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| Bo Levi Mitchell fires a pass downfield for the Stampeders in 2018. |
Outside of showing the circuit is in peril due to the
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie didn’t seem to
help the cause with his presentation to a House of Commons standing committee
on finance last Thursday.
In football terms, Ambrosie fumbled the opening kickoff on
his own one yard line, and the opposition took that gift into the end zone for
a touchdown. From that moment, the opposition expanded its edge to 28-0 by the
end of the first quarter.
The CFL might still get financial assistance from the
Canadian federal government. At the moment, the circuit is far behind the
8-ball in achieving success on that front.
After Ambrosie’s presentation on Thursday, he was grilled by
MPs Kevin Waugh (Conservative, Saskatoon), Peter Julian (NDP, New
Westminster-Burnaby) and Peter Fragiskatos (Liberal, London North Centre).
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| Saskatchewan Roughriders fans cheer during a game in 2018. |
Once the dust settled, it seemed like the only message that was out there from the league was, “The CFL is a Canadian institution, so give us money.”
While the CFL has a lot of supporters that believe that
line, it isn’t going to go far in helping the circuit obtain financial
assistance.
During the final week of April, news came out that the CFL
was looking for $30-million in Canadian funds now to manage the impact of
COVID-19. The circuit is asking for additional assistance for an abbreviated
regular season and up to another $120-million in Canadian funds for a
completely lost season.
In other words, the CFL is looking for $150-million in
financial assistance if its nine teams are unable to play the 2020 regular
season and playoffs.
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| Cody Fajardo in action for the Saskatchewan Roughriders last season. |
He said the league’s future was very much in jeopardy.
The biggest
grenade hurled Ambrosie’s way on Thursday came from Julian. Julian asked why
Ambrosie’s presentation didn’t include any presence from the CFL’s Players’
Association and how much of the financial support would go directly to the
players of the CFL.
Ambrosie
said in his response, “As for how much will go to the players, we have to work
that out.”
That sentence
alone could undermine any pitch the CFL makes for financial aid. In public
relations speak, that was a question the CFL didn’t want to answer and avoided
like a poisonous snake that was ready to strike.
It would be
safe to speculate one thing the CFL is worried about getting grilled over is
the idea that tax payer dollars will be going to players born in the United
States.
 |
| Roughriders OL Dakota Shepley, right, locks up on a block last season. |
Both
players are products of the United States. Opponents of the CFL getting financial
assistance from Canadian federal government will likely rage against the
thought of seeing Canadian tax payer dollars going into the pockets of players
from the United States, who take those funds south of the border to spend it
there.
At least in Mitchell’s case, the Stampeders and the CFL can argue the signal caller and his wife, Madison, make their home year round in Calgary, and they are involved in a lot of community functions in that centre.
At least in Mitchell’s case, the Stampeders and the CFL can argue the signal caller and his wife, Madison, make their home year round in Calgary, and they are involved in a lot of community functions in that centre.
With that
noted, it will become an issue regarding how many of the CFL’s players from the
United States reside in Canada year round and are planning to make their home
north of the border.
 |
| Shaq Evans, right, secures a catch for the Roughriders last season. |
Waugh
pointed out the CFL’s three community franchises all turned profits in 2018 and
the remaining six franchises are owned by people or corporations with deep
pockets.
Fragiskatos had Ambrosie dancing around regarding questions
about banks supporting the CFL. Ambrosie just kept bringing up a line that said
the CFL owners were losing a total of $20-million a year already.
Out of the presentation, Ambrosie never came with any hard
specifics about how the CFL would use the financial assistance.
The optics that went down looked bad. They even looked worse when you consider Waugh is a former sports broadcaster and would likely lean towards giving the CFL financial assistance.
The optics that went down looked bad. They even looked worse when you consider Waugh is a former sports broadcaster and would likely lean towards giving the CFL financial assistance.
 |
| The Roughriders celebrate a touchdown last season. |
As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, there will be a lot of
other entities coming to the government looking for financial assistance. The
CFL’s arguments for aid will be graded against other presentations that ask for
help.
For those
that don’t have a rooting interest or care for the CFL, they will likely harden
their stance the circuit should not gain financial assistance from the Canadian
federal government with what happened last Thursday.
It is
conceivable the CFL might get financial assistance possibly up to $150-million
from the Canadian federal government. At the present time, the mountain to get
that type of aid is a very tall one to climb.
Canada West formats change due to
COVID-19, other notes
 |
| Adam Machart jets downfield for the Huskies last season. |
This could potentially be the first crack at providing a
revised regular season sports format for the conference that plays under the overall U Sports league banner. The fate of the Canada West campaign in
2020-21 is contingent on the clearance from health authorities in all four
western provinces, member universities permitting sport competition and the
availability of venues.
Playoff formats and regular season schedules slated to be
released at a later date.
The new formats will be in place for a one-year period and
will be revisited before the start of the 2021-22 campaign.
The revised schedules will focus more on regional play that
reduces travel for most squads.
The regular season for football shrinks from eight games to
five. The six member teams including the University of Saskatchewan Huskies
will play each other once.
In men’s and women’s hockey, teams will see their respective
regular season schedules shrink from 28 games to 20 games.
Hockey had to also deal with the fact the University of
Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s and women’s teams folded.
 |
| Collin Shirley cuts up ice for the Huskies last season. |
As a result, Canada West will have respective nine team
circuits in both men’s and women’s hockey. Teams will play each other twice and
make up the balance of the schedule adding up to 20 contests with regional
play.
The Huskies will play the University of Regina Cougars and
the University of Manitoba Bisons a total of four times each and will face the
other six Canada West squads twice each.
Men’s and women’s basketball will see their respective regular
season schedules shrink from 20 to 16 games. The 17 teams that compete in the respective
men’s and women’s basketball leagues will be split into three divisions and
regular season schedules will be limited to within division play.
The Huskies will be part of a Saskatchewan-Manitoba Division
comprised of the U of R, the Brandon University Bobcats, the University of
Manitoba Bisons and University of Winnipeg Wesmen. The Huskies will play their
division foes four times each.
The release for the revised sports format for Canada West
that outlines how the 2020-21 campaign will looking in each of its member
sports can be found by clicking right here.
 |
| Hilltops HC Tom Sargeant, right, contemplates a play call last season. |
- A big happy birthday goes out to legendary Saskatoon Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant, who turned 55-years-old on Monday. Sargeant’s Hilltops have won the last six straight CJFL championships and also captured nine of the last 10 CJFL national titles. He is the all-time wins leader in Canadian amateur post-secondary football posting a 210-30-2 record in the CJFL regular season and playoffs.
- On Monday, Prairieland Park announced the Saskatoon Exhibition, which was slated to run Aug. 4-9, has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It marks the first time in 135 years the Saskatoon Exhibition has been cancelled.
- On Thursday, Saskatoon Folkfest board of directors announced its 2020 Saskatoon Folkfest scheduled for Aug. 13 to 15 has been indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- On Monday, the American Hockey League announced it was officially cancelling remainder of its regular season and all of its post-season for the 2019-20 campaign. The AHL had been on pause since March 12. This will mark the first time Calder Cup won’t be award to the league champion since the circuit first took the ice for the 1936-37 campaign.
- Williamsport, Penn., will be a lot more silent this year without its “August Classic.” Back on April 30, the Little League World Series baseball tournament, which was set for Aug. 20 to 30, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Little League World Series had been held every August since 1947. The Championship tournaments in six other Little League divisions were also cancelled.
- On Friday, Baseball Alberta announced it has cancelled all sanctioned events and activities through to Aug. 31 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Government imposed restrictions to fight COVID-19 were cited for the reasons for this move.
- On Thursday, University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team goaltender Taran Kozun was named the male athlete of the year for the entire Canada West Conference for the 2019-20 campaign. Swimmer Kelsey Wog from the University of Manitoba Bisons was named the female athlete of the year for the Canada West Conference.
- On May 4, the Medicine Hat Tigers signed Saskatoon product and offensive-defenceman Reid Andresen to a WHL Standard Player Agreement. The Tigers selected Andresen in the first round and 11th overall in the WHL Bantam Draft held in April.
- The WHL started handing out its overall league awards via an online format starting on May 4. For the awards that have been handed out so far, left-winger Adam Beckman was presented the Bob Clarke Trophy as the league’s leading scorer, referee Jeff Ingram took the Allen Paradice Memorial Trophy as the top official, the Lethbridge Hurricanes claimed the WHL’s Business Award, Swift Current Broncos alum Sheldon Kennedy received the WHL Governors Award for his community work after retiring from the game, Edmonton Oil Kings head coach Brad Lauer took the Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy as coach of the year, Hurricanes general manager Peter Anholt claimed the Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy as executive of the year and the Kamloops Blazers were awarded the Jim Donlevy Memorial Trophy as the scholastic team of the year.
- On Saturday, Jeff Manning of The Oregonian reported the Portland Winterhawks Incorporated, the parent company that owns the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks, filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in Portland on Thursday. William Gallacher, who is a Calgary-based oil man, bought the Winterhawks in 2008 and has owned the club since that time. The Oregonian story said several other Gallacher companies filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy as well. The Oregonian story can be found by clicking right here.
- On Friday, CTV Regina’s Claire Hanna caught up with former Saskatchewan Roughriders Chief Executive Officer Jim Hopson. Hopson said COVID-19 could be the greatest threat the CFL has ever faced. Hanna’s story can be found by clicking right here.
- UFC 249 was held in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday to mark the first professional sports athletic event held in North America since shutdowns started to occur on March 11 and 12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A lot of rave reviews were given for UFC 249, which was held in a venue without fans. During UFC 249, it was announced former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre is headed to the UFC Hall of Fame. St-Pierre is from St-Isidore, Quebec.
- To end with some fun, an online documentary just over 23 minutes in length was produced a handful of years back on the electrifying Henry “Gizmo” Williams, who is the legendary kick return and receiver for the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos. Williams last played for the Eskimos in 2000. The documentary can be found by click right here.
If you have any
comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
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