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******* Liberals. Money to piss away on every frivolous thing but can't support an actual Canadian institution. Just despicable. CFL needs to get it's crap together too. They dropped the ball as well.

Good article by Justin Dunk. He usually has pretty reliable sources. https://3downnation.com/2020/08/17/the-cfl-wanted-to-be-treated-different-than-every-other-canadian-citizen/ Key quote: According to sources, the league could have landed a loan, which had the potential to max out at $60 million, with a four-year payback period and increasing interest rates each time the calendar flipped over that topped out in the seven percent range. The same loan financing programs are available for eligible businesses in the mid-market program. However, the league said no thanks and continued on its quest for interest-free money. Two things - First, seems like the "high interest loan" cries might have been BS. topping out at 7% is a reasonable loan. Second - You have to wonder if maybe the private owners (Montreal, Toronto, BC) have been directing Ambrosie. Never seemed like they wanted to have a shortened season, and maybe they don't want to be on the hook for a 4 year loan. Maybe they're the ones floating the "high interest loan" story and pushing for an interest free loan. Bad times for the CFL.

Well, there is another consideration. No Rod Black for a year...

Ambrosie should be gone by the end of the week. He has bungled this badly from the beginning. - Went to Gov't without a plan. - Went to Gov't without communicating with the PA. - Has kept everyone in the dark throughout this. - Ignored the fans.

Beyond the long term impact that this will have on the league, I feel particularly bad for the Bombers. There was so much positive energy and relief last year, they should have expected a real surge at the gate this year. This could have propelled them for the next few years. Now, that momentum will stall. So, for 2021, will we see league wide resurgence because people realize how much they miss it or will the league suffer even more as fewer and fewer people come back?

No matter how we got here and it's inevitability, this is devastating. I feel like I was hit in the stomach reading this.

It would be the most 2020 thing ever if the reanimated corpse of Marty York is the one to break the story of a shortened CFL season.

Yes, the list above is incomplete.

I could complain about the Feds and Ambrosise but honestly right now I am just bummed that there is no 2020 season. That said, at least I have the 2019 Grey Cup to look back on.

The CFL needs to see this as an opportunity and use this time to formulate a better approach in working with the PA as more of a partnership and not as an adversarial war.

I have a story for you but in this case, I won't use the name of the person who told me as he is a facebook friend & an MP in Ottawa. He is well connected to the CFL. When Ambrosie made his sales pitch last spring asking for $130 million dollars, this politician approached him & said, "I can help you. I know the members of the Committee & how to present your proposal to them. What to say, how to say it & who to say it to." Ambrosie had no interest in talking to him, getting help or finding out what tools he would need when talking to the Committee. He talked to Ambrosie a couple of times & was rebuffed eaxh time. He called the Commissioner "clueless". Well, we know what happened. Ambrosie appeared before the committee asked for $130 million. He said the CFL would fold without it. No, the Players don't know I'm here. I have no formal plan because all I want to do is get some money from you guys & we'll take care of the rest. And by the way, the teams lost $20 million dollars last season (2019). Ambrosie's initial presentation turned into a disaster & subsequent meetings afterwards where the amount of $$$ asked kept going down. Until last night we find the Liberals turned the league down flat & the season is cancelled. First impressions are everything & Ambrosie blew it

That was my take initially. Then I saw this article from Justin Dunk. https://3downnation.com/2020/08/17/the-cfl-wanted-to-be-treated-different-than-every-other-canadian-citizen/ If there's any accuracy to it, sounds like a bunch of CFL owners really didn't want a CFL season this year. A 7% loan is reasonable but they probably thought why take a 7% interest loan plus lose money on the season. Guaranteed the Bombers wanted a season, but bet Toronto, Montreal, BC said no.

$60M, repayable over 4 years with increasing interest rates, up to 7%. The Feds don't loan out their own money. They take on debt and have to pay it back. The terms are probably similar to what they were getting on the market.

I've been critical of Ambrosie the whole time; however, when things start flying, I duck and let them hit you. I don't really care for him and perhaps that clouds my perspective but, in this case, I would be critical of anyone who went in front of gov't without a plan. I have been on the other side, receiving pitches for all sorts of funding proposals. Meetings are very short when you don't have a plan. And, trying to get another face-to-face meeting would be very hard. I suspect the Feds gave them lots of opportunities but they needed to take the same proposal that was being floated to everyone else.

The final decision was most likely made by a finance minister ...who has one foot out the door of this present govt. and the other on a banana peel...Doesn't bode well for a positive decision for the CFL....But like another poster said maybe in the final analysis this season was a shot in the dark in any event...Still hurts that we don't have backing from our fed. govt.....Other institutions seem to have an inside track as far as support......us...not so much

Humanitarian relief. Let's not pretend the gov't was paying for football in the Middle East. People are starving to death. Gov't provided them a loan offer, similar to those being offered to other companies.

I am not surprised given what's gone on this summer, but it sucks. Football season is one of the best times of the year and not having it just leaves the summer feeling incomplete.

He won't tell us what we want to hear. But with Wade, at least you know what's going on.

"He may be just a little short." Player needed 8 yards and clearly gained 15.

"Annnnd it's a foot race!... " when it's not actually a foot race and the guy gets tackled at midfield.

So many ruined drinking games...

Don't agree. The NHL is almost half American with players allowed into Canada from almost every State plus the Euros coming back. You do know of the two NHL bubbles, right? That wasn't the issue at all. The feds didn't want to be involved & that was it.

Well, the bright side of cancelling the season is... At least I'm not in Saskatchewan. Man that place blows.

There is only one place to assign blame, if that’s the direction we want to go....it’s the Federal Government. They could have made it happen, but chose to ignore the valuable impact this league made all across Canada. Shameful.

Well I'm glad Trudeau can give MasterCard 50 million but not the CFL....

Does that mean you've cancelled your planned trip to the insane asylum so you can stay in the COVID-free paradise that is Alberta? 😜

In his hey day, Marty York was great for the CFL. He was always coming out with stories in the Globe & Mail about the CFL & scoops. The guy still loves the CFL but has no love for the other sports teams in Toronto, especially the Blue Jays. If we had more Marty Yorks in the national media this league would be in a lot better place on the Canadian sports landscape. The CFL certainly would be relevant in Toronto. I follow him on twitter.

Not that I was 100% expecting this but I was bracing myself for CFL cancellation. The hub thing never made sense to me for the CFL.

No new cases in Winnipeg?

How different will the CFL look when it comes back next year, will all teams be back, what players will retire, and will the fans be back in the stadiums.

Well, there's no choice but to accept this. It's deeply disappointing for many reasons. Aside from the players, coaches, and us fans, there are so many others across the country who will be profoundly impacted by not having even a shortened season. For me, this pill would be easier to swallow if the season had been cancelled strictly for health and safety concerns. But apparently, the hub city/bubble concept was deemed a safe enough measure for all, and in the end it came down to financing. From a more selfish perspective, I honestly believed that Winnipeg had an excellent chance to repeat with a strong team despite some departures to the NFL. Who knows how things will look in 2021? Not only in terms of rosters, but also regarding the ongoing uncertainties of COVID-19 and how it will affect spectator sports moving forward.

I guess the big question to be answered is the state of player contracts, the CBA and free agency.?

Writes itself...

and some of them may be back to start the next season if things don't go as planned for them in the NFL.

sadly all the options are a bag of ****. I couldn't see any of the parties going in on this if the Liberals wouldn't. They were the best chance but they didn't even want to get involved.

I'm so tired of these apples vs kumquats comparisons. Losing the season sucks, but it's the right decision that should have been made weeks ago.

haven't seen one yet...just "Wade Miller to speak later today"..... if I see something I'll post it for sure./

Tough call....no money piss off football fans....give the money and piss off the non sports fans...tough to win that one. I like to think if there had of been an agreement worked out between the PA and the CFL in July perhaps there would have been a better chance of a loan. Perhaps too much indecision.

Pelosi is a day late and dollar short. The election is lost to corruption. Banana Republic.

My gawd, he doesn’t even recognize what he just said..

Just having something that means that much to me, to look forward to each week.....it's taken a huge emotional toll on me. Having hockey back is cool and all, but even if the Jets and Oilers were still alive, it doesn't mean as much to me as CFL does. Not even close.

Yep. He said it.

...and outside of it

What do we expect....when you actually have a President who nods and winks at racists and conspiracy theorists ......which both encourages and emboldens them. At this point the rot is running pretty deep in the Republican party