2021 season will be delayed according to reporter Arash Madani

It might have been discussed but for only a brief footnote.

The league should at least cover the cost of vaccinating their athletes if they really want to get back on the field.

It won’t matter if the various provincial governments can’t sign off on anything as the numbers keep increasing.

Only the variable expenses (travel, player salaries, etc) would reduce to 2/3rds. The fixed expenses (stadium lease, equipment, staff not laid off, etc) do not reduce at all. It’s definitely not a wash for the owners.

With the exception of the cities that lose $$, the sooner they gets back to playing and the more they play the less the losses. That of course means with ticket revenue…

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How do you know that stadium leases (for all 9 teams) are fixed expenses? It could very well be that the lease agreements are based on paying for each game played, rather than a fixed cost per season.

I do agree there are some fixed costs, however most of those are discretionary by nature (e.g. equipment replacement) and some are not fixed (e.g. tape to wrap players by the training staff - a shorter season means less used). To pay salaries the Federal government has made available the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (currently proposed to be extended to June 2021 - and likely to be extended further if need be) which lowers a team’s overall payroll expenses.

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I wonder what kind of void COVID will leave on the young Canadian football player.

The high school athlete right through to the Canadian University players and the future of these sports. And our pipeline to the CFL. Might not be repairable.

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Probably the same as every other sport. Heck, the OHL has cancelled the Memorial Cup for the second straight year. That affects their draft status and development too. Will the NHL be able to recover from this?

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The NFL stadia have been used to vaccinate 2 million people , so far this year .
That’s great news for the league and the United States . :slightly_smiling_face:

Pat Lynch (the old dude)

Ontario’s daily allotment of Pfizer and Moderna is only about 78,000 doses until the end of May. They are currently vaccinating 100,000 plus per day. Once they work thru the Astrazeneca doses they will be shutting down vaccination sites. Unless we get a significant increase in supply more sites are not the problem.

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I know it is all Doom and Gloom right now, but if the league would officially postpone camp until Mid June and then Start the season mid July with a 14 game schedule ( some without fans) the season would still be considered a great success if they can pull it off. The players could qualify for a month of Covid Wage Subsidies and our home opener could be on July 24th. (Heck my refund for 2 games missed, could go towards my Grey Cup Tickets).
I know this all still depends on a bunch of things falling into place but it could be very possible with a little luck and more vaccinations.
I just needed to post something that was a bit more positive.

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There are 1.2 million doses of vaccines in freezers in Ontario as reported on CHCH news tonight.

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There is a reason why they are put on hold. Those are the ones that cause blood clots. Who’s gonna takes those? Not I

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600,000 plus are Astrazeneca, they have a narrow eligibility group and the highest hesitancy…Plus because of the narrow eligibility they can’t be substituted at sites giving out Moderna or Pfizer. It’s like having a fridge full of bud light it says it’s beer on the label but will any of your friends take it. I don’t envy the people trying to manage the logistics of three different vaccines, just in time delivery, extreme storage and cold chain requirements toss in a 4 day delay in one delivery and it all goes to hell. I’m actually surprised they didn’t have to cancel Moderna appointments sooner.

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Luckily (due to my age group suddenly becoming eligible) I was able to book a Pfizer (riser) appointment the same time Shoppers Drug Mart contacted me for the Astra Zeneca (Fauci Ouchie). Back in 2009 (due to being flat on my back for a month at Hamilton General) I suffered a Deep Vein Thrombosis (big blood clot in my left leg). After asking my GP, he said he preferred I not get the AZ jab. It worked out perfectly. The first day of 65 and older being available I booked the appointment at Hamilton General (for the riser) and then received the email from Shoppers offering me an appointment at a drug store (for the Ouchie). To quote the great philosopher: image

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Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are the 2 shot vaccines and they are not related to the Astra Zeneca and Johnson & Johnson blood clot issue .

Pat Lynch ( got my 2 Modernas)

And 7 women in the US out of 7 Million with clots - that’s 1 in a million chance for women and zero for men

CFL w/ Randy on the beg will go thru much the same machinations as they did during the 1st wave of the pandemic - so what did we learn?
On a positive note I give you Vera Lynn's amazing rendition of "THERE WILL ALWAYS BE AN ENGLAND". Play it for yourself and just sub in the phrase "CFL" instead of "ENGLAND" . . . ie. 'There will always be a CFL'

Even if this season collapses into the sports ecosphere and 1 to 4 teams declare insolvency/bankruptcy, etc. there will be more CFL in years to come.

Main reason = GREED

Just too many hi-paying jobs for NFL & NCAA leftovers coming north for routine pay check grabs. Same for in-house GM jobs. Guys like Lyle Bauer were routinely hiding salaries of up to $500,000 per anum, today its guys like W. Miller in Wpg who still draw an estimated $430-$460k in CEO coin. Meanwhile, GM guys like Kyle Walters and 7 or 8 others are easily in the $300k-$380k range w/ assistant GMs another notch down.
Top coaches are also in the $340 to $540k range - Dave Dick, Mike O'Shea, etc.
In other words the CFL is a repository for non-playing swordsman to draw enormous salaries - much bigger than provincial premiers, mayors, city managers, etc. Why is this?
Now the players. I agree on the bottom end, guys making $75 to $90k for only 5 months work and risking injury are being harmed. But the top echelon of most CFL teams consists of a small group (2 or 3) players making $300k to $750k in salaries (mostly guaranteed) and another larger group (10-12) who take in $160k-$250k.
The CFL is occasionally a fan's league but its more a jobs league for southern rejects and under-sized, under-powered Canadians who can't fit into the NFL.

Even if most teams declare insolvency you can bet your bottom bippy that the CEOs, GMs, head coaches & many others will still be paid their ransoms. Also Commisar Ambrosie. Thats the crying shame.

When some of these teams tap out I strongly suspect new formations of willing folks will step forward to take these hi=paying short season jobs.

I do know its hard on fans who are used to their regular dose of CFL games - in my case nearly 60 yrs as a regular joe fan, 12 to 15 yrs as a hard-assed critic. (OK, some things evolve)

But here's Vera Lynn with
THERE'LL ALWAYS BE A CFL (sub in the last phrase). You always feel better after listening to Dame Vera . . . ! ! !

THERE'LL ALWAYS BE AN ENGLAND - VERA LYNN - YouTube

I am repeating my post from another thread, but here in our county it was explained that doses may be sitting in freezers because they are in reserve for appointments that are already booked. Since they are booking three weeks in advance, and need about 3000 doses per day, that means some 15,000 doses per week or some 45,000 doses are sitting. But, every day, 3000 are used.

The difficulty is that the re-supply is shaky, because of manufacturing shortages, or diversion to “hot spots”. Apparently the only thing worse for people than having to wait for your shot is having a scheduled appointment cancelled. Hence the need to have some doses sitting in freezers, as already assigned.

For what it’s worth?

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Darn straight! “We’ll Meet Again”

Adding to this conversation, is today's announcement from the Globe, TSN, and others that the Feds for the 2nd Covid year in a row will not be loaning the league any money. Active cases today in Canada have crossed 80,000 with the peak of the 2nd wave on January 10th being 85,000. The second wave lasted 5 months; September to January. The 3rd wave is growing twice as fast; 1000 more active cases a day versus 500. So very sadly, I don't think they'll be even a shortened CFL season any time in 2021. I hate this.

Methinks the fat lady is walking up to the microphone. . .

The second wave took 4 months to peak, and then only a month to go from 4000 to 900 cases a day in Ontario after a lockdown/stay at home order was put in place in early January. They predict this 3rd wav will peak around April 19th ( two weeks after Easter weekend). If you look at United Kingdom and Israel , their 3rd wave cases plummeted after their lockdowns and once around 50% of the population had received one dose. In Ontario that rate of Vaccination percentage will be accomplished around mid May ,based on the current 100,000 a day average.
It is not unreasonable to think we will be in a much better situation by the first week of June . This is based on real world data , looking at other countries that have gone through what we are experiencing now.
A mid July/early August start of the season is still very possible. Now if the owners decide they will not start until fans are allowed, then who the heck knows.
My point is , this third wave will start to decline soon, and the Vaccine roll-out is actually just hitting it’s stride.
Hang on people.

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