Commish bullish on league
'Real bump' in Bomberville has Cohon impressed
By: Adam Wazny
07/6/2011
It wasn't an official state of the league address, but CFL commissioner Mark Cohon spoke to reporters in Winnipeg Tuesday on all subjects involving the three-down game.
His message -- the positive spin that most in his position try to project -- was that this humble eight-team operation was experiencing a significant uptick in status. Cohon was throwing around terms like "momentum" and "building" like he was Anthony Calvillo with all kinds of time in the pocket.
Nowhere across this league are those terms more relevant than in southern Manitoba, where Cohon has watched the Blue Bombers get through the initial shock of the NHL's return to Winnipeg better than expected.
Since when is a team obliged to give explicit reasons for any player personnel decision ?
Teams cutting, suspending or granting leaves of absence for unstated reasons or for a player to address “personal matters” are routine.
Bomberville should be worried because they are carrying a debt of $70M for their share of the new stadium.
At 4.5% interest over 40 years is a debt service of $3.8M each year for 40 years for a team that has made little or no profit in their storied history.
Now they can go head to head with the Jets for the limited entertainment dollars of Manitoba
[b]Under the terms of the plan, the province would loan the $70 million to the Bombers who would pay it back at an interest rate in the neighbourhood of 4.5 per cent over 40 years.
That would leave the football club, which announced a net loss of $1.2 million in 2009 and a net profit of $761,095 in 2008, responsible for a debt service of $3.8 million a year for the next 40 seasons.[/b]
And people dump on IWS2 which did not raise taxes one thin dime in Hamilton and will give Tiger-Cats a great chance to thrive in a new modern Stadium.
It is all taken care of. The team will default on its obligations within 3 to 5 years and then Asper will come in and pickup the team and the stadium for promise to keep them afloat and pay rent.
The Bombers are a community owned team, i'm sure even if they don't pay back all that money, the taxpayers will have to cover it. As for the CFL, good stuff...The CFL is obvious a much stronger league since Cohon is on board, and the man he succeeded did a pretty good job too.
The problem with drug policy is that we know that many OL take steroids to compete, to make them aggressive and bulk up. Most OL are Canadians because of the Canadian content rule and if they crack down and get rid of these guys we won't have any Canadians left. On one hand it would be an embarrassment to catch all these guys on steroids but it also would be an embarrassment to the league to find out we don't have enough Canadian OLs out there to fill the positions when we ban them.
They should start reducing the Canadian content now.
mike: Huh???
You have a supposed drug problem so the answer for you is not to deal with that issue (if there is one) but reduce the CFL’s Canadian content instead?
I just cannot follow that logic.
The new facility should have vastly improved boxes to sell and will bring in more revenue in itself. The Bombers have been doing just fine financially over the past 5 years, and outside of 2007 they haven’t had the greatest product on the field.
Private suites/corporate boxes, Party suites and club seats is where the money is. It's a huge money maker at all NFL stadiums and more CFL teams are just now trying to create something similar. With Hamilton, Ottawa and Montreal getting smaller seating capacities, they can generate more revenue than you could from a 40,000 seat stadium.
Just look at Cincinnati and their stadium - 112 private suites, each seating 16 renting from $76,000 to over $140,00 a season!! and 7,000 club seats. If you want to get people out of their homes and away from their HD TVs and get them to watch a game live you better make the game day experience worth it. NFL teams can generate more revenue from a few thousand fans buying into "private suites" "party suites" and "club seats" than CFL teams can make from filling 35,000 seats. I like the idea of the "Party suites" with the retractable glass where you can get a group of friends 25 or so, watch the game in luxury get drinks and a buffet meal.
This new facility will be a blessing because they now will be competing for corporate dollars with an NHL team, something that is not easy in Canada anywhere. This will give them a chance to keep their corporate sponsors and a certain chic. :thup:
And really what is 3 million dollar going to be worth in 30 years ? Hell the way things are going it will look like pennies in five years.
I do not doubt they can do well, but to have to pay nearly $4M debt service each year out of your yearly profits will be a burden on the team.
It should be a fantastic new Stadium and the Bomber fans are true blue.
It is true that TSN’s TV rights will end in 2012 I believe and I think there could be a substantial increase coming, however it will then be split between 8 teams with Ottawa in 2013 or 2014.
Both Winnipeg and Ottawa recieved no money from the Federal Gov and will be building these new stadiums on local taxes and $70M of the teams owners money.
In Hamilton we got IWS2 on the Pan Am Money and Fast Freddy’s Future Fund money and a generous amount from Caretaker.
Local taxes will not go up for our stadium.