They took Gaydosh and Urban and may never see either.
Interview with Kristian Matte
[url=http://www2.tsn.ca/window/podcastcentre/#podcastid=32000&id=1]http://www2.tsn.ca/window/podcastcentre ... 32000&id=1[/url]Every pick is made instead of someone else. If the Als had reason to believe that Shahin would walk away from football then it could be said it was wasted. But in the end it is all semantics, whether “wasted” means any pick that doesn’t pan out or those where the team should have known it wouldn’t pan out. I favour the latter.
Saw Herbie Z at the impact game media booth yesterday. Hope that's not a harbinger of a player's strike in the cfl.
We might have a 16 game season like the old days. Three weeks to go. Get it done Scott. Make O-linemen proud.
Were the Impact on the field yesterday 
Absolutely, you can’t strike gold with every pick but its hard not to think that the Als could have ended up with Edem, Joseph, Lumbala and Jones in one crop.
I have been saying since last year that I expect at minimum that there won’t be a training camp per say. and until they start hurting the owners in the pocket book. 2 to 4 games into the season, the owners likely won’t take the players seriously.
Would have been sweet.
In that equation there are two main questions (IMO): (a) is there a point at which the CFL sees the year as lost and cancels the season (i.e., how many games could be missed and still play enough games for it to be a respectable season), and (b) can CFL players afford to miss paycheques?
The recent NHLPA examples may not encourage the players to miss games. The first NHL lockout lead to the players accepting the very thing they said they would never accept (i.e., the salary cap) and the second in them accepting the a significant reduction in their share of revenues.
Players can’t handle missing a whole season but they aren’t paid for training camp. Owners pay for training camp with the tickets sales from the pre-season game. June is a wash, most players won’t mind missing camp and in fact favours players already in the league at the expense of the cheaper players trying to break in. Now once we start getting into the season and teams have to start looking at the potential to re-imburse corporate sponsors, dealing with reimbursing season ticket owners, then the players will start to get enough leverage to have an honest negotiation.
During training camp,veteran players are paid as follows:
Veterans of 1 year: $525.00 per week.
Veterans of 2 years: $625.00 per week.
Veterans of 3 years or more:$725.00 per week.
These amounts will definitely be increased when a new collective agreement is reached.
Richard
If they can’t handle missing out on training camp stipend, the owners will crush them. League showed up with a one paragraph draft a couple months before training camp and the Union fired their President. That says it all.
I agree that is where any leverage the CFLPA has rests. But until those losses exceed what owners would “save” over the length of the new CBA by not giving the players what they want the owners can afford to wait. They can “amortize” those losses over the length of the new CBA. However, many players won’t make it through to the end of the new CBA and may not be so willing to sacrifice pay cheques for a better deal in the along-term, and those players all have the same vote as those who would benefit throughout.
That said, I find the lack of rumours about the state of the negotiations encouraging as it means both sides are keeping their eyes on the prize. When they resort to playing the media it usually means things are not going well.
For no logical reason, I feel strangely confident about things.
Management can likely afford missing games a lot easier than the players can.
Community owned teams have a fund for just such an issue.
Bigger S&E groups like the Calgary stamps new owners Flames LP could certainly outlast the players.
OSEG, although new, could also outlast the players also.
Leaving the Braley owned teams where he likely would be able to sustain a work stoppage. Same would go for the Care taker.
Leaving Montreal owner. I am not sure what his situation would be do to a work stoppage that would go into the regular season.
Obviously if there is a work stoppage everyone loses. Teams have on average 50 people on their payroll, facilities and taxes still need to get paid. A shortened season pretty much guarantees that most if not all teams will lose money in 2014. Players however will still get a porton of whatever season is played. Its not cut and dry to me which side would do worse.
TSN relies on the CFL for its content. Even more so this year with next to no Canadian teams making the NHL post season. That alone puts incredible pressure on the CFL to get a deal made.
Anything more than 3 or 4 weeks, some corporate sponsors and season ticket holders will start pulling the plug. People will want to put their summer play money into the F1 GP, MLS soccer or any number of other things going on.
Reading about some of the leaks, the 2 sides are far apart and things are even starting to get nasty. The CFL owners do not want revenue sharing, and Flory despite being such a personable guy is adamant there will be no deal without it.
The determining point could be an anonymous strike vote. When push comes to shove, will the player making $72,000 a year vote for a strike when a 3 game strike for example means he`s out $12,000?
I hope the players get what they want. The league has grown over the years but players are still being treated like pieces of meat. Guys still in their physical prime get cut every season for younger, disposable bodies. They play a physically punishing sport with long-term repercussions for their health but the wages aren't worth it for the majority of the players. Good luck to Flory and the gang. I can live without football for a year if it means a fair deal for the athletes without whom this game would not exist...
Hard to say. When you look at a team like Winnipeg that has increased its revenues a whopping 8 million dollars (not even counting the new TV deal) ! It is really worth it for the players to fight for a fair piece of the pie. a 50 to 70 percent increase in gross revenues and they are offering players ONE percent raise ! Its so selfish and nasty, I 'm having a hard time believing it.
It has other repercussions too. The players do 90 percent of the teams marketing. If they decide to stop doing free appearances for teams that will have an impact too.
If players or some players want to go on strike, the League/Owners will proceed with replacements. As I wrote before, I am positive that many players,particularly Imports, won't go on strike. If there is a strike,the big losers will be the Players.,particularly the Non-Imports.
I do hope/expect that the League/Owners and Players will come to an agreement. There are roughly 7 weeks before the beginning of the regular season and plenty of time to come to an agreement.
Richard