CFLPA - - The Most Useless Union In Sports

CFL Talk
#1

CFLPA - - The Most Useless Union In Sports

Forget the speculation about a strike or if the season will be cancelled. I’ll tell you what’s going to happen - - the players are going to get totally screwed once again.

As I’ve said numerous times, the CFL is controlled by a small group at the top. Very similar to what the NHL was back in the 1980s. They profit off the backs of the players and use the league as their own personal cash register.

Everyone talks about the Argos losing “millions? on an annual basis. Really? Open the books and let’s take a look at these “losses? for what they really are. Of course that’s a closely guarded secret. It’s like claiming a tax refund but not having to actually file your taxes. “Just take out word for it, we’re losing money.?

The owners have had the CFLPA in their back pocket. I’ll be shocked if this new contract is anything less than a total farce, just like the 2010 CBA was. The union will come to the players with another pathetic deal claiming that’s the best they can get and urging the players to accept it.

The new television contract has gone from $15M to more than $40M. That works out to an annual increase of more than $2.75M per team. How much of that increase do you suppose the owners will share with the players?

Article 30.02 of the 2006 CBA guaranteed the players 56% of gross revenue. http://cfldb.ca/faq/compensation/
Based on that, the $2.75M increase in television revenue would equate to a salary cap increase of just over $1.5M - - which would put the cap at $6M. Any chance of that happening?

Everyone knew there was a television deal coming in 2013. The owners wanted no part of having to share 56% of the increase in television revenue, so that was negotiated out of the 2010 CBA. What did the players get in exchange for giving up their 56% share of revenue? An annual salary cap increase of $50k for the duration of the 2010 CBA. That’s beyond stupidity. FFS, it’s just not possible for any union to be dumb enough to accept that kind of lopsided bargaining.

Who are the idiots at the CFLPA that would agree to accept a laughable $50k in exchange for the guarantee of 56% revenue sharing when a new television deal was coming up? The ones that are in the pockets of the owners, that’s who. The CFL is now the only sports league in North America that doesn’t have revenue sharing. How is that possible?

For the same reason the CFLPA insists on not publicizing player salaries. Naturally the CFL owners do not want player salaries to increase because it means less money into their pockets. And the best way to suppress salaries is to keep everything a hush-hush top secret. It’s the same reason the NHL refused to do so up until 1990. Any guesses as to what happened to NHL salaries once they were made public? When the NHL players finally opened their eyes and replaced the convicted fraudster Al Eagleson as head of the NHLPA with Bob Goodenow, one of the first things Goodenow did was to publish everyone’s salary information. How did that work out for the NHL players? Was anyone embarrassed? Think any of them regret making NHL salaries public information? Not a chance.

It’s an absolute no-brainer for the CFLPA to fully disclose player salaries. Doing so will set the standard for contract negotiations as players will finally be able to judge their worth against the contributions of other players relative to their salary. The only plausible reason for the CFLPA to not do so would be pressure from the owners to keep it classified.

I fully expect the CFLPA to preach for “unity? amongst the players during this negotiating. Because “unity? means nobody rocks the boat or questions the CFLPA leadership. “Unity? means the players will do as the CFLPA advises them.

Expect to hear a sob story about how the CFL just doesn’t have the revenue like the other sports leagues. Well, let’s see. The NHLPA holds its annual meeting in Toronto. The MLBPA holds its annual meeting in San Diego. The NBPA holds its annual meeting in New York. The NFLPA used to hold its annual meeting in Hawaii but then moved it to Florida. Any guess as to where the CFLPA holds its annual meeting?

Barbados.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cf...dent-1.1162107

In a league where players make a fraction of the salary that other sports leagues enjoy, WTF is the CFLPA doing in Barbados? And it’s not just for the annual meeting. The CFLPA also hosts a camp to “generate interest? for Canadian football in Barbados.

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/pla...525/story.html

Interest in football is non-existent in Barbados. The sport is not even played there. Why is the CFLPA wasting its time as well as wasting the dues collected from players travelling to Barbados to “promote the Canadian game?? Seems like it would make much more sense to devote that energy to “promote the Canadian game? right here in Canada.

What better way for the owners to reward the CFLPA leadership for all its “hard work? than by sending them on a boondoggle to Barbados?

#2

The guy who shafted the players in the last deal was fired.
Flory is trying to clean it up.
Its up to the players to stand up for themselves.

#3

Ive been saying for sometime now... There will not be a season unless the owners can wrap their heads around 6 million... At the end of this 5 year contract the salary cap will be atleast 6 million. If the owners can't accept that, then we will not have a season

#4

There is wealth in Barbados and to get even a few of some wealthy people that live there or visit there into football, well some foreign investment in the CFL, as in most things Canadian, is often deemed a very good thing. Nothing wrong with that IMHO. And I'd rather win a trip to Barbados than just about anywhere I can think of in the US. A touch of class and some uniqueness never hurts. :thup:

Canadian Football coming to Barbados

[i]The Canadian Football League (CFL) has officially arrived in Barbados!
And to boot, the coveted, century-old Grey Cup has arrived with it.
In an effort to expose more Canadians to Barbados and more Barbadians to Canada, the Barbados Tourism Authority has joined forces with Canada’s second largest professional sporting outfit to bring CFL football to Barbados’ shores.

And they plan on doing it in style.

Throughout the course of the 2011 CFL season, which starts on June 15, Canadian football fans will have the chance to enter a draw for a once in a lifetime opportunity to journey to Barbados next April to play football with their favourite CFL stars – at the world-famous Kensington Oval.

“We are trying to build something special here,? said Mike Morreale, President of the CFL Players’ Association, during a press conference to announce details of what is being billed as the ‘CFL Pro Player’s FANtasy Camp’.

The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form a gridiron football closely related to American football, better known as the NFL.

Upon their arrival in Barbados, the lucky contest winners will be split in to eight teams, each consisting of two pros and three fans. They will then compete against one another for the inaugural Pro Player’s FANtasy Cup.

“We are happy to be here, to expose more Canadians to Barbados while at the same time displaying the accessibility of our CFL players,? Morreale added. “This has the potential to become a major event on our annual CFL calendar.?

Representatives from each of the eight CFL teams – Montreal Alouettes, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Toronto Argonauts, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Eskimos, Saskatchewan Roughriders – are currently in the island shooting a pilot video to be used as part of wider campaign to get the message out across the length and breadth of Canada about the new initiative.

“There will be a national contest in Canada, promoting Barbados as well as CFL football,? Canadian Greg Albrecht, co-ordinator of the event, said.

“This programme not only benefits the CLF in terms of enhancing the Pro Players brand but it also aligns with the overall notion of the accessibility of the CFL athletes to their fans. In addition, it also drives Canada’s national awareness to the island of Barbados, its natural beauty, it’s culture and sporting opportunities, as well as the overall quality of the destination.?

During the briefing, it was also mentioned that plans for a photo shoot of the CFL’s calendar girls for 2012 was also in the works.

“We want to make this an all-star event,? said Hayden Coppin, sports consultant with the BTA, said. “Though the sport is not known to many Barbadians, we expect this, like all the other event we host, to be of a world-class standard.?

Echoing Coppin’s sentiments was Henry Inniss, CEO of Kensington Oval Management Incorporated.

“We are keen to build our revenue base,? he said. “We are also keen to bring sports from temperate climates to Barbados so they can utilise our facilities for their training. With this new partnership with the CFL, we are doing exactly that.?

While in Barbados, the CFL players - including two-time Grey Cup championship winning Quarterback Anthony Calvillo of the Montreal Alouettes – will visit the Combermere School and Providence Elementary School.

They will also be hosted by Richard Sealy, Minister of Tourism, at a formal reception at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Complex.

Other CFL players in Barbados:

Korey Banks - BC Lions
Juwan Simpson - Calgary Stampeders
Rob Murphy - Toronto Argos
Doug Brown - Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Patrick Kabongo - Edmonton Eskimos
Marwan Hage - Hamilton Tiger Cats [/i]

[url=http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/newsitem.asp?more=sports&NewsID=17370]http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/newsite ... wsID=17370[/url]

Interesting, from wiki:

Business links and investment flows have become substantial: as of 2003 the island saw from Canada CA$ 25 billion in investment holdings, placing it as one of Canada's top five destinations for Canadian foreign direct investment (FDI). Businessman Eugene Melnyk of Toronto, Canada, is said to be one of Barbados' richest permanent resident

#5

Earl looks like you are trying to make excuses for the players union.
I can't see any justification to take players all the way to Barbados to try to convert some kids to CFL football.
I have been to Barbados twice and it's a nice island but with a lot of problems like many other Caribbean islands. The kids there are crazy about cricket and follow the "West Indies"
You say you would rather spend time in Barbados than in the US? have you ever been to Barbados? The wealth there is all owned by the foreigners, mainly Americans and Brits that have vacation homes there, and the tourists that spend dollars there. Not much wealth by the locals, a lot of poverty by the locals and the chances of a fraction of that tiny population in that tiny island coming to Canada to watch CFL football is remote.

The CFL players union would be much better off going to places like Florida in the off season where there is a greater chance of converting people that actually know and love football. Besides there are 3 million Canadians that travel to Florida each year and 500,000 Canadian home owners in Florida. Great place to hold a Grey Cup!! :stuck_out_tongue:

#6

Good read slimjim, I guess we just have different takes on this where I can see some “method in the madness” even if it might look illogical to do something like this in Barbados.

#7

If they open up the books, it’s going to leak and Sportsnet is going to have a field day.

#8

as will Flory and the CFLPA.

#9

"Interesting"? Come on Earl, it's one thing to be naive but quite another to be clueless. There's only one reason Canadian companies and wealthy individual Canadians put money into Barbados - - because they're exploiting a tax loophole to evade income tax. That's it. And now that Revenue Canada is all over it, the pipeline of Canadian money heading to Barbados is about to run dry.

#10

Well I'm not a business expert. But I'd love to win a trip there compared with Las Vegas or Florida, that's for sure or most places in Canada come to think of it compared with Barbados. :wink:

#11

Area51, the Argos ARE losing money. Do you not recall that the club was losing so much money that Braley had to bankroll them. Do you recall McNall/Candy/Gretzky talking about the hit they took operating the club? Have you noted that the sale of the Argos has went down in value each time over the past 30 years?

#12

I guess you missed the Argos documentary last year, where an ex-Argo friend of Candy stated that McNall was funneling all the Argos profits to keep his Kings afloat. How does a team losing millions keep an NHL team afloat ?

The Argos have value to the CFL, it gives the league legitimacy as a top and National league. Also enhances their TV property value. There is a reason the league operated the team as opposed to folding them like they did the Renegades.

If the business is not viable and is holding the league back they should fold it. But they won't will they ?
Using financials from the 80's with multi-million dollar contract like Rocket Ismail as your argument is hilarious. Again its the stupidity of the owners that causes franchises to lose money. Unfortunately for the Argos 30 years of poor management may be too tough a hole to climb out of even with a new stadium.

#13

Thats the funny thing about these negotiations.... The owners are trying to slit their own throats... If the owners win and are allowed to keep paying BS wages then the CFL will continue to struggle in TO... If the players start to make a real wage and the wages are actually disclosed , the CFL will gain boatloads of credibility in Toronto. If you can look a CFL hater straight in the face and say that the minimum salary in the CFL is 70K, that the average is 110K and that Starters all make 150K, then you have alot more credibility as a league then stating that players on the practice roster sleep on piss stained matressses and back up players have to sell drugs on the side just to put food in their mouths. This is a reality right now. Many Bombers have to stay in the North End and live in crack shacks just to send a little money home each month.... Its fuckin pathetic.

#14

where do you come up with this stuff? The clubs provide housing allowances to roster players, and shared living accommodations to PR players. If they are living off in the hood, it is by choice. I've never seen a PR or Roster player in a "bad" house unless they chose it to pinch pennies. Are they brand new...no, but they are above average.

#15

Well maybe things have changed... but when I was a teenager back in the late 90s I met 3 different Bombers living in the North End of Winnipeg in houses that at the time could be purchased for under 30 thousand dollars. They never even owned the homes, but were renters who were unable to own anything, because it would be robbed. My old man worked for a slum lord property management company. Most of the renters were natives on welfare. There was a bit of white trash mixed in there too. There were not too many African imigrants in Winnipeg yet, so it was rare to see a black person at the time. The black people I did meet while fixing suites that had been destroyed, were often fringe Bomber players. One was even a known in the building as a crack dealer.
I experienced similar things in Edmonton. I actually met one of the most famous Eskimos of alltime around 2000 in a crack house. I never seen him smoking crack, but his girlfriend weighed about 80 pounds and definately fit the part. I was told who he was, but told not to mention it, or he would get angry.

#16

That’s not sad at all Bungle, forces athletes to what they should do all along and do it early which is look after a career away from the sports field or arena, real life that is, and what’s sad is former NFL players, or any league that pays stupid millions to it’s players, and then the players end up broke afterwards and trying to sell their rings or old jerseys on e-Bay to make ends meet.

The stupid millions paid to athletes make them think they don’t need a real job at all, can just get by on sports which is what sports should never be about in the first place. The CFL paying the wages they do is dead on, no pretending that sports is a way to get rich and that. Not saying players don’t deserve their share of the pie, of course they do, but fortunately that pie isn’t all that large. I just won’t pay any more for a ticket to go watch multimillionaire athletes, not with my $31.00 an hour job. Those leagues don’t even want me anyways, what they want are the big bucks from corporate suites and rich people to pay for the expensive seats. I’m not even in their class of what they want in a fan. It’s all theirs, I’ll watch them on TV or the web.

#17

So how much was the crack?

#18

A guy I grew up with Rick Green, played a year of high school hockey with him, who played on the '86 Canadiens Stanley Cup champs said to me that one of the most famous defensemen of all time in the NHL was a cracker. Won't mention who that individual was but I'm sure some will know.

#19

All the more reason for them to open up the books. Let's find out where the problem is - - that's the only way to formulate a solution to the alleged constant money losing.

Either the revenue is too low or the expenses are too high. Open the books and find out how the Argos revenue compares to the rest of the league. We know the attendance numbers are in the bottom half of the league, but they're pretty much comparable to Montreal & Hamilton. But is the 22k attendance numbers actually paying customers or are they papering the Dome like the Bills do? Let's see where the merchandise sales are coming in - - sure doesn't look like the Argos are doing much to build that part of the business.

How would it be possible for Toronto to have more expenses than any other team when there's a salary cap? They're playing RENT FREE in the Dome, so it's not as if there's any stadium upkeep expenses. Where are all the costs coming from? Let's see how the Argos front office staff of hangers-on compares to the rest of the league.

I can't understand why the Argos franchise should be treated differently than any other business that's constantly losing money would be. Figure out where to slash expenses and what can increase revenue.

#20

It's a private business. It is really nobody's concern but the owner's. May I see your taxes to see how I can save you money?