107TH GREY CUP
what does Commissioner Ambrosie’s CFL 2.0 look like?
On Friday morning, the Boyce Theatre at Stampede Park was for a time the single most pro- CFL place on Earth. Fans filled the seats for the commissioner’s annual town hall, decked out in all manner of CFL jerseys, representing every franchise and several that no longer exist. Some wore overalls or other elaborate costumes. One couple was dressed as a football and the Grey Cup trophy. These are the CFL’S people.
The first question was about the CFL not scheduling games on Sundays. Was it afraid of going up against the National Football League?
Commissioner Randy Ambrosie bristled a little at the suggestion. “We are the biggest global football league in the world,” he said, enthusiastically.
There was a pause. Then a few fans gave a supportive “WOO!”
It is one of the few rooms where Ambrosie’s claim wouldn’t have been met with snorts of derision.
It’s a line that the commissioner has been road-testing at Grey Cup week. Earlier on Friday, at his State of the League address with the media, Ambrosie said the CFL under his “2.0” reinvention strategy has become “the world’s largest global football league.” The assembled reporters made no noise in response, as the sound of dozens of raised eyebrows tends to be silent.
It is true that Ambrosie’s CFL 2.0 program has achieved certain results in the year since it was announced with plans for a Mexican draft and a partnership with a semi- pro league in Mexico. The CFL has since had a European draft, it has signed similar co- operation agreements with football outfits in 11 countries and it has added global- player spots to team rosters. It even recently appointed a director of global scouting.
But what those efforts have netted, so far, have been negligible in terms of actual impact. The CFL had 27 global spots on its active and practice rosters this season, and only one player managed a single start, receiver Diego Viamontes, in Edmonton’s final game, when some starters were rested. He was the first overall pick in the inaugural Mexican draft and had no catches on the season.
The biggest success story is linebacker Thiadric Hansen on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who was on the active roster all year. The German had five tackles and a sack, and head coach Mike O’shea spoke glowingly about his work ethic and his acceptance on the team.
The National Football League, meanwhile, recently hosted a game at a sold- out Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, and has for years now had 80,000 fans at each of its games in London. That is almost a full season’s worth of home fans for the Toronto Argonauts. The NFL is bringing in piles of international money, it is also planning to host a combine in Europe, and if wants to expand its global footprint significantly it would only have to decide to do so.
It has a strong brand, and all those countries with which the CFL has signed partnerships are, notably, playing American football.
This remains the biggest challenge with CFL 2.0. It is one thing to build international alliances and to scout foreign players, but Ambrosie’s grand plan relies on eventually getting broadcast and licensing deals in countries that have a new interest in the CFL because the teams will include German or Norwegian or Japanese players. But those athletes would have to be actually on the field and making plays; no one is rushing to snap up the broadcast rights to the ongoing adventures of the practice roster.
Ambrosie, in his session with the media on Friday, said they knew at this time last year that they wanted to try something new with the 2.0 strategy and they didn’t want to wait to start it.
“I would confess that we didn’t have it all figured out,” he said. “We took that first step.”
The commissioner said that he expects this off- season will be an even bigger step on the 2.0 path. With more arrangements with foreign football federations and a scouting infrastructure in place, Ambrosie imagines a “much bigger pool of talent” from which CFL teams will draw.
That would, in theory, result in players who are more likely to have an impact, as opposed to those who were earning praise from their coaches this season largely just for being able to hold their own in practice.
When I asked what it would take for the 2.0 strategy to translate to actual interest overseas, Ambrosie said, “I think it’s going to be that first star.”
“That first breakout player who is going to really, you know, leave a mark on the game, that’s probably where we’ll see … the first big real rise in international attention come, when we have notable on- field success,” Ambrosie said. “That’s what this winter is all about.”
But are those breakout stars out there, waiting to be discovered? As Ambrosie often points out, the CFL is already populated with talented athletes. These are football lifers, including former U. S. college stars and players who have just missed out on spots on NFL rosters. It’s those players whose roles the would- be global stars will have to take.
Ambrosie, not surprisingly, is optimistic. That is kind of his thing.
“I won’t ever apologize for thinking big,” the commissioner said on Friday. “Our destiny is to be a big league, not a small one,” he said.
Big ambitions, for sure.
I would confess that we didn’t have it all figured out.