Of all professional athletes, CFLers are the most grossly underpaid. Given the dynamics of Canadian professional football, the players’ salaries will always be modest compared to the wages earned by the stars of the NFL, NHL, NBA and Major League Baseball.
But here’s hoping that the stars of three-down football, and even the less-heralded grunters who populate the special teams, all receive healthy raises as a result of the next collective bargaining agreement between the league and the CFL Players’ Association.
The existing CBA is to expire this spring, the day before training camps open. As per terms of the agreement, each team adhered to a $4.4-million salary cap in 2013. The minimum salary: $45,000.
Earlier in 2013, the league and TSN announced a landmark agreement that, according to some reports, will be worth $40 million per season when it takes effect in 2014. The CFL reportedly received $15 million in TV revenues this past season.
Operatives with the CFLPA have assuredly taken notice of the numbers, both real and speculated, and will raise them when negotiations kick off in the spring.
The talks have typically been amicable, partially because the CFLPA can hardly be described as militant or hard-line.
The players’ association has generally been understanding of the financial hardships the league has encountered, with the result being that the CFL has been a lockout-free, strike-free zone for 40 years. The only disruption to date was a 12-day strike in 1974.
The time has arrived, though, for the players to transfer their aggression from the playing field to the boardroom. They must insist on a deal that is vastly superior to previous CBAs.
If not now, when?
Granted, trouble spots remain. The southern Ontario market (see: Toronto Argonauts, Hamilton Tiger-Cats) is a perennial concern.
Overall, the league is strong, as evidenced by the stadium boom. With new or renovated facilities, there will be increased expenses. In fairness to the teams, that factor must be taken into consideration.
Nonetheless, this is the time for the players to cash in.
They are the show.
They are the ones who absorb the hits over 18 regular-season games — two more than are played by each NFL team — plus the post-season.
They are the ones who allow the CFL and TSN to boast of impressive ratings, especially around playoff time.
Ratings equal cash, and oodles of it, but how much of it filters down to the players?
Consider the case of Darian Durant, who quarterbacked the Saskatchewan Roughriders to the 2013 Grey Cup title. For his trouble, he earned upwards of $300,000, and that is nice money. But keep in mind that the lowest-paid NHLer this season will earn the league minimum of US$550,000.
Also consider the example of Roughriders tailback Kory Sheets, who was named the most valuable player of the 2013 Grey Cup game after rushing for 197 yards and two touchdowns. According to some media reports, Sheets’ 2013 contract called for $60,000, plus bonuses.
And then there is defensive tackle Keith Shologan, who was claimed by the Ottawa Redblacks in the recent expansion draft. The Roughriders were hoping that Shologan’s salary ($130,000) would scare off the Redblacks’ brass.
Such is the economic climate in the CFL. A salary of $130,000 can raise alarm bells.
But what is really alarming? The expansive list of unremarkable NHL players who receive a salary that exceeds the entire payroll of a CFL team.
That scroll of names include non-Hall of Famers such as Mike Ribeiro (who is to make US$5.5 million this season, according to capgeek.com), Dustin Byfuglien ($5.2M), Ales Hemsky ($5M), Paul Martin ($5M), Stephen Weiss ($4.9M), Ryane Clowe ($4.85M), Jason Garrison ($4.6M), R.J. Umberger ($4.6M), Olli Jokinen ($4.5M), Ville Leino ($4.5M), Jason Pominville ($4.5M), Teddy Purcell ($4.5M) and Mr. Hockey 2.0, the legendary Fedor Tyutin ($4.5M).
Is anyone rootin’ for Tyutin?
Does anyone pay good money for the expressed purpose of watching him play?
Didn’t think so.
People do pay, however, to watch the stars of the CFL — Durant, Sheets, Weston Dressler, John Chick, Travis Lulay, J.C. Sherritt, Jon Cornish, Ricky Ray, Chad Owens, et al.
Yet, the salary of each of those players pales in comparison to that of the Columbus Blue Jackets No. 6 defenceman.
That will never change, given the relative economies of the NHL and CFL. Even so, the disparity in compensation is rather jarring, when you compare a CFL star who does attract eyeballs to one of the NHL’s robotic chip-and-chase or ring-it-off-the-glass specialists.
By this standard, especially, CFL players are woefully undercompensated.
Meanwhile, the league as a whole is about to derive benefits from a once-unimaginable television deal.
Hopefully the players will share in the riches — of which they, more than anyone in professional sports, are richly deserving.