Expand the Salary Cap

Despite David Thomson’s net worth, the Winnipeg Jets receive revenue sharing most if not all years from the top 10 earnings teams which includes the one owned by MLSE.

Aside from that MLSE doesn’t run the league. They had a degree of influence when Lastman was the chairman of the board but that is not the case anymore.

They may see things differently from different owners but that’s been happening between owners in this league for a long time now.

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No disagreement there. My point is just because he is the richest NHL owner he shouldn’t and doesn’t get to have disproportionate influence on the league and neither should MLSE.

I was agreeing with Capital Dave’s point that the weaker clubs shouldn’t be leading the stronger clubs in the league. Toronto is arguably the weakest CFL franchise and unless and until that changes their influence should be measured accordingly.

I think most would agree that Jerry Jones is the most influential NFL owner. He is far from the richest, but he has made the Cowboys into the most valuable sports team in the world. His authority and respect is based on what he has done for his franchise and for the league. I just want the same thinking applied to the CFL.

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Yeah I think with the new appointment to the chairman’s role independent but from Saskatchewan it seems the league has aligned in that way too.

At the same time I think it’s still worth a listen to MLSE’s ideas with their background in the other sports which their teams are all thriving off field. Their ideas may not work for all teams as we have seen already.

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I don’t give them a pass - I have stated that there is a high possibility of failure - I just don’t attach an emotional component to my thoughts and what I write.

My writing style and approach to offering opinions differs from your delivery method - I don’t disagree with you on quality level or the possibly that these two leagues will go extinct. If there is an extinction level event I think that it will be a couple of years out due to the structure of the leagues. I think that Fox did their best to clone the CFL in regards to financial structure as they could as the CFL has been playing for decades and losing money for a long long time and it still survives.

I am just telling you what the number values are and what my speculation of the possible outcomes are, along with my best guess on the motivations of those who are in charge. I don’t say that these parties are correct in how they are doing things I just point out what they are doing and why I think they are doing them. I would think that my analysis of these two leagues is a little bit deeper and more refined that what comes out of the “echo chamber.”

I have given you the numbers for the CFL losses over the years buy individuals and outfits involved with the CFL. I don’t think that it is a stretch to think that people with similar amounts of money might be able to take financial losses similar to the CFL, especially if they need low budget TV content to fill the airwaves. I have stated that I think that in my opinion that the Hub concept was a reasonable cost control method in order to get the league into year #2. You disagree with the move that the USFL made in this regard, but the fact that it made it to year #2 and most other leagues perish in year one speaks to the validity of the utilization of this unorthodox tactic.

As far as financial losses I have simply stated that there might be those with money in the USA - ie Fox that can take the kind of hit to the wallet that MLSE has been taking for years or that David Braley took for a decade or so when he owned the Argos and Lions. I don’t think it is such an outlandish idea that Fox could or would take a $30 million dollar hit for 120+ hours of TV content.

Also please define giving a pass?

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I know you do not - note that response was not directed at you but at a small few with their heads in the sand on the matter who think foolishly that this is 100% Fox’s investment at risk and all Fox’s doing all alone.

Otherwise you expressed your view quite well. I’m still out of likes for whenever I mostly agree.

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The big thing to consider… Losing 20 million on paper… With only a modicum of creative accounting that translates to a moderate profit with tax considerstions

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This is an outstanding point here that is being overlooked by many and that I don’t think is understood by a few, but hey creative multinational, corporate accounting is not familiar to everybody.

Of course the point must be re-emphasized that whatever the accounting for a loss-leader of any kind, somebody is paying for it.

And that’s no “success” as some will attempt to define that loss-leader too.

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Okay I gotcha - I agree with you that there are those out there in the echo chamber that think these leagues can’t fail and there needs to be a merger and a spring super bowl etc. Totally gotcha now.

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Which gets back to my speculation on what their threshold of financial pain is. I think these financial structural differences are what makes this go around with spring league different than previous versions. They all might well end up on the slag heap of dead leagues but these two new comers seem to be using different tactics that were employed by previous iterations and it is for this reason that I and other feel that the CFL should not be passive when dealing with these leagues.

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BUT we do not have a clue what the CFL is doing to counter these threats do we… Not like they can openly throw wrenches into the works is it

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Oh well because it’s dead time and because we have commented about the CFL strategy already, akin to having an army camp out on a conquered mountain an extra week, even as the enemy on lower ground advances, so that they can enjoy the view and rest a few more days,

maybe it’s time to move the entire army and camp out by the bank of a large river so as to secure its bountiful flow to refresh everybody too?
:thinking:

You are correct.

The fact that there is little information about what exactly the CFL is going to do to counter these real business and sporting threats says much.

Silence is anything but golden at this point, especially after the troubles at hand even before 2020 that were only exacerbated as they became more public.

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They recently brought back the NFL window which is a recruitment tool and it’s done in a way where CFL keeps the players rights for the duration of the contract.

Also in the new CBA Canadian players their NFL experience counts towards CFL years so they could get out of the league minimum sooner or if they have 3 years, no minimum salary at all. Maybe they can expand this to any player which will give experienced players to come here instead of one the spring leagues.

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I am impressed with Argos number this year …in one area

as little improved as they were but they moved up for the

afternoon fall games … Saturday and Sunday …

Give em what they want fall football in the afternoon …

In the east it’s wanted …

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John Candy and his Hollywood friends like the Blues Brothers did help …

with some great media hype that first year … I think it helped in every city … not just Toronto …

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The CFL had an opportunity with Rourke. Had they a partnership with a streaming service, a perfect 10 episode show would have been following Rourke's story over the 1 season he was here.

Follow him on his journey through the CFL season and attempt to make the NFL with the culmination with him signing with the Jags. Season 2 would have followed his 1st year in the NFL.

That's something that might have gained some traction with CFL fans in waiting.

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Are you for real!

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Use the same formula Netflix used with F1. Deleve into the human element of his journey. People like that.

If he finds some modicum of success in Florida, Americans might go back to retroactively watch it.

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Raise the salary cap some.
Do we have, not so good players playing just because of birth?
Of course better tv deal, the CBC loves to spend money.
Grocery stores in the east having a million dollar giveaway.
Bring back Kick for a million. LOL.

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But I think we’d just end up with guys like Trevor Harris, BLM, MBT etc, simply earning double or triple the money. Same thing happened after we started paying big bucks for Ismael and Flutie. The guys who were already here just started demanding more. And all teams had to pay up regardless of their revenues in order to keep up, and the entire league just about went belly up. And the players jumped to the NFL first chance they got anyway. I don’t want to see a repeat of that. Better to invest that marquee money into proper marketing, like Bob Young and Amar Doman are doing.

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Until recently, they’ve been running the Argos like hobbyists, not like a professional business. That’s slowly changing, thankfully. 2022 was a small step in the right direction. I hope they continue to increase their professionalism and start operating more like the Riders and Bombers orgs.

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