The ticats.ca home page has posted an article by Ed Tait of the Winnipeg Free Press stating that Ryan Dinwiddie and Ron Warner, two members of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in their option years, have recently been signed by the Arena Football League even though the AFL has no agreement with the CFL to sign option year CFL players.
In addition to Dinwiddie and Warner, a search of the Arena Football League website shows that defensive back Arnold Parker, who is currently listed on the Ticat roster contained on the ticats.ca website, signed with the Los Angeles Avengers of the AFL on Jan 15/07. It is difficult to tell whether Parker is in his option year or whether his contract with the Ticats had ended by the time he signed with the AFL. Nonetheless, as can be seen by the Dinwiddie and Warner situations, the CFL has to deal with this issue immediately or run the risk of having AFL teams sign more CFL option year players over the next few weeks.
Actually, the ball is in the CFL's court. If there's a problem, then they should tighten the language in player contracts so that they couldn't join the AFL, even in their option years. Then if a CFL contracted player signs with an AFL team, sue him.
With CFL salaries falling due to the SMS, this is a potential problem for this league.
from what I read about the Dinwiddie situation, the option year clause only allows for an NFL jump. so players signing in the AFL are actually violating their contracts. I remember players getting special permissions (and release) from their team to play in the AFL with verbal agreements to return for the CFL season. I hope the cFL will be able to crack down and straighten this out