Players chime in on refining CFL

Tin Regina he Canadian Football League is conducting an executive search to fill the soon-to-be vacant position of commissioner.

Jeffrey Orridge stepped down June 15, with Jim Lawson taking over on an interim basis.

Postmedia recently caught up with several CFL stars and asked what their first priority would be if they were commissioner for a day. The answers ranged from the silly to the sublime:

“First priority is to raise the salary cap. Make sure the minimum wage is way higher than it is. With what we do, the high risk of injury, guys deserved to be paid a little bit more. And then you look at the TV deals and the entertainment aspect of it and how this league has evolved and grown, I think the minimum wage should go up.”

“I think I would eliminate the challenging of pass interference. I would take that out. It’s slowing down the game. Let the refs do their jobs and make judgment calls. They’re not going to catch every foul. That’s just the way it is. There’s probably a foul on every play. The way the game is going is, ‘Wait, let’s look at the film’ instead of letting them do their jobs. We really don’t want to slow the game down for fans. It’s going to cost more money for TV too, because the length is going to be longer.”

“I would do something about the dress code where I’m not fining guys. I know you can’t compete with a different brand, but I would also like to add a little bit of extra flavour and colour to it and not be so strict on that part. I’m saying that because I’m a guy who gets fined routinely for my gloves and stuff like that.”

“I’m definitely having Adidas send a lot more gear to all the players to keep all the players happy. And no salary cap. Definitely no salary cap. I think that’s the biggest one, because everybody needs to be paid a lot. Everybody.” “I’m adding halfsacks, because it’s very frustrating when you get there at the same time as someone else and then they give the sack to Charleston Hughes instead of yourself. So just add .5 sacks in there as well for the other guys.”

“Oooh (rubs hands together). Make Shawn Lemon stop wearing tight jerseys. And give everybody who plays for the Hamilton TigerCats a pay raise.”

“I’m bringing the flow of the game back by eliminating illegal contact after five yards and I am going to make sure players have health insurance after 12 months’ time. That’s what I would do, those two things immediately. Right now, if a player gets injured — and my teammate Jonathan Hefney has lost the use of his arm — after 12 months, he’s no longer covered … That’s what I would do first — figure out within the CBA if we can correct that.”

“Get us some dental benefits. We don’t have none. We’re covered fully except for dental. You cover your own dental.” (Willis has undergone two root canals that cost him a combined $5,000.)

“For me, I try to listen to what the fans are saying. I know there’s been some challenges with our whole challenge procedure — how we challenge penalties or nonpenalties over the course of the game. I think we’re very innovative in our league, and I think we’ve taken a lot of steps that maybe the NFL hasn’t been so quick to jump on. We’re kind of pioneering in that regard. But I don’t know if we’ve maybe taken it too far or how we can refine it. I know that halfway through the season, last year, they made a change where you lost your timeout on your first challenge if you didn’t get it right. But reffing is a tough, tough job. It’s always been part of the game, and there’s judgment calls that happen. I don’t think we can make those judgment calls based on slow-motion replay frame by frame. Let the guys who are paid to be refs do their jobs out there. And that’s probably funny coming from me, because I’m always yelling at the refs out there, and I think I know better than them. Half the time, when I think a call was bad, it wasn’t. “