CFL personnel cuts hit hard off the field
Drastic reductions leave just 41 staff at head office in Toronto, most working reduced days
TORONTO — Steve Daniel knows better than most how numbers can tell a story, and when they fall well short.
Since 2006 Daniel has worked for the Canadian Football League, revolutionizing the manner in which playing statistics are compiled and deployed to the undying benefit of the head office in Toronto, each of the nine teams, players past and present, media and fans.
Using limited resources at first, he converted decades-old paper records into a massive digital database that will serve the league forever.
The 67-year-old is now the former senior director of game information and statistics, one of 29 CFL head office staff members who were either terminated or furloughed last month as the league moved to cut costs after the 2020 campaign was cancelled last month.
Nine positions were terminated. Among the 20 furloughs is vice-president of football operations and player safety Kevin McDonald. There were five people furloughed in Grey Cup and events, three in data, IT and team services, three in revenue, two in communications, two in creative and design and three in brand, digital and content.
The drastic cuts leave just 41 staff members at head office, most working reduced days. By October, the number will be down to 39 after two contracts expire.
It is both shocking and expected, given the financial strain put on the league by the cancellation of the season. The presidents and CEOs of some teams have made it clear they expect to lose $10 million. The rainy-day funds of the three community-owned franchises in Edmonton, Regina and Winnipeg will be wiped out. Private ownership at the six other teams will be writing big cheques to cover losses.
As of Wednesday morning, more than 80 CFL players had chosen to opt out of their contracts, in hopes of chasing an opportunity in the NFL. Others have taken odd jobs to pay the bills. That’s the human side of this story.
Quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. was the highest profile player to announce he was opting out of his contract, with Montreal, in the hopes of signing in the NFL.
Daniel started preparing for this eventuality a few years ago. He had been working full-time for the CFL while earning a Master’s Degree in archeology at the University of British Columbia. In 2019 he embarked on a PhD. He’s currently the senior teaching assistant in the anthropology department and has worked extensively with Musqueam First Nation.
He loves it and he knew his passion was going to take him away from the CFL eventually. The league identified a successor, Jeff Krever, who was furloughed last month, but is expected to take over for Daniel.
“When you get to your 60s and you’ve got a young replacement, I knew it would be natural if it ever came to it for whatever reason — and of course I didn’t know it would be COVID — that business-wise they would choose the younger person.”
Daniel said the two of them get along “famously” and the plan was to have the duo work on a smooth transition throughout the entire 2020 season. COVID-19 put the kibosh on that idea.
“They have told me that they’ll bring me back if they can,” said Daniel. “My response is that I appreciate that, but I may not be in a position to accept it. We just don’t know yet.
“If you care about your legacy, you care that it continues. I have all this information, gigabytes of work. I managed to take a whole lot of paper records and turn it into a digital tool that the clubs can use. I’ve done work that is analytical. The teams have relied on that. So it’s gone far beyond just merely recording a bunch of data.
“The legacy is to have built that tool, and you want someone to use it. Jeff is the right guy. He really is. He just hasn’t had enough time yet.”
Nobody knows if the two will be able to work together in 2021, so this could well be goodbye and good luck. Daniel has moved on mentally to another stage of life, but is fiercely proud of what he accomplished at the CFL, and why he did it.
“All that I did, I did for two reasons: one, because I absolutely love the game and respect it, and two, for the players. We had well over 10,000 CFL players since the ’30s. Whether it meant finding out the first name of a guy who played one game, that’s what you had to do to secure the legacy of what each player accomplished.
“It was really fun. I’m sad that it ended in a way that doesn’t feel all that good.”