Cloak of secrecy, cone of silence CFL tactics

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/08/2020 (1607 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Canadian Football League board of governors convened for a meeting Thursday afternoon to discuss the future of the league and the likelihood of playing a shortened season in 2020.

The meeting was held behind closed doors, and whatever was discussed was also hidden from the public. There was no update provided, not even a statement from the CFL as to whether any progress had been name.

It doesn’t come as much of a surprise that the CFL remained quiet. In recent weeks the league has changed on three separate occasions a self-imposed deadline to reach a new collective bargaining agreement for this year and next, to secure funding from the federal government and to come up with a safe return-to-play policy amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Both the league and players have to sign off on a return-to-play policy.

The CFL hasn’t been upfront about negotiations between the players or the feds. Instead, the public has had to rely on reports from anonymous sources or frustration-fuelled statements from the CFL Player’s Association to get some kind of idea of what might be going on.

The Canadian Press reported this week that the CFL is working with the Canadian government to obtain a $30-million interest-free loan, a majority of which would be used to fund coach and player salaries and to aid in costs of playing a truncated season with Winnipeg as the hub city. This request came after the CFL recently looked to secure a $45-million loan from the Business Development Bank of Canada, only for it to fall apart because the two sides couldn’t agree on terms.

The CFL’s original request to the federal government was for a bailout worth as much as $150 million in the event of a lost season. Some of the league’s nine teams have speculated they could lose as much as $10 million if a season isn’t played, though no details of any potential loss have been provided to back up that claim.

The last update on talks between the CFL and CFLPA came last week when it was reported the CFL had cancelled a scheduled negotiation meeting Friday. According to Dave Naylor, who works for league broadcaster TSN, the two sides have been quietly working through CBA issues so that most are resolved when or if money can be secured.

That suggests those negotiations have gone in a much different direction from just days earlier. Shortly after the CFL cancelled its meeting Friday, the CFLPA issued a memo to its membership telling them to “expect the worst and seriously consider any employment opportunities available to you.”

The memo went on to say that most non-monetary negotiations have been concluded and the CFLPA is “awaiting the league to restart talks to negotiate an acceptable monetary package with the certainty necessary for us to commit to play a shortened season.”

The CFL’s original proposal on pay structure was to simply compensate players for the games they play, meaning current contracts would be pro-rated, with a six-game season accounting for just 33 per cent of a player’s 18-game pay. Many players have taken to social media to say they won’t risk their health under those circumstances.

Another obstacle facing the CFL is for the Winnipeg hub-city model to be approved by both the provincial and federal governments. As it stands, players are expected to quarantine at home for 14 days and have one negative test before arriving in Winnipeg. Players would then undergo testing in the hub city while self-isolating for seven days.

Time is running out for a 2020 season but there is a bit of wiggle room remaining. The CFL is now expecting players to arrive in mid-September, rather than late August. Training camps would likely last a week, with an abbreviated regular season to begin in late September or early October.

 

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton