Bubba O'Neil: The good, what needs work and why the @CFL is better than ever in 2022! Join me & CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie on the @ticats Audio Network, YouTube and wherever you listen to your podcasts!
Marty York: So be a good journalist, Bubba, and ask Randy Ambrosie to comment on the investigation that was conducted about his conduct as #CFL commish. He was accused of "bullying" by some CFL employees. No reporter has exposed this + no one has mentioned it until this tweet right now.
Bubba O'Neil: Too late. Done this morning. BUT with that said, any credible journalist would need at least TWO sources to even consider an accusation like that. (especially over social media) I'm sure you know that.
Follower: MartyYork - and please correct me if I am wrong - basically said that an MLSE source told him that the TorontoArgos have until 2025 to get better fan support but they won't be putting much resources into the team in the meantime.
If Randy Ambrosie is gone by the start of next year, then it is possible this bullying accusation by York has some merit.
If York is right about the Argos, MLSE giving them until 2025 to gain greater fan support should almost be considered a done deal as there is no evidence that anybody in Toronto can turn their popularity around. According to Dave Naylor, the Argos have been profitable 1 time in the last 30 years.
Here is the interview with Bubba O'Neil and Ambrosie. Ambrosie said the league is talking about having multiple Touchdown Canada games in a season. League obviously is looking to see where in Canada they can expand to get to #10. To me, getting to 10 would be a miracle. Getting to 12 in my opinion is impossible.
A lot of non-answers and evasion, but some interesting bits of info too.
At one point, Ambrosie had a slip of the tongue something along the lines of "Angelo Mosca was a brother and a sister to all Canadians."
The interesting bits to me were the idea of multiple "Touchdown" games, and Ambrosie specifically mentions Kelowna and Victoria as western markets to look at.
Another was that the league has been getting "outside" help of some sort in dealing with the Marino incident and perhaps racism in general. No specifics about what that outside source of help is or what they're doing.
I was disappointed he had no real answers for how the league plans to grow the profile of its star players, or on how the league plans to support grassroots participation in Canada. He also gave non-answer spin on the suggestion to go with a united league format intead of east-west divisions.
Vague accusations here with absolutely no facts to be seen. Anybody who pushes hard for their own agenda could be accused of bullying by those of opposing viewpoints. Probably just some staff who didn't get their own way (boo hoo).
[quote="Capital_Dave, post:10, topic:80117"]
... and perhaps racism in general. No specifics about what that outside source of help is or what they're doing.I was disappointed he had no real answers for how the league plans to grow the profile of its star players, or on how the league plans to support grassroots participation in Canada. He also gave non-answer spin on the suggestion to go with a united league format intead of east-west divisions.
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it is interesting they are thinking of doing Touchdown games ....
Kelowna , Victoria ..... Thinking Dolman is keen on broadening the exposure and may have some new influence .
The Lion owner is Doman not Dolman.
The idea of Okanagan expansion is picking up a little steam,
Universities UBC and Calgary have a game planned for Vernon this fall. Tix sold out in short order. I’m not sure how many though. But it opened some eyes. Vernon is not a college town but close to Kelowna which is.
I’m doubtful that Lions would be giving up a home regular season game every year.
i could see Calgary and Edmonton involved as well. 3/4 of the tourists and cottagers are from Alberta.
I could see them starting with preseason games, with one of the West teams giving that up. Actually, if a preseason game were to take place in Kelowna, it makes some sense for the Lions, who hold training camp in Kamloops, to be the “host” of that game. But at this point, I’m not sure that Calgary or Edmonton would be too heart-broken about giving up their home preseason game–or even a home regular season game, considering the number of empty seats there this year.
In his recent interview, Doman didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic about the idea of expansion within BC. And I think it’s likely low on the league’s targets. But hosting CFL games in Kelowna and Victoria can be as much about simply increasing awareness of the brand as about paving the way for expansion.
I’d love to see UBCO try for its own football team as another step toward growing the sport. The Sun have gotten off to a good start in the BCFC so far.
