Pallister’s $2.5M offer to finance ‘bubble’ not enough By: Jeff Hamilton Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Monday, Jul. 20, 2020 Last Modified: 11:06 PM CDT Monday, Jul. 20, 2020 Updates

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/07/2020 (1623 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Right when it looked like the Canadian Football League was dead in the water, just days away from a self-imposed deadline to get its act together and no evidence to suggest it would, the league was thrown a bit of a lifeline.

But if Monday’s announcement Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister is willing to pledge $2.5 million in government money to bring the CFL’s bubble city to Winnipeg for a shortened 2020 season was meant to provide more answers, it failed miserably. And if creating optimism from what could be a serious jolt to the local economy was the intended outcome — along with some obvious political grandstanding — well, that failed, too.

Because after speaking to those closest to the CFL’s return-to-play plan and how it would be executed in Winnipeg, not only are there more questions, but the lack of answers is cause for alarm.

Shortly after news broke that the provincial government was digging deep into its pockets to aid the CFL’s return, Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba’s Chief Public Health Officer, took to the podium for his daily COVID-19 press briefing. Predictably, Dr. Roussin had to tackle a number of questions around the hub-city model potentially coming to Winnipeg.

Of the main highlights was this admission: CFL players will not be required to undergo testing prior to arriving in Winnipeg.

That might be fine for the players travelling from nearby provinces, where COVID-19 has been mostly held in check. But it is a major red flag for the hundreds of Americans, many of whom live in states such as Florida and Texas, where the coronavirus has spiralled out of control.

“What they have to do is for a period of time they’re going to be self-isolating and then not being able to have any team events until that period of self-isolation is done and a negative test,” Dr. Roussin said.

How long will each player have to self-isolate? That’s still being worked on. Dr. Roussin wouldn’t even commit to a 14-day period for those arriving from states that have seen record outbreaks in recent weeks.

“We’re still working on some of the details that come with that,” he said.

For comparison, in the NHL, which is playing in hub cities in Toronto and Edmonton starting later this month, players must have three negative tests within a seven-day window, and one within 48 hours before heading to their respective bubble.

Further to the point, how does the province — and the Winnipeg Football Club, for that matter — explain their willingness to put fellow Manitobans at risk by putting potentially infected players on the same planes? How hard is it to clear those players first?

Well, money has something to do with that and the CFL just doesn’t have a lot of dough these days. On the topic of money, it will be up to the province to cover the bill for players being tested once the bubble is “secured.”

“What they have to do is for a period of time they’re going to be self-isolating and then not being able to have any team events until that period of self-isolation is done and a negative test.”
– Dr. Brent Roussin

What that means is players will be tested upon arrival and then forced to self-isolate for whatever time the CFL decides. After that, players won’t be tested regularly and only those who display symptoms — because professional athletes are always quick to report their own injuries — will be further tested, all covered by government funds.

Perhaps the most troubling revelation, though, is also the most obvious. That is that the success of safely executing the hub-city model hinges on the full co-operation from players.

Dr. Roussin seemed to think there “is a lot of motivation to keep that bubble very tight,” a theory based strictly on the fact that an outbreak in cases would put the season in serious jeopardy. Clearly, the province’s top doc hasn’t been following the growing frustration among CFL players, some of whom have publicly said they don’t intend to adhere to the strict rules — at least not for the money they’re being offered.

Which brings us to another critical point: the CFL needs more than just a bag of money from the Manitoba government to play in 2020.

What also needs to happen — and what the league hoped to wrap up by July 23 — is to secure a substantial amount of money from the federal government, as well a new collective bargaining agreement for this year and next. That would also include a return-to-play policy for 2020, signed off on by both the CFL and its players.

CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie recently submitted a proposal to the federal government for $42.5 million, which came months after an initial request for $150 million, in April, in the event of a cancelled season. No concrete update has been provided since, though sources within the league suggest any, if not all, the money would have to come out of government programs already put in place to help businesses affected by COVID-19.

Simply put, the CFL isn’t going to get a handout.

Ambrosie has spoke encouragingly about ongoing negotiations with players, including Monday when he told Postmedia “the one thing that gives me optimism is the quality of the discussions we’re having.”

“Can I point to an outcome? No I can’t,” Ambrosie said. “But if you’re asking me, can all this come together, yes it can.”

Ambrosie hasn’t exactly earned the benefit of the doubt throughout this process; if anything, he’s been secretive and misleading. So whatever he says publicly should be taken with a grain of salt.

That includes the status of negotiations between the CFL and CFL Player’s Union. Remember, it was only last month that CFLPA executive director Brian Ramsay called out Ambrosie for misleading comments regarding the relationship between the two sides. Players are still blasting the commissioner on social media.

Finally, another obstacle, believe it or not, is Winnipeg isn’t the only city bidding for the CFL season. According to Pallister, there are other cities eager to have the bubble in town.

“The opportunity to host the CFL season isn’t something that we want to punt to Saskatchewan or have intercepted by Hamilton,” the premier said.

But unless there are better protocols in place to better protect Manitobans, Winnipeg is better off taking a pass on this.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton