Interesting. A couple sources have said the league won't increase the cap, and as a result, the $41,000 starting salary won't be increased. Things are looking to get a little nasty...
http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=297990If this gets dirty, forget about Ottawa, new stadiums and any increase in TV money. I dont blame the Union, they kept that league alive at their expense for over a decade, they are entitled to a fair share of revenues. The teams are yapping about record profits yet they can't even honor their agreements with the players.
Get tax payers to pay their rent , upgrade and build them stadiums, then get the players to play for nothing and keep all the money....and when one of the franchise struggle they all hide their wallets. NIiiice...
Yikes, this could get ugly. It's bush league, if the revenues go up, and yet the players slice of the pie doesn't.
Hopefully there's no lockout, but things like this don't help.
That’s already happened this year… 2010 would be the second year the owners rob them.
Have to also agree, if true this is totally bush by the league.
Not only should the cap increase to at least $5M, the players minimum currently at $41K needs to be increased to at least $50K.
Also, the GC winning share must increase to $25K and the losing to at least $15K.
The league has to get out of the dark ages and especially since it is doing quite well and the players have been oppressed financially for many years.
After how many years of how many owners losing millions ? For every player on the roster there is another one as a coach,trainer,marketing and on and on for each team, they pay for a hell of a lot more than players. Ive went to the teams websites and counted the other employees.
CFL teams with the exceptions of Edmonton,Saskatchewan and Montreal are not big money makers and will never be but the league should honor their commitments to players
You're right Bobby. Teams generally have to finance the future. They lose in the lean years and gain in the good years. It's not as if they have been making money hand over fist for decades. There should still be wiggle room however.
This is VERY early in the negotiations yet. I wouldn't take anything either side says too seriously yet.
The Eskimos (one of the fat cats in the CFL) made around $500,000 last year on $15,000,000 of revenue. That's only a 3.3% return on investment and that's in one of the best years the league has ever had.
I think the owners of the teams should make more on a franchise than a starting QB makes. Besides, where else are the CFL players going to get paid to play football? The WLAF? nope. NFL Europe? nope. The AFL? nope.
I'd like to see the players make more, but the owners (like Bob Young) have bled red ink for years. It is time for them to make a little of that money back.
I feel for both sides. its not like the cfl owners are in a position to ger money like the nfl owners... Its like sometimes there almost doin it out of charity... then i think, are they doing much to market the product they have? they own the teams, but expect the marketing of the entire league by the cfl, to do the job for them(not every team, but some teams).
The players though... are taking years off their lives to do what they love. this should be compensated in some form or another.
Id love to see the players make more money but a couple of good years means nothing. Like someone said about the Eskimos making 3% and these are the good times. I dont like hearing people bash the owners even the worst ones lost a lot of money trying to make it work.
how much do we put on the comishoners of the past?
The league can't be doing that bad. you think it could be the owners are trying to get all the money they can before they destroy the league for good?
sorry to be all doomsday, but it's worth a thought.
Surely you do not believe their (and while we are at it the Riders)alleged "financial" statement.
It is well known that a good CA can make the numbers show whatever you want it to be.
Here is another example a couple of years back the Esks who made a very wise move in buying the Triple A baseball team sold it for $10M and most of which being pure profit.
Most of this money is somewhere and no doubt "accounted for" in the financial statements.
An accountant can do a lot of creative stuff, but they can't lie. Well, they can but if anyone found out that they lied, they'd lose their designation and their career will be over. Maybe argotom takes liberties like that with his professional reputation, career and livelihood, but accountants generally don't.
And they can't hide the cash. Go take a look at their AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS You'll see $16,000,000 in cash and another $13,000,000 in investments. That's where the Trappers money is.
argotom, go ahead and read the Auditor's Report and note the important phrases "...we have expressed an opinion without reservation..." and "...the accompanying financial statements fairly summarize, in all material respects..." Your above comments cast doubt on your comprehension of the legal and ethical significance of those phrases.
The CFL should still honor it's contract.
This is even more the reason why the CFL should cash in with it's next TV deal.
Also, provided the league takes care of it's CBA, there's a little league in the US called the NFL...and it looks very likely that there will be a lockout in 2011. This is a huge opportunity to market yourself and get a TV deal in a country with 10 times the population in Canada. You know the UFL will try to, if you think you have a better product then fly at 'er.
Why do you think sports channels have poker on?
Because of the NHL lockout.
I thought they sold the Trappers for $15,000,000?
No one says it is a lie, merely as I am somewhat familiar with financial statements in my walk of life, most are unauditied and are based on information/documentation provided by the client.
Also, all kinds of deferred payments and losses can be written off when a positive cashflow occurs.
Riders statements are audited too, and are presented annually to shareholders at their AGM.
Profit is not a dirty word – it's what drives the league forward. The bottom line is that if you pay the players more ticket prices must go up. It's pretty basic lemonade stand business practice. Just beware that raising ticket prices too much too fast will cut profits just as surely as if you didn't raise them at all and still paid more for staff.