You know…I am all for these CFL players like Mallet [B.C.] and Grice- Mullen [B.C.] going for the gold- to a point. Who wouldn’t want to try out in the NFL? Players across the CFL have been doing it for years. The pay in the NFL is insanely more lucrative than in the CFL. BUT, it makes zero sense in my mind to offer a guy a 3 year contract with a CFL team and include an ‘escape’ clause that is to the detriment of the franchise that hired him and to the league as a whole.
How on earth can a CFL team rebuild itself when every time it starts getting its act together it gets nixed by flaws in the system? If the CFL is meant to be a ‘farm’ organization of the NFL then so be it. But let’s call it the “Canadian Farm League of the NFL” and call it a day.
As far as I’m concerned if a player has signed onto a 3 year deal then that player stays for the full 3 years! If that player doesn’t like the deal then he doesn’t play in the CFL. I’m sure there are many who will be more than happy to take his place. If he chooses to play and after that time the team still wants to keep him then it can offer him enough incentive for him not to jump ship. At least the team gets 3 solid years out of the player. What happened to so called long term planning?
It seems to me that the CFL is just a place for many of the players to showcase their talents for the NFL to see. Not all, but many. This may be okay for the individual player but it doesn’t do a whole lot for teams that are trying to rebuild and for the CFL as a whole. And it certainly doesn’t offer good value to the fans. Last year the Lions for example lost Wake and Logan to the NFL. This year it is Mallett and Grice-Mullens. Who will be next? I’m happy for these guys, don’t get me wrong, but there has to be a better way of keeping quality players for a longer period of time.
its that '3rd year-option' window that convinces alot of american players to come here in the first place.
without that option, alot of american players wouldnt come to the CFL in the first place, and we never would have gotten to see some of the stars we've had throughout the years.
Wait arent there thousands of American players that the nfl, dont want? who says there arent players just as good who Would come play in Canada regardless because the NFL door is shut to them? why does the NFL need to screw Canadian teams out of talent they have"found" that the nfl didnt want ? imports need to show some loyalty to the teams and league that “MADE” them Period, Get rid of the nfl signing window !!
I don’t mind the option year as part of the contract; its the 1 year plus an option contracts that drive me crazy. How can the league build fan loyalty and interest if a player is here for 1 season and then gone?
Should be a 2 year minimum committment if you ask me.
I agree. Either 2 years and no option or 2 years and an option would be fine by me.
I’m not sure if the 2 year plus option is becoming a new trend for 2010 or whether I just didn’t pay attention to contract lengths in the past. It seems to me that a number of the players who have been re-signed recently have been signed to contracts that are for 2 year plus an option. Off the top of my head, Bowman, Perrett, Jovon Johnson, Serna, Getzlaf all signed 2 + 1 deals and I think there were others as well but I can’t think of who they were.
I don't have a problem with the CFL teams letting a young player like Mallet out of his contract. Except for the QB's the import players are easily replaced with equal talent in most cases. Cameron Wake would be an exception. But as others have pointed out not all the quality free agent football players in the past have wanted to come to the CFL. When they see guys like Wake and Logan making it down south after some time in the CFL, it is easier to convince then to give it a shot up here. Hope springs eternal. The thing is in most cases they end up liking the CFL and end up staying even if they don't get that shot at the NFL. But that was the lure in the first place.
What bothers me more is the Canadian kids that are lost to the NFL. Not that they shouldn't by any means, but the rules pentalizes the CFL teams because they are not able to field their best team possible because an average of two non-imports per CFL team are in the NFL.
I hope the naturlized Canadian rule is on the table for the up coming contract negoiations.
I was surprised a while ago watching Prime Time Sports. That subject came up and all four on the round table that night (McCown, Kirk, Brunt and ?) all were in favour of that rule change.
Drummer, your point is well taken. But aren’t you making an assumption that if they declined to play in the CFL that they would always have an NFL team to pick them up? I’m not so sure. In fact, numerous American players are in playing in the CFL because there were better players vying for their positions. I have to agree with Massdestruction’s take on things.
Basically, what I’m saying is that the players are going to go to where the money is. And that is fine. I do not expect the CFL to match dollar for dollar what the NFL offers but perhaps the CFL can do more to assure that those players will be around for a reasonable period of time. After all- the CFL is a business. Yukoner2009 nailed it.
Give the player the option year. But create an incentive that fairly rewards the players and insures that they are going to be around for at least 3 years.
Teams are trying to build a loyal fan base, namely regular seasons ticket holders. When key positions are vacated and big holes are left open it doesn’t give potential season ticket purchasers much incentive to make the all important decision.
When players have finally come together over an entire season and look forward to next season it must be disheartening to have to go through the whole process again the next year while trying to create a Grey Cup contender.
I don't like the naturalized Canadian rule, unless they increase the number of Canadians in the game. Now, there are only 7 starting positions for non-imports in the CFL. Do we really want to replace those 7 Canadians with Americans who've taken out citizenship? What's the point? We need Canadians in the Canadian Football League, which hopefully includes some Canadian-trained players also.
I believe that the NFL teams should have to pay the CFL team for signing a player in his option year. Maybe they could pay compensation of the players first year salary this would pay the team for training and developing the player and still leave the option window open if the wished it.
The CFL should have minimum 2-year contracts with no option year signings in the NFL unless that team pays the CFL team a $50,000 development fee. No tickee...no laundry. Otherwise, after two years the player is a free agent and can sign with any CFL or NFL team. :thup:
I really like the 2+1 option.
Cam Wake would be much poorer then he is right now if he was allowed to bolt the CFL after only one season.
He failed in his bid to get out of his contract after one year because he had signed a 2+1 deal.
If he was successful he would of gotten an NFL contract with maybe a 10K signing bonus.
However he was forced to stay another season and ended up getting 1 million dollars guarenteed.
Waren Moon actually stated publicly that Casey Printer should stay in the CFL for atleast 2 years more...Moon said after the two years the NFL would still be there.
Well two years later he was in Hamilton with a zero% of ever seeing the NFL ever again.
Amazing how we can't have our own league without the Americans sticking their noses in.
Maybe its time we really Canadianize this league and go 100% Canadian.
Smaller soccer nations have their own leagues with their own players mainly.
Why not go all out Canadian?
So what if its not the greatest football in the world?
Canadian people prefer Canadian teams and league overwhelmingly.
We;ll still have the Eskimos and Ticats and the Grey Cup.
We'll still have good football.
Let all these American carpetbaggers stay down there and flip burgers after their college careers end
Because frankly I'm tired of constantly having to talk about Americans on the CFL website.
Americans in the CFL have been part of the history going back decades. Yes, at one time I believe none were allowed but that's a long time ago. Personally I don't believe that an all-Canadian CFL professional league would work in Canada, just my gut feeling.
i think we would be most offended if MLB or NBA decidede they would only play american players. saying we should only play Canadians seem to border on racism to me.
Why not? Other countries and leagues around the world do it.
Some European hockey leagues only allow 3 foreigners per team.
And isn't England going to set a foreign quota for their soccer teams?
We should be taking that route.
Its our league after all.
Why are we allowing foreigners to take the place of Canadians?
Let these Americans form an NFL minor league if they want.
This is Canada. And we should run this league for Canadians.
Actually, I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that the NFL pumps large amounts of cash into the CFL for the pleasure of having that type of agreement. Someone please feel free to correct me on that, because I was always sure that it is that way for that very reason, to keep the CFL as a "development league".
AGREED!! I have a staff of 15 people at work, I am sure there are better employees that are in the states but I can’t hire them over legal Canadian citizens, it should be the same in the CFL. Now I would absolutely love 100% Canadian players, but I would be just as happy with a 75-25 split. Sure the quality of players would take a hit, but in 5-7 years it would be just as good, plus we would have a lot more Canadians playing in the NFL too.
