somethings, has no closed-door policy after practice.
One of the reasons Hervey, the player, gained the respect of reporters, and through them, the paying public, was that he was a standup guy in the locker-room, always available in good times or bad during his career.
It’s no stretch to suggest those post-practice and postgame sessions with reporters helped Hervey advance to the position he currently holds. If talking to reporters in the locker-room after practice disrupted his focus on the task at hand, the two-time Grey Cup champion hid it well.
Humanizing the players by telling their stories can help strengthen bonds to the public, and the relationships that lead to those stories have traditionally been forged in the locker-room.
To the blinkered football professional, reporters are a nuisance, of course. But the wise sports entrepreneur knows he’s selling stories and identification with players, not just a series of games.
Might the connection that reporters help provide from the team to the community be damaged by a policy that makes it just a little harder for the media to do its job?
“It’s a community-owned team, we’re very conscientious about the fact that we want to be accessible with this community, and I think, overall, we do that well,” Rhodes said. “There’s nothing to fill a stadium like winning.
“We could be the most accessible group, be the most flexible, but if (the team) doesn’t perform on the field, that’s the biggest critical factor that’s at play.”
Hervey and Jones want to provide a sanctuary for their players after practice, Rhodes said, adding that football operations people convinced him closing the locker-room after practice fell in the category of providing “winning conditions.”
Looked at charitably, Rhodes has kicked a potential crutch away from Hervey and Jones. And if Hervey and Jones believe they need that crutch, that hardly inspires confidence.
Win or lose, Rhodes said the new policy is in place for at least this full season.
“People may look at this and feel like it’s a policy change just to alienate people,” Rhodes said. “It’s not that at all.”
Win or lose, the new policy will have no effect whatsoever on performance. Which makes it all the more unnecessary.