CFL 2021/2022 Off-season

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https://twitter.com/user/status/1529109867969097735

[Drake]

Some players have issues with the 49% and how that would work with their bonus for games played. If they get that figured out a deal might be reached fairly quickly.

[Drake]

@TSNDaveNaylor:
Just spoke to commissioner @RandyAmbrosie and got details on @CFL’s new offer to players:
— league provides $1 million ratification bonus to players. But removes $450k from 2022 cap and $675 in guarantees in ‘28. The ‘28 cap may not be affected if revenue sharing kicks-in#CFL

Slight correction to the deadline for @CFLPA to accept league’s latest offer: deadline is midnight Eastern time on Thursday, unless the union goes on strike prior to that. #CFL #CFLPA

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Originally Posted by browna

https://twitter.com/user/status/1528567122837880833

Brendan Langley arrested at Newark airport following this scuffle. Looks like the airline employee took the first few shots.

Stamps have suspended Langley indefinitely.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world...raB?li=AAggFp5

[Drake]

Bracing for cancellations. Yikes

@jeffkhamilton:
Not feeling good about the current situation brewing in the CFL right now. Much like @TSNDaveNaylor is reporting, I'm told the CFLPA is reluctant to put the new offer up for a vote with its membership. Teams are bracing for the cancellation of this weekend's games. Not good.

[Eric Vail]

I don't understand why they want to reduce the Canadian content so badly. Back in the 90s, the CFL was far more entertaining with Doug Flutie, Dave Sapunjis and all the great offenses. They had 10 Canadian starters then.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Eric Vail

I don't understand why they want to reduce the Canadian content so badly. Back in the 90s, the CFL was far more entertaining with Doug Flutie, Dave Sapunjis and all the great offenses. They had 10 Canadian starters then.

Yes but in those days Canadian talent wasn't picked over by NFL teams like it is today. More Canadian kids getting drafted by NFL teams means less players for the CFL. There really isn't a enough quality national players in the CFL right now as most of them have to be hidden on rosters as 3WR backup RB, Safety, etc and it shows as the product has been getting progressively worse. Any national linemen that are any good have to be way overpaid because of their passport. The league is slowly dying and it's important the the product improve and lowering the ratio should help.

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https://twitter.com/user/status/1529566986392547332

[Eric Vail]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Yes but in those days Canadian talent wasn't picked over by NFL teams like it is today. More Canadian kids getting drafted by NFL teams means less players for the CFL. There really isn't a enough quality national players in the CFL right now as most of them have to be hidden on rosters as 3WR backup RB, Safety, etc and it shows as the product has been getting progressively worse. Any national linemen that are any good have to be way overpaid because of their passport. The league is slowly dying and it's important the the product improve and lowering the ratio should help.

There are far more Canadians getting NCAA scholarships and the superior training. Quebec is pumping out many more players than in the 1990s. Before American expansion, the league needed 90 Canadian starters and could find them and offer a quality product. Now they need 63 and the league wants to lower it even more. The total number of Canadians in the NFL this year was 29. I am not sure what it was in the 1990s, but it wasn't zero. There is no reason to drop the ratio to 54 or lower.

The league is forcing this issue. The players would accept status quo. The league is threatening the season because of a change they want to force at all costs.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Eric Vail

There are far more Canadians getting NCAA scholarships and the superior training. Quebec is pumping out many more players than in the 1990s. Before American expansion, the league needed 90 Canadian starters and could find them and offer a quality product. Now they need 63 and the league wants to lower it even more. The total number of Canadians in the NFL this year was 29. I am not sure what it was in the 1990s, but it wasn't zero. There is no reason to drop the ratio to 54 or lower.

The league is forcing this issue. The players would accept status quo. The league is threatening the season because of a change they want to force at all costs.

Why do you think the league is forcing the issue? If things were hunky-dory as you say then wouldn't this be a non issue for the league? It's pretty telling when the Canadian Football League is actually trying to reduce the ratio of Canadian players is it not? The league wants to change the ratio because they know the quality of product is slipping and attendance is also slipping accordingly. The easiest way to correct that is to add more talent to improve the product and the only way to accomplish that is to reduce the ratio. Having more Canadian players in the game may make overly patriotic fans proud but this league is on its last legs and while I've been critical of the commissioner this is one issue where I fully support them as it's been long overdue.

[Eric Vail]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Why do you think the league is forcing the issue? If things were hunky-dory as you say then wouldn't this be a non issue for the league? It's pretty telling when the Canadian Football League is actually trying to reduce the ratio of Canadian players is it not? The league wants to change the ratio because they know the quality of product is slipping and attendance is also slipping accordingly. The easiest way to correct that is to add more talent to improve the product and the only way to accomplish that is to reduce the ratio. Having more Canadian players in the game may make overly patriotic fans proud but this league is on its last legs and while I've been critical of the commissioner this is one issue where I fully support them as it's been long overdue.

From my perspective, the CFL is pushing to reduce the ratio because they are mostly run by Americans who don't see the value in starting Canadians. Most coaches and GMs feel it would be easier if they didn't have to take the time to identify, draft and develop Canadian talent. Dave Sapunjis is too much work. Let's just go with Pee Wee Smith is the way many of them think. The best coaches/GMs figure it out.

Canadian players live here year rounds and are the ambassadors for the teams and the league. Americans mostly just go home after the season.

Reducing the ratio is short sighted and will result in less interest in the CFL in the long run. It is a bad move.

Eric, you have been screaming the sky is falling and the CFL is on it's last legs for at least 30 years.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Eric Vail

From my perspective, the CFL is pushing to reduce the ratio because they are mostly run by Americans who don't see the value in starting Canadians. Most coaches and GMs feel it would be easier if they didn't have to take the time to identify, draft and develop Canadian talent. Dave Sapunjis is too much work. Let's just go with Pee Wee Smith is the way many of them think. The best coaches/GMs figure it out.

Canadian players live here year rounds and are the ambassadors for the teams and the league. Americans mostly just go home after the season.

Reducing the ratio is short sighted and will result in less interest in the CFL in the long run. It is a bad move.

Eric, you have been screaming the sky is falling and the CFL is on it's last legs for at least 30 years.

First of all the league owners are the decision makers in the league and they are all Canadian. The CFL has an annual national draft so clearly teams scout and identify Canadian talent so don't make it sound like it's something new that teams are struggling with. The issue is that most nationals are inferior to american talent and the ones that aren't command twice the amount of money in contracts than an equivalent american player because of the limited supply of quality national talent. How many premier national talents can you name today? Give it a try.

You don't think the Stamps offense would be better if they could replace Mayala and/or Sindani with another Josh Huff or Kamar Jorden? As frustrating as Ambles was he was still twice the player of any of the Canadian WR's on the roster. It's hard for you to win this argument when the league itself is backing me on this one. The only fans that care about the ratio are the crusty old fans that do not represent future fandom of the league. The CFL badly needs to gain the attention of younger demographics and they don't care about player passports. They just want to watch a good sports product and I think we can all agree the last few seasons of the CFL have not been that.

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The quality of play in the CFL in recent years is directly tied to the quality and number of good QB's that are currently in the CFL. Just looking at the Stamps from the early 90's to today, they have had a run of Flutie to Garcia to Dickinson to Burris to Mitchell. That 30 years of top quality QB's for the Stamps is incredible. We also had the pleasure of watching guys like Anthony Calvillo, Ricky Ray, and Michael Reilly in the early 2000's until just recently.

Unfortunately, the league has had a tough time replacing these guys (except for Mitchell and we'll see if Jake Maier can do it if he remains a Stampeder) and as a result, offense had dried up and so has the entertainment value. It certainly doesn't help that the CFL coaches cap has wrecked continuity with teams as coaches are just like you and me, they are looking to be paid and who can blame them if they can get a huge pay increase by joining a new team.

That said, I think the Canadian athletes in USports have never been better, they are just finding it tough to make an impact in the league these days especially at the skill positions. You can be a 6' tall 190 lb wide receiver in USports who is competing for a job with a 6'4" 215 lb American and in the majority of cases the coach will go with the taller guy and the Canadian will either be converted into a safety or special teams player.

I love the CFL, I've been watching the league for over 50 years and I hope to be watching it for many more years. Let's all hope a CBA can get ratified and the league can get back on the field ASAP.

[CaptainCrunch]

It sounds like the CFLPA hasn't presented the new proposal to its membership and its pretty 50/50 on whether it will be accepted.


I would expect that its rejected by the membership and we get games cancellations.

[CaptainCrunch]

So I've been thinking a lot about the transition of Canadian Players into the CFL. There are a lot of difficulties happening.



The emphasis is shifting to club teams. High School Football seems to be dying a slow death. Schools don't have the budget for it. The season I think is dropping down to 5 games, and we're still losing players over the whole concussion issues because Football Canada has really lost the Public Relations battle over concussions.



I think at the club level. Peewee, Bantam and Spring. The coaching is decent enough. But more work needs to be done in terms of position development. We're seeing a good jump in running back and receiver quality as well as all defensive positions. We're always going to see Linemen coming out of Canada.



However the coaching side still emphasizes simple and winning, which is fine, but at some point, it does have to be about development of the individual player and positions.


More training programs for coaches at the position level should be something that's really emphasized. I mean usually you can get position certified by taking a 4 hour course on positions. Its not enough. For me, what I mostly learn comes from my own research, a lot of reading and US based courses whether online or in person, which can get expensive. Going to a coaching course on QB's in California is really expensive and I don't get re-embursed for the course.


Also for example and I'm not begrudging it, but having someone's Dad coaching QB's because his son is a QB and then when the son graduates the program the Dad goes with him doesn't build consistency with QB's or receivers etc.



Realistically I would love to see a coaching recruiting program put into play, Football Canada or football Alberta should be reaching out to players at the end of their playing track and encouraging them to look for coaching and getting them into programs to coach with.



One big positive for me with the Bantam Bowl for example, is that I finally got my coaching certification. I had basically been trained but what stopped me was the difficulty of scheduling my on field evaluation. I got that last weekend.



Development of Canadian players is nowhere near as in depth or fast as American Players. We really need to get more camps for players, while there are some excellent 3rd party camps in Calgary with Dickenson's camp for QB's and Receivers or Strive etc. There almost needs to be more.


Just my two cents.

[Eric Vail]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

So I've been thinking a lot about the transition of Canadian Players into the CFL. There are a lot of difficulties happening.

The emphasis is shifting to club teams. High School Football seems to be dying a slow death. Schools don't have the budget for it. The season I think is dropping down to 5 games, and we're still losing players over the whole concussion issues because Football Canada has really lost the Public Relations battle over concussions.

I don't think any schools have lost their teams because of budget reasons in Calgary.

The concussion issue is a huge reason. The shifting demographic in Canada is another big reason. With Canada's declining birth rate, we have fewer and fewer kids in our schools coming from families with a football tradition. There are many who come from Asia, Africa, and South America and football is completely foreign to them and not that attractive.

Teachers have been squeezed hard the last number of years with heavier teaching loads and many more expectations on them and fewer and fewer are interested in coaching.

The other local problem is Calgary High Schools have allowed all the top talent to congregate in three or four schools. That leaves the rest of the schools unable to compete and strips them of leadership for their teams. The result is what we have now - junior football is almost dead and senior football is just not what it once was.

Per capita, I bet there are half the number of kids playing high school football now in Calgary as there was 10 years ago. I would be interested in hearing if this is the same situation in other places in Canada.

[Drake]

@TimCBaines:
#Redblacks player rep Brendan Gillanders: "The bargaining committee is not going to put something forward to the membership that's not going to be ratified. If we were to have another vote, and it was a no again, that'd be catastrophic for the league." #CFL

[Drake]

@JohnDHodge:

BREAKING: the CFL and CFLPA have come to a new tentative collective bargaining agreement. Details coming soon to @3DownNation.

@FarhanLalji:
Here’s the CBA ratio adjustments:
Rolling ratio (Nationalized ���� can play up to 49% of snaps): 2 in 2023. @CFL has the right to move it to 3 in 2024 if they believe it is working.
The 2 teams with the most # of ���� snaps in any given season will be given an extra 2nd round pick

@jeffkhamilton:
Just got confirmation from a league official that the players will be voting on a new CBA today. For what it's worth, the feeling is it will pass. Now we wait. #wfp

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https://twitter.com/user/status/1529946656145391677

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Good news.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1530005080400875521