Perhaps increase the salary cap!? Make it so the practus squad onthe NFL isnt more money
Where is the Canadian T.V revenue? CTV? CBC? Sportsnet? Global/CanWest? start the bidding at 80 million a season!!
Cannot blame the NFL because they pay their personnel more money .. (fans did that)
and you cannot blame the NFL because it is more popular and has a bigger market (fans did that )
you cannot blame the NFL because some athletes use the CFL as a stepping stone to try and wiggle a spot in the NFL
The NFL doesn't owe the CFL anything ..if the NFL goes and actively tries to recruit all the CFL athletes then you can blame them but i doubt they do that.
It's also not the NFL's fault that athletes in the CFL want to go play in the NFL for either more recognition or more money or be closer to home or whatever reasons they choose to want to go try out to play there..(thats the athletes fault)
so i don't get the comments that the NFL owes the CFL (or should owe them when a player jumps leagues)... they don't owe the CFL anything.
Alot of them come up here because they want playing time they don't want to be on a practice squad or just riding the bench
what does the CFL give the NFL when that happens??????
Good points RYCK. I agree with you.
No American football player grows up dreaming of playing in the CFL. If they think they're good enough to play in the NFL, they'll want to try to do so, for all the reasons you mention.
My understanding is that the CFL-NFL "agreement" expired, but that the CFL routinely waives the option year for US players who have a shot at the NFL, because if they don't then those players will be reluctant to sign here at all. Of course most players who take this route don't actually end up making it in the NFL and come back to the CFL anyway, usually to the team they were with previously. But the dynamics of the situation appear to be such that CFL teams need to agree to waive the option year in order to attract good American talent here. We may not like it, but it's a reality of the marketplace, and nothing to blame the NFL for.
I think the whole option year concept in CFL contracts is outliving its usefulness.
I’m not sure what you mean by the NFL isn’t breaking any contracts. Currently if a player signs a 1 year plus an option year contract with a CFL team this gives the team the right to bring back that player for a second year at the team’s discretion. By the team not enforcing this right, the contract is in effect “broken”. I don’t see how anyone could see otherwise. Perhaps you have a different theory you would like to share?
The athlete is breaking the contract not the NFL…
But if the CFL team waives the contract option so the player can go to the NFL, or if the CFL contract when signed includes a provision that in the event the player is signed to an NFL contract then the option does not apply, or the CFL team would agree to waive it, then the contract is not broken at all; it is complied with.
The option is for the player to sign with an NFL team, it’s not a team option to bring them back.
I don’t believe that’s the case.
CFL contracts have always had an option clause, and in favour of the team. That’s why you hear about a player “playing out his option”. Once he does so, he becomes a free agent. When a player plays out his option and becomes a free agent, he can sign with another CFL team. When he is in his option year he cannot, he must stay with his current team. That’s the situation Chris Bauman is in. He’s in his option year and cannot leave Hamilton except to go to an NFL team.
Players going to the NFL do so at the start of their option year, formerly because the CFL and NFL had an agreement to permit this, and now because the CFL permits it.
I think a fair analogy would be a gun (athlete) and a murderer (the NFL). If the murder victim was shot by a gun would you then say that the murderer was not responsible?
uh … NO…
Heres a better one … and this is just an example of companies and not saying whats what …
but an employee is working at Lowes … he gets paid x amount a year … he’s a great employee …or pretty darn good …
now he has a chance to go work at Home Depot … they pay XX amount of dollars an hour so he goes and applies for a position and they look at his skills and they hire him … The worker went there for his own reasons … lowes can whine and cry , he wanted to go there in the end was all on the worker he went and applied they didnt come steal him …
Now you have the CFL and NFL … the NFL doesn’t come to the CFL and try to "steal " or “recruit” players away from the CFL
they have one heck of a talent pool to choose from and they are at the top of the market … they pay the most and they get more exposure … they didn’t come to the CFL to pry these guys away or interfere with their contracts they do not have to and it wouldn’t hurt the NFL if these guys stay in the CFL…
These players Decided on their own that they will go and try out for the NFL …they did that on their own … they found a team that will give them a chance to try out …some may not make it … most may not be a starter …and alot will be back in the CFL before the next season even starts
That is all on the players … they decided to not do the full contract … the option…they opted to not play that year … unless it is WRITTEN in the contract YOU CANNOT PLAY FOR ANOTHER LEAGUE they didnt break anything… and if it is the player broke the contract and the blame goes squarely on the player …
the only thing the NFL is guilty of is being bigger , getting more exposure, and paying more … thats not a crime
And guilty of allowing one of their teams to go play in a CFL city that has a CFL team without, to my knowledge, any compensation or forewarning or caring at all at possible effects. Not a crime in that of course, just using guilty in a generic sense. It would have been nice if Goodell, Cohon and Ralph Wilson and C & S could have had a meeting beforehand and hash something out but nice isn't exactly what the NFL is all about now. Sure, sounds like I'm just a whiner and maybe I am but common courtesy is afterall a nice thing in this world, or so I've been told.
I don`t remember the CFL saying NO
Only the leafs do that … HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Why have a contract at all then, if even part of it is unenforceable (the option year)? If the NFL doesn’t honour CFL contracts to this extent then what is to keep them from signing someone who has more than the option year left on his contract? I submit that by signing players who still have a part of their contract remaining (the option year) in the CFL they are a party to breaking that contract.
In your analogy, if the Lowes’ employee was contractually tied to the company for a period beyond the point that they left (under contract), then yes both the employee and Home Depot (if they are aware of the contract as the NFL certainly is with the CFL contract) are guilty of breaking that contract. I’m not an expert on the CFL standard contract by any means, but for it to not have a clause in it stating “YOU CANNOT PLAY FOR ANOTHER LEAGUE” (or team) it would be a very sorry excuse for a contract. After all, Bob Young could open his wallet and sign any number of stars from other CFL teams that are currently under contract. Can you explain why this doesn’t happen in the absence of such a clause?
Because i am sure the contracts are a CFL contract and not just a team contract ...The CFL can step in and say "NO WAY"
if the NFL signs an agreement and agrees to not sign players and still does then they are at fault but at this time i do not think there is such a contract in place so you cannot hold the NFL accountable for something they never agreed to...
if your brother, sister, mother, dad , or anyone in your family signs a loan and gives all the money to you..and they don't repay the loan the bank doesn't come after you they go after the person who sogns the loan ..if there is a co-signer they go after them too ....
It may not seem right to have athletes ditch the CFL for another league and their dedication to the league may be in question but thats on them noone else ... noone else agreed to the terms
Thats all i'm saying ... 
Not saying its right or wrong .. just saying that no they don't owe the CFL anything .. they are not bound by the contracts.
the CFL gets way more players that land a starting position in the CFL than the NFL gets starters from the CFL ....
I think we will have to agree to disagree on this topic. You think you’re right and I think I’m right. One thing I have to mention is how great it is to debate a point intelligently without any name calling or other negative reactions.
All the best…
An article in the Spectator on this topic,
http://thespec.com/Sports/article/706174Excellent read on this topic. Thanks PiCat.
It seems I was wrong and RYCK was correct, as per the above article by Drew Edwards:
He’s entering the option year of his contract with the Ticats, but is able to sign with an NFL club before Feb. 15 under the terms of an agreement the CFL signed with its American counterpart in 1997. That deal has expired but the option-year clause remains because it is included in the league’s collective bargaining agreement with the players.
I can only plead ignorance of the above wording in the collective agreement. This makes the “option year” an option for both player and team and if the player can get a signed NFL contract by February 15 they, in effect, have not picked up their option. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. (Insert sound of Mike wiping egg off of his face).
No one is breaking any contracts. Not the players, not the NFL. Furthermore, the CFL is not waving anything during the option year.
Its PART OF THE CONTRACT.
The contract states that the option year starts the day after the players final game. Players have until Feb 15th to sign with an NFL team, after that, they must play with their CFL team.
On the 15th of Feb. following the option year, they are free agents and can sign with anyteam, CFL or NFL.