Rich

The Commissioner is doing the state of the league address this morning. Some interesting tidbits coming out on Twitter

http://www.ottawasun.com/2016/11/24/cfl-calls-illegal-procedure-on-half-baked-pizza-promotion-for-grey-cup-tickets

Calgary is going to be really interesting to watch over the next couple of years. Curious to see how the departure of John Murphy affects their pipeline of Americans coming in and compare that to Saskatchewan's scouting going forward. How much was Murphy responsible for the players that Calgary has been finding Also, Hufnagel is 65. How many more years before he decides to retire completely and what is the succession plan for GM? Michael Petrie has been assistant GM for the last 6 years. Is he being groomed? He has an interesting bio as he was a sportswriter and covered the Stamps before joining the club in media relations. BLM is only 26, and having a super star QB for potentially the next decade for whoever takes over is a big piece to that continued success.

The funny thing is that the shenanigans that they played probably made the broadcast of that game more interesting for TSN as they got to talk about the "controversy" of what they were doing. Still, the league should be investigating them. Can't bite the hand that feeds you.

I'm not sure having 25 - 30k people leaving the downs onto a single exit (the perimeter) would be any faster than exiting the U of M. There are also very few restaurant and bars within a reasonable distance as compared to Pembina. I think that anywhere they built the stadium there was going to be a subsection of the fans that felt alienated, have a longer drive, and they wouldn't like it. The biggest problem the Bombers are facing are that first impressions are sticking impressions, and that first year was executed so poorly that the the conception out there is that it is a bad location and hard to get to and out of. Since that first season, I don't find it bad at all. Tried the park and ride for the first time for the Heritage Classic and found it to be actually pretty convenient and quick. Didn't hear any complaints or issues for the heritage classic about the location, mostly because it was an event people really wanted to go to and were excited to go to. If the Bombers can start winning again (sustained), people will be convinced to give the location another chance and I think find that it isn't all that bad after all. Then we will go through all of this again in 50 or 60 years when a new one gets built some place else and people will have all the same complaints because at the end of the day, people just don't like change.

Quote from later on in the article... how would this go over in the WWE dressing room?

I would take him at that contract. Good chance he would get more (salary and / or term) on the open market though. Ladd got 7 years @ $5.5M and will be 31 in December. Would you pay more for Little over Ladd? Less? Same? So it would very much depend on preliminary discussions with his agent and how much Little wants to stay in Winnipeg.

Despite Perreault and Little being close to age, Perreault is signed for the next 4 years (plus this one). I don't want to lose Little at all, but the point of my discussion is he is only under contract for this year and next. If the Jets are confident they can afford and re-sign him, then by all means he should be protected. If you don't think you can re-sign him or afford him, why would you protect him to have him for next year only and lose someone like Armia who you control for the next 6ish years.

Barring a trade, I think they have to go 8-1. Hellebuyck is a no brainer for the goalie, same with the D and forwards you listed. At the beginning of the season, I would have thought Perreault was a lock because of the extension they signed him to. After the first half of the season, I wonder if I wouldn’t keep Armia over him. Here is a bit of an out there thought I just had while looking at the current lineup …. Little is going to be 30 next year with one year remaining on his deal. Looking at the younger guys coming up who are going to need raises and I’m not sure he is automatically re-signed. Little is probably going to want a raise and 4 -5 years minimum. So would you leave Little exposed?

They've really set the price for Grey Cup tickets too high. Last year too in Winnipeg they were too high. Once the price point gets up to $400 and $500 for a single ticket, people are going to start questioning whether it is worth it. The Grey Cup has always been about the country travelling and uniting in the host city. Grassroots for the average fan. Once you factor in airfare and hotel and slap an extra $500 on top of that for a single ticket ($1,000 if you are a travelling couple), people are going to think twice about going and stay home to watch the game. Ticket pricing should top out at $300 - $350 and go down from there. Setting prices too high, then having sales to bring attendance up just trains people not to buy tickets ahead of time and wait for the price drop. It isn't a good thing. For a league with a downward trend in attendance, they need to market and price this game to drum up excitement and get people out to the game. Not turn them off further.

If true, even with Ottawa making it into the big game, attendance for this game is going to be a disaster. Toronto will lose money on this.

I think its a sign of the times. Newspapers are dying and those that are left are the ones that can't spin into another career. Both Tait and Lawless, two of the better sports guys we've had in the past decade have left the Free Press and their replacements are not at the same level.

Picks need to be in by Sunday @ 5PM

The length of the commitment was based on where your seats were located. Only the prime locations were 5 years. I do know that for ticket group I am in (our seats are upper deck centre ice), the renewal came last year or the year before. I believe the majority of renewals have already come and people either renewed or people from the waiting list stepped in. I think the biggest reason for the Jets selling out like they have was the scarcity of tickets from their initial return and groups splitting season tickets. No way I'm making the time and financial commitment to go to all home games. But with groups of people splitting the tickets, which to my knowledge wasn't as prevalent or never happened in Jets 1.0, it is more affordable for people and those people end up going to more games than if they were buying single seats.

I wonder if Nicols would look sexier if he had a receiver like Stegall to throw to like Glenn had here.

The Jets have to factor in. There is a lot of disposable income flowing their way. The Jets will come first for a lot of people in the city

First, I'm in favour of bringing back O'Shea. For a lot of what your write, don't think it really applies. A new coach wouldn't necessarily be a complete rebuild like we've seen, especially if Walters stays. A lot of good players in place, under contract. It would be more tweaking for what the new coach wants, not a complete tear down and rebuild. Some players may bolt for sure. It doesn't mean whoever is hired is a blackhole no one wants to play for.

It was reported that Hurl signed for "well north of 100k" when he signed here. I wouldn't be opposed to bringing Hurl back, but if he isn't a regular starter, I don't think we can afford to pay him what we have been.

A few interesting tidbits in this TSN article. http://www.tsn.ca/concerns-about-nhl-expansion-draft-emerge-1.609388 There is concerns on both sides (existing teams and Vegas) about "side deals" for pending UFAs, where a team will have a contract ready to go on a UFA but not submit it to the league until after the expansion draft to avoid having to protect that player, and on the Vegas side, them doing similar things in their 48 hour window to talk to UFAs prior to free agency opening as apparently if they sign a UFA in that 48 hour window, that counts as their pick of a player from that team. The penalty if a team gets caught circumventing the expansion draft rules … a first round draft pick. Pretty steep penalty if they can prove it. Would a GM risk it? Debates continue with GMs on Rule 48 on blindside hits…. This is likely the rule that triggered the penalty for Morrissey’s hit as the player he hit had his head down and could be considered “vulnerable”. And … possible changes to the shootout, changing the rule that after the first 3 players, you can recycle players who have already taken a shot. Theory being, the fans want to see the best players shoot, not be forced to play your 3rd / 4th line players or 3rd pairing D-Men. I like this rule change.

Why do you want this group of people to tell you why Thorbs dresses when they don't make that decision? Everyone is just saying what is likely to happen given Maurice's history. Then you want to argue about it. I appreciate the discussion and everything, but why do we have to have the same argument and same trade proposals every single day? It is basically trade Petan, trade Myers, trade Stafford, trade anything for RNH. Bring up Lemieux, bring up Roslovic, Bring up <flavour of the day>. **** on the same Jets who you don't want to see play everyday. People don't want to argue and discuss the same thing everyday.

As I recall he came to the CFL to be a head coach, not save his career. He just didn't want to be a coordinator anymore, and the CFL gave him his shot at that. He spun that CFL gig into an NFL head coaching gig and it didn't work out. He is now 60 years of age and has to be eyeing retirement at this point. Coming back to Canada isn't going to get him another head coaching gig in the NFL. At his age, I wouldn't call a guy not wanting to come work in a foreign country stupid.