It was unfair to our fans, who had been promised a live mic game, to our broadcast partner, who had advertised a live mic game, and to the other clubs in the league who had abided by the Board’s directive to participate in live mic games. It was totally unacceptable. The Eskimos organization acknowledges this and has apologized. Still, it has a responsibility to ensure its employees do not see themselves as above the league and what its Governors deem to be in the best long term interests of the league. For this reason, I am fining the Eskimos organization $20,000.
It is also important that Coach Maas be held personally accountable. I am fining him $15,000. The fact that Coach Maas has expressed no remorse whatsoever for what appears to be a unilateral and planned act of defiance is particularly disappointing. I want to send a clear signal that this cannot happen again.
Should Coach Maas be directed to wear a live microphone again this season or in subsequent seasons, and he again refuses, he will be immediately subjected to the maximum fine allowable and he will be suspended for his team’s next game, even if that next game is a playoff or championship game.
No individual, or group of individuals, is more important than the well-being of the entire league, and there must be respect for the directives of those empowered under our Constitution to lead this league. I want to stress again that acting in direct contravention of a Board mandated directive cannot and will not be tolerated.
To me, this is like no-showing for an important business meeting because it's a weekend even though it's part of your contract and all your peers have made the same sacrifice for the greater good: you neglect your duties and embarrass your company while harming it's potential future business.
Disagree with termination, although I have no liking for Maas at all. It’s a 1st time offence & the fine is pretty hefty, think this is pretty much spot on.
Considering that the commissioner cites Maas' complete lack of remorse as a reason for such a harsh fine, I'd say skip the fine and just kick him out of the league.
Every other coach involved showed reservations about it but understood the greater good involved and went along with it. Maas' actions were disrespectful to his coaching peers, the fans, league partners, the board of governers etc.
Hitting an official $10,00.00 and sit in the pres box
refusing to wear a live mic $35,000.00
I guess assaulting an official not as important as refusing to wear a live mic ?
Good point - Orridge said he didn’t have any precedents to fall back on when Austin hacked the sideline zebe. Fair enough - set the precedent - albeit pretty cloudy.
Same though with live miking - at the point of infraction the ref should have been instructed (by Orridge) to signal that if the Ticats don’t follow thru with their pre-agreement the points from the game will be forefitted to their opponent. I think they would have pasted the mics back on.
The fines are actually fairly heavy - $20k for the organization, $15k for Jason. What about Reilly? Didn’t he also re-buff the wearing of the piece? Or is Jason taking the hit for the entire team?
Anyways, the 60 man Schmos roster (75 if you count coaches & upper mgmt.) will each chip in approx. $200 ea. to help defray the overall cost to Maas. Cuz that’s what teams do! Maas took the hit for the team!
If you're Maas, wouldn't the solution be as simple as wearing the mic, but dropping an F-bomb into every sentence? TSN would quickly conclude that your comments can't be aired.
Agree. Austin touched/hit the officially accidentally and he did apologize and showed remorse.
Maas intentionally refused to participate in the live-mic setup and shows no remorse or offered an apology for doing so, but has been actually quite defiant.
Never realized Maas was like that, I've lost a lot of respect for the man but all that matters in the end is if his team performs and they win and then he'll just have a big smile on his face with the Cup in his hands. :?
Sure he does. The Board of Governors/owners entered into an agreement with the broadcaster and Mass and Reilly decided to breach it !.. In fact it is grounds to fire him with cause. They are actually really lucky Orridge has no power.
If Maas had done that to Goddell… Oh my… Oh my LMAO
Maas will be mic’d up for the season finale and he should watch his language or his season may end earlier than he thinks.