TORONTO — The nine teams of the Canadian Football League (CFL) have made their Negotiation Lists fully public for the first time, it was announced on Wednesday.
A long overdue change.
Why were they so secretive with the lists in the first place?
Now make the salaries public like the other pro sports leagues.
Naylor breaks down on reasons believed why the league held the list in secret
Reasons that don’t make sense today. I didn’t know Dave Dickenson was on the Argos neg list at one before being traded to Calgary
Negotiation lists are silly anyways. Just have an American draft each year before the Canadian one and after the Global one.
At an Argo town hall many years ago, then GM Jim Popp said with a salary cap there’s no need for exclusive negotiation lists anymore. Big spenders can’t hoard the best available unsigned players.
Saying that I don’t see it going anywhere. It’s cost control for the owners and there’s all players that have never played in the CFL, getting rid of it will not be a hill the PA will die on.
For sure the PA doesn’t care about the negotiation list. They care about (and rightly so) how much money they get compensated for playing, doing community service and the benefit plan. They also care about the ratio. They’ll focus their attention on those things.
This is an example of why you might want to keep it under wraps.
Suppose you wanted to try out for the Milk River Kittens because of all your furry friends on that team. Now you find out that the Pile of Bones Woofers have your playing rights. All you need to do is wait, (if you are in no hurry because you are doing ok selling hairball cream) till you know the Woofers don’t need you and then force them to offer you a contract. If they don’t then the Kittens are free to talk to you.
Think that is how it works anyway.
Depends if the kittens and the woofers are in the same league. If the kittens are in the Feline football league and the woofers are in the canine football league then the player has the right to choose the best offer given or the best location fit. However the player can talk to both teams at the same time.
If the kittens and woofers are in the same league then the player has no choice unless he demands that his rights get traded.
Player doesn’t have to demand his rights get traded. He simply has to demand that the current rights holder offers him a contract. If they don’t then you are off the neg list. If they do then you still have to accept the offer.
This is all based on hearsay and there may be little or no truth to it.