Work Stoppage Looms

Well, someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that since Edmonton is a community owned team, they don't actually make a profit. The money the team makes goes into the team, or other investments.

And I disagree with argotom. Just because the league is doing well doesn't mean it should start spending like a drunken sailor. We just went through a recession, and we're still not all the way out of it. Increasing the cap from $4.2 million to $5.5 million? Come on. Let's be real.

Privately owned teams don't (for the most part) reveal financial numbers so it is pure speculation as to how much teams make or which teams make the most.

Increasing the cap is being real and finally bringing in our hard working CFL players into the 21st century.
The last I read is how the average is around $65,000, not a bad wage but nothing to write home about.
By increasing the cap by around 25% this would bring the average salary up of course and at the same time the roster size.
The bottom line, it is not drunken sailors mentality the much needed and well deserved raise for all the years the players were told there was no other option.
The league can afford it.

The CFL is the second-highest paying football league in the world. What other options do the players really have? And PaoloX, while the Riders are flush with cash at the moment, we are about 10 years removed from having to hold a telethon to save the team. I’m fine with an incremental bump to the SMS, even if it’s just cost of living adjustments. But if the PA thinks owing a CFL franchise is a money-making proposition, it’s way wrong.

.

I read Lefkos article. It doesn't really seem like the sides are all that far apart. Compare this labour dispute with the one in MLS. The soccer league and its players are at a complete impass and seem destined for a crippling strike.

Chief, here’s a link to a thread you started about the Esks posting a profit of under $1 million in the 2009 season:
http://forums.cfl.ca/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=53503&start=0
It looks like any profit the team has goes into its stabilization fund which is over $8 million. The profit referred to apparently doesn’t include Grey Cup money from what the article you posted said.

Here’s a link to a report regarding the Riders’ 2008-2009 Annual Meeting that indicates that they had a profit of $1,628,607 from the 2008 season.
http://www.saskriders.com/article/riders_hold_annual_general_meeting

Here’s a link to the Bombers 2008 financial statements which indicate they had a profit of $761,000 in 2008 after losing over $250,000 in 2007:
http://www.bluebombers.com/uploads/assets/WPG/08_site_photos/2008%20annual%20report[1].pdf

The Bombers financial statements also provide other information such as they had a little more than $4 in sponsorship income and received just under $2 million in league revenue.

I believe any profit made by Edmonton, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg go into their respective “rainy day” accounts.

Hopefully that will give everyone some idea of what the actual profits made are compared to revenue.

I expect any Bomber surpluses will go towards paying down their debt, no? When Bauer took over I seem to recall it was at a crippling level.

When Bauer was hired the Bombers were about $5 million in debt but that was paid off at least a few years ago. Reports indicate the Bombers rainy day fund was about $5 million in 2009.

Well given this information from Blue Blood then it would seem to me, like Football You Bet also clarified, that this will be a rough-go. The collective CFL labor situation sure sounds strangely similar to that of the MLS. :frowning:

I’d be all for what Argotom proposed and clarified, but it seems that the league is living on only from some recent prosperity from the past credit-induced boom era for most places in North America or the continued energy, mining, and/or agricultural wealth in Alberta and Sasketchewan. As Blue Blood implied any profits indeed ought to be saved indeed for the rainier days likely to come.

Somebody above mentioned that it's just the Argos and the Bombers who are losing money, but I believe that the Cats are also losing money, or at best they're breaking even. That's one short of half the teams of the league that are surviving on the benevolence of their owners. Perhaps some teams could handle a big jump in salary cap, but unless they're proposing revenue sharing along with it, at least three teams would be hurt by it.

Work stoppage is always a possibility when a CBA is being (re?)negotiated, but how probable is it? Is there anyone in the media besides Lefko who's saying that a work stoppage is looming? I can't find anything else, and he's the only one that anybody here is quoting, but I don't get the impression from reading his articles that he's got a lot of credibility when it comes to what he writes about the CFL (although, I readily admit that I'm not all that knowledgeable about the CFL compared with a lot of the people here). The last few that I've read from him just look like speculation about exaggerated worst case scenarios.

I’m all for raising the cap, but $1.3 million seems a bit steep. Does anyone remember what the last increase was? I don’t think it was by much. And besides, if you increase the number of players on the roster, then that increase in the cap is just going to disappear because you’re going to have to pay more guys.

They did make a small profit, but it went into the stabilization fund, and a good chunk of the money they’ll make on the Grey Cup will go toward a community centre. So it’s like I said, any profit they make goes toward the team, or the community.

They do have an impressive nest egg, but not every team does, and I don’t think they should start dipping into it just because times are good. And while they did well in 2009, it sounds like they took a hit in 2008.

I believe it was said the Argos and Ticats were losing money. We don’t have any numbers for 2009 for the Bombers but they have be diversifying in holding concerts and other events at the stadium to supplement football revenues and attendance was decent overall last season so I’m not sure if the team will have a loss or profit on the books for that season.

so u gotta ask yourself would u be willing to pay 75 dollars for the seats u currently are paying 50 dollars for because guess what if the cap is raised so ridiculously much, THAT COMES OUT OF OUR POCKETS!!!

65000 for like 7 months of work? works for me ill take that.. thanks alot of people dont make that in a year let alone 7 months...

i cant beleive an article that only like sportsnet.ca has posted is getting all this attention.

sportsnet has been so right in the past about the cfl.. YUP marshall to be named bomber coach, yup.. barker to be named vp/gm.. maan these guys are so full of crap they dont even know what hits them..

work stoppage in the cfl? u can kiss the league good bye.. ITS ALL JUST BS.. and u know what.. if their is a work stoppage and it is due to the players wanting more money... THEY CAN HONESTLY GO F THEMSELVES.. im not paying an extra 25 bucks for my tickets and i doubt anyone else will either.. recession yet these guys are bitching about 65 k in 7 8 months? gimme a break.

and ticat fans yes beleive it or not u are losing MONEY... 22000 at a bomber game is considered a bad attendance, at a ticat game its considered the normal so stop bs'ing ppl into thinking the bombers are in a bad position, they arent at all!!!!!

This constant media bs is just ridiculous, everything the media says people take it like its the gospel.. its so ridiculous... THESE GUYS ARE WRONG like 80 percent of the time NOW for gods sake yet u still take what they say like its written by moses on some sort of stones or something..

SOURCES? well who are they? cuz im betting the only sources most these "experts" have are the sources that are inside their head. they have nothing better to do so they make crap up about a team because hey, thats the thing to do.

people need to learn to think for themselves and to not let the media do it for you...

yeah i know people in toronto and hamilton have smog and that probably mess's with your brains but like for gods sake... NOT EVERYTHING YOUR MEDIA SAYS IS TRUE.

1 more thing... like is PERRY LEFKO, the guy who wrote this article.. is he ever right about anything? This is just some douchebag trying to trick the small minded individuals into thinking this is possible when in reality.. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. if it does, THE CFL WILL DIE!!! it will die, and it will die quick because, seriously if people cant stand 1 thing, its whiney athletes who are generally over paid to begin with because lets be honest.. ITS A SPORT, we paid to play it when we are younger, now some people who paid to play when they were younger cant even afford to go to games yet these guys want more money? SORRY its bs at its finest and i cant beleive theres like 4 pages on everyboys fan sites related to this crap.. SHOW me an article by someone other than LEFKO and maybe ill start to beleive it but NO sorry.

wah wah wah feel sorry for me, 65 k for 7 months of work.. YEAH tell that to all the people who have been laid off in the past year due to that recession, tell the people in hamilton who were laid off about 65 k a year not being enough, tell the people in toronto and montreal and winnipeg and regina and calgary and edmonton and FRIGGIN butthump nowhere canada where people have been laid off that 65 k is not enough to make ends meat.. MAAAAN if anything the salarys should be lowered. SET A REAL EXAMPLE and dont cave into the players.. PLAYERS ARE REPLACEABLE.. FANS ARENT!!

Why don't you tell us how you really feel?

:D

Seriously now. . . about Perry Lefko. I stand to be corrected but I don't think he's had a bad record as a CFL reporter. He did work for the league for a time, so I presume he does have some good contacts. I don't recall him having a run of bad reporting and inaccuracy as did Dave Naylor last month, and I don't recall him ever being compared to Marty York.

Lordy, you’re right. I don’t know why I thought I read Bombers.

Regardless, not only did Hamilton lose money this past year, it’s been losing money for years. Increasing the salary cap beyond inflation or cost of living wouldn’t be good for the team at all.

No it will come out of TSN’s pocket. I can guarantee that. Mark Cohon is not a dummy, the CFL will be positioning itself for a major increase in tv revenue. A deal that is fair for both parties, not just one. Also I highly doubt it will be a closed competition this time.

That’s how I feel. I’d like to see eventually salaries be closer to an average of 100k. True they do something they love, but isn’t that what engineers, teachers and nurses say? Don’t they ask/deserve for more money?
Also you can only play football for a short amount of time. Especially the fringe players.

Hey please post here more often Killer. This guy is my new hero on this site! He kicks major (expletive)!

Also I like that he used the word douchebag, of whom we have too darn many here in Philadelphia and all over the East Coast plus in the states of PA,NY,NJ,IN,VA,OH,WV,CT and a few others for that matter. I hope that word is allowed for use on this site too now because I use it often along with bojack, bojack loser, and the most grievous of all bojack douchebag loser off the site. :smiley:
(Note I refrain from personal insults to commenters on this site when using the phrase of course, but it rarely comes to mind anyway on this fine blog forum and amongst Canadians in general I have noticed)

Much applause Killer and please post more such candid butt-kicking, flame-throwing, earth-scorching feedback! :rockin:

Now back to your heavy metal and furniture burnin’ folks! :rockin:

I was thinking the same thing Lefoko’s article is the only one I’ve seen as well. And, he might also have an ax to grind Wasn’t he fired as the CFL’s media relations guy a couple of years ago?