How bush league is that?
Embarrassing to see Pinball appealing to the government for the money to have a year-long party
That amounts to 1.5 Million per team, which over a 5 year amortization (tax thing) would be $300,000 per year or $30,000 per game or $1.00 per ticket.
Gives more ammo to the non-CFL fan who already wonder what our passion is all about.
Flame away :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
The 12 million is not for the Grey Cup. Its for the celebration of the Grey Cup across CANADA. Like they did with the torch for the olympics !! I THINK ITS GREAT FOR THE CFL AND THE GAME !!!!!!
It cost over 100 million for the torch to go across Canada !
OTTAWA -- The Canadian Football League has gone cup in hand to the federal government for funding.
The CFL brought the Grey Cup along to a finance committee meeting in Ottawa to ask for $12 million for celebrations around the 100th Grey Cup game.
While MPs cracked hometown team jokes and were delighted with the appearance of CFL legend Pinball Clemons, some appeared skeptical of why taxpayers should foot the bill for a party.
But Clemons says celebrating the Grey Cup is celebrating Canada.
"The Vancouver Olympics reinforced for us a lesson taught annually by the Grey Cup," he told MPs.
"When you combine sport, and culture and passion you have a recipe for national pride and unity."
Grey Cup organizers are hoping to use the funds to hold Olympic torch-relay style celebrations with the cup across Canada in the lead up to the 2012 event in Toronto.
In their submission, they also said they'd like to see celebrations incorporate the 200th anniversary of the war of 1812, a tribute to the Canadian military, a halftime show telling the Canadian story and the involvement of cultural and artistic communities to move the festival beyond sport.
They plan to also seek support from the corporate sector and other pockets of government funding like provincial and municipal coffers.
But the CFL came before parliamentarians acutely aware that they're not just asking for funds in a time of fiscal restraint, but also just after a debate over whether taxpayer dollars should help build a new arena for the possible return of an NHL team to Quebec.
CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon was optimistic their pitch wouldn't be tainted by those politics.
"This is not about a building, this is about nation-building," he said.
Plus, joked Chris Rudge, the former head of the Canadian Olympic Committee who is now leading Grey Cup celebration efforts, there could be another benefit.
"I have this wild dream that maybe the rest of the country will learn to like Toronto."
I'm sure it will be a good time, but why ask the government for marketing the league... At a buck a seat, as per the math above, the number is small enough to really market the league by putting on the show with government "hand out" ( as the CBC just called it..and it is!!)
Parties should not be sponsored to that extent by the government. Sponsorship mayby.. They actually pay the league to put Candian flags on the helmets.
The CFL needs to fund this one themselves.
100 million dollar waste of money.
However, the torch thing was like a world wide event that millions were interested in. Maybe even 100s of millions.
doubt much more than a million be interested in celebrating the cfl, specially on their tax dollars.
Note to Ottawa. Just say no. At least if you give Hamilton the extra $12M there will be something to show for it 25 years from now
No the $100M for the torch relay was a waste of money…Period. If you think it brought international exposure you are sadly misinformed. The reality is that virtually nobody outside Canada cared about it
I don’t think it was intended to bring international exposure…Rather, I think it was intended to bring the country together and get behind the games…IMO, it was mission accomplished and money well spent…I can’t remember a time where I felt such a cumulative feeling of national unity and pride! The same should most definitely be done for the 100th Grey Cup…It is our league and such a milestone should be celebrated!
I agree, the torch relay was a waste of $100 mil. What was a bigger waste was the two summits Harper had to spring for this past summer in Huntsville and Toronto.
Probably could have built a couple of stadiums with the money.
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Sure and a mere months later all of the kumbaya is pretty much forgotten The entire Olympic expenditure was a waste and no I don’t believe for a second that it permanently brought the country together. Nothing is different today than it was before Vancouver. The west still has major philosophical differences with the east the French and English are still maneuvering with each other trying to get more power and money and everyone still hates Toronto
10 times 100,000,000. Stadium money for every CFL team and money for leftover Quebec City and Moncton to join the party
Torch money was $100 mill! Holy cripes. :o
How much was Quebec's 400th anniversary celebration from federal coffers and the annual Canada Day celebration from Parliament Hill? :?
Hey, I get it but man $12 mill for the 100th Grey Cup seems reasonable to me. Actually quite modest the more I think about it.
Earl: I agree.
The Federal government (like all federal governments) uses our tax money for their own purposes all the time. It's nothing but vote buying. The Ontario government does the same thing to the point of handing out tax money to cricket teams when they did not even ask for it.
So of course the CFL should get the 12 million. It's a drop in the bucket compared to the money that gets handed out by the Federal government to subsidize organizations and businesses every year. In this case it's not a direct subsidy for the league. It's to help with celebrations across the country. No point in getting doctrinaire about that.
The CFL is a Canadian business icon.....and the Grey Cup is part of the national fabric. 100 years of the Grey Cup game is worth every penny of the 12 million.
Take it out of the CBC's budget. They probably waste 12 million buying U-S programs like Jeopardy....which we can watch for free on the commercial channels. Now THAT is worth being doctrinaire about.
You have that right about CBC 62 I'd say. Or get rid of Don "I promote hockey violence" Cherry and replace him on HNIC with someone half his salary who actually can converse about all aspects of the game rather than just fighting.
In a perfect world taxpayers wouldn't pay for such things.
However, this is Canada. Taxpayers support all kinds of special interest groups. Have you ever seen a strange movie on television and at the end of the credits comes the federal government's logo? Guess what, we paid to make that movie. What about the CBC? One billion dollars a year and for what benefit? This list goes on and on and on.
So, twelve million relatively speaking is a good bargain for promoting Canadian unity, culture, and 'feel goodness'.
I agree with AKT, 12 million more for Hamiltons stadium would be better spent.
All for National Unity but the Grey Cup already accomplishes that.
Would like to know what the City of Toronto will be contributing .
The pigskin… afterall, it IS hogtown :lol: :lol: :lol:
Sorry boys and girls, couldn’t let THAT one go by.
Great points contributed by all !! Thanks
Don't forget that the Federal Government has been giving quite a bit of money to the CFL for several years, through their "Canada" advertising. Remember all the Canada signs around the stadiums? Also the Military recruiting ads and signs around the stadiums also brings in quite a bit of revenue for the CFL. We can't ask for anymore after all its our own money!!!
Hey, maybe it means we are going to have a 100th Grey Cup relay across Canada.City to city, stopping in small towns and villages along the way to promote the CFL.Oh well just a thought.