2019-20 CFL Offseason

[JuranBoldenRules]

11 minutes ago, Tiny759 said:

So if no bailout comes in, and no guarantee of a season next year, could we be seeing a potential demise of the cfl? 

Not with 7 stadiums that exist solely to field professional football, 3 of them with hundreds of millions of government debt owing.

[Jpan85]

Little more info 

 

[SpeedFlex27]

35 minutes ago, Tiny759 said:

Not sure what you are trying to get at here? 

Check out the social media comments that go with this story. The Haters said let the league die basically.  By asking for money the CFL is being mocked as financial losers. One person said to let the Lions fold, put in real grass & get an NFL team.  NFL fans (I presume) are just laughing at us. A pro league asking for money like a small business owner is doing. 

What is the one thing associated with the CFL by the generally "I don't give a **** about the CFL" crowd? Empty seats. The CFL has done absolutely nothing about it. For years, they've ignored how high ticket prices & televising every game meant fans stay home. There should have been a solution to attract younger viewers worked out by now, problem solved & it hasn't happened.

The CFL did nothing about the negative perception that the league is failing because of half to three quarter filled stadiums. Now the CFL is asking for public money & all the Haters are saying why give anything to a failing league???  Perception is everything. The perception, especially by those in Toronto & Vancouver is that the CFL has a minor league product & it will eventually fold.  Vancouver & Toronto will finally get NFL teams  they deserve if the CFL will just go away permanently. That sentiment is on every Commissioner & the BOG's shoulders since former Commissioner Jake Gaudaur retired.  The CFL will spend $$$ to grow the game in Lithuania but not in Lethbridge. We want to be bigshots in Chile but we're small potatoes in Calgary.

Edited April 29, 2020 by SpeedFlex27

[bustamente]

NFL will look at London and Mexico before a Canadian city gets a sniff, at least BC has a somewhat acceptable stadium, where is Toronto going to get 4B to build one

[SpeedFlex27]

24 minutes ago, bustamente said:

NFL will look at London and Mexico before a Canadian city gets a sniff, at least BC has a somewhat acceptable stadium, where is Toronto going to get 4B to build one

Doesn't matter. It's all about perception. Canadian NFL fans think the CFL is preventing Vancouver & Toronto from having teams. Doesn't matter what the NFL thinks or does. 

Edited April 29, 2020 by SpeedFlex27

[Brandon]

53 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

The math doesn't work.  They have nowhere near $150 million in costs if they don't play.   If they don't play the players don't get paid.  Is the league going to try to pay all the players with government money?

I agree something doesn't seem right here.    

I'd assume all of the office employees are Canadian and would be covered already.   

Are they asking for potential loss revenue?  If that's the case then wouldn't every single Canadian business ask for the same? 

[Brandon]

24 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Doesn't matter. It's all about perception. Canadian NFL fans think the CFL is preventing Vancouver & Toronto from having teams. Doesn't matter what the NFL thinks or does. 

Those fans should do some research and see how poor the results were the last time Buffalo came to Toronto to play....  NFL is not coming to Canada ever. 

[Tiny759]

37 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Check out the social media comments that go with this story. The Haters said let the league die basically.  By asking for money the CFL is being mocked as financial losers. One person said to let the Lions fold, put in real grass & get an NFL team.  NFL fans (I presume) are just laughing at us. A pro league asking for money like a small business owner is doing. 

What is the one thing associated with the CFL by the generally "I don't give a **** about the CFL" crowd? Empty seats. The CFL has done absolutely nothing about it. For years, they've ignored how high ticket prices & televising every game meant fans stay home. There should have been a solution to attract younger viewers worked out by now, problem solved & it hasn't happened.

The CFL did nothing about the negative perception that the league is failing because of half to three quarter filled stadiums. Now the CFL is asking for public money & all the Haters are saying why give anything to a failing league???  Perception is everything. The perception, especially by those in Toronto & Vancouver is that the CFL has a minor league product & it will eventually fold.  Vancouver & Toronto will finally get NFL teams  they deserve if the CFL will just go away permanently. That sentiment is on every Commissioner & the BOG's shoulders since former Commissioner Jake Gaudaur retired.  The CFL will spend $$$ to grow the game in Lithuania but not in Lethbridge. We want to be bigshots in Chile but we're small potatoes in Calgary.

So I agree with a few points you made, but what are they supposed to do? If they need the money they need the money.

[SpeedFlex27]

Just now, Brandon said:

Those fans should do some research and see how poor the results were the last time Buffalo came to Toronto to play....  NFL is not coming to Canada ever. 

Again, you're preaching to the choir. I agree with you but the Haters don't. I was in Toronto for business in 1997 the day when the NFL teased putting an expansion team in Toronto that instead went to Houston. The angry reaction was WE HATE THE CFL & WE HATE THE ARGOS even though they had nothing to do with it. The NFL used Toronto drive up the price of expansion for Houston & never had any intention of putting a team there.  Toronto NFL fans have been waiting for an NFL team since 1959... 

 

[SpeedFlex27]

18 minutes ago, Tiny759 said:

So I agree with a few points you made, but what are they supposed to do? If they need the money they need the money.

I'm just saying that I don't think the present CFL business model cares about growing the game here in Canada the way it should. The goal should be to sell every seat in all 9 CFL stadiums. I get Toronto is a challenge with the Leafs, Raptors & Jays but in every other stadium it should be doable. They should also find revenue streams nationally & locally to reduce dependence on gate receipts. Charging $70 for a seat that will sit empty all season make no sense. One hundred per cent of zero is still zero. 

Edited April 29, 2020 by SpeedFlex27

[Blueandgold]

2 hours ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

Not with 7 stadiums that exist solely to field professional football, 3 of them with hundreds of millions of government debt owing.

Not only that, but the NFL needs the CFL to avoid being considered a monopoly. 

[J5V]

I think Ambrosie will get some $$$ from the feds but $150 mil. sounds crazy-high to me. He'll take what's offered and make it work.

[SpeedFlex27]

From what I read from Dave Naylor, the CFL is close to folding. Too bad they couldn't have built up a "rainy day" fund to help get them through these hard times. Too busy selling teams to bad or underfunded owners or living life on the edge by propping teams up when too many owners just walk away from their long term financial commitments over the years. 

[Eternal optimist]

7 hours ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

The math doesn't work.  They have nowhere near $150 million in costs if they don't play.   If they don't play the players don't get paid.  Is the league going to try to pay all the players with government money?

I don't think it's that unreasonable... I did a quick google search of the 9 teams for sets of financials. Here's the results

Saskatchewan Roughriders 2018-2019 financials
https://d3ham790trbkqy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2019/07/15827-2018-19-SR-Annual-Report-FA.pdf

 

Winnipeg Blue Bombers 2018 report
https://d3ham790trbkqy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2019/04/2018-Winnipeg-Blue-Bombers-Annual-Report.pdf

 

Edmonton Eskimos 2018 report
https://d3ham790trbkqy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/05/2018-Annual-Report-FINAL.pdf

Couldn't find anything for the other teams... but even just the three reports above show expenses of $40,372,235 (SSK), $30,819,350 (WPG) and $23,601,333 which is close to $95 million in expenses. Of course that includes non-operating things, like amortization, but considering that's just expenses from three of the nine teams in the league, that'd mean the other teams would need just $55 million between them to hit the $150 million they're requesting.

Additionally, as the general public tightens their collective belts, season ticket revenues will drop, as tickets by most people are considered non-essential services, the timing is particularly bad for the CFL. On top of that, just as an example, almost a third of Winnipeg's 2018 revenue came directly from games, which obviously they don't have that cash-flow currently.

[Dr Zaius]

The feds knowingly let the CBC lose billions every year to promote culture. Funnel something out of that loser corporation.

They're definitely going to throw the CFL a bone. The question is how much

[TBURGESS]

The Feds are printing more money daily in an effort to keep our economy running during the pandemic. Every few days there's another announcement of another industry that's getting federal money to survive. The CFL is no different than any other industry. They have their hands out asking for federal money to survive, but they are a long way down the list.

I can't imagine the Feds giving the CFL $150,000,000. I don't believe that the overhead of not running a season is that much either. They will probably agree on a number that's significantly lower that keeps the CFL on life support.

[Tiny759]

8 hours ago, Blueandgold said:

Not only that, but the NFL needs the CFL to avoid being considered a monopoly. 

I think the nfl has no problem being a monopoly...

[JuranBoldenRules]

3 hours ago, Eternal optimist said:

I don't think it's that unreasonable... I did a quick google search of the 9 teams for sets of financials. Here's the results

Saskatchewan Roughriders 2018-2019 financials
https://d3ham790trbkqy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2019/07/15827-2018-19-SR-Annual-Report-FA.pdf

 

Winnipeg Blue Bombers 2018 report
https://d3ham790trbkqy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2019/04/2018-Winnipeg-Blue-Bombers-Annual-Report.pdf

 

Edmonton Eskimos 2018 report
https://d3ham790trbkqy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/05/2018-Annual-Report-FINAL.pdf

Couldn't find anything for the other teams... but even just the three reports above show expenses of $40,372,235 (SSK), $30,819,350 (WPG) and $23,601,333 which is close to $95 million in expenses. Of course that includes non-operating things, like amortization, but considering that's just expenses from three of the nine teams in the league, that'd mean the other teams would need just $55 million between them to hit the $150 million they're requesting.

Additionally, as the general public tightens their collective belts, season ticket revenues will drop, as tickets by most people are considered non-essential services, the timing is particularly bad for the CFL. On top of that, just as an example, almost a third of Winnipeg's 2018 revenue came directly from games, which obviously they don't have that cash-flow currently.

The vast majority of their operating costs won’t happen if the league doesn’t operate.  So really what they need is cash to service debt, maintain facilities and pay a few staff like maybe President-GM-Head Coach.

I’m left wondering if the CFL explored any kind of deal with Bell (TSN) to get an advance on future rights payments to get through the crisis.  TSN is hugely vested in the existence of the league, plus owns one team.  Maybe they can get $100 million and pay it back over 10 years once operations start again at a few percent interest.

Also in the case of several teams you’d think they could work out deals with their provincial governments to cover debt payments on the stadiums until events are going again.

[Jpan85]

In video Naylor did he did say the CFL would work with the government to pay the money back in some form.

[Mr Dee]

Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with the CFL asking for assistance to maintain what has to be considered a huge part of many Canadian’s lives. A part of Canadian culture. Part of Canadian history. A huge part of the Canadian entertainment industry.
Diversity is strength. 
It matters.
For the love of the game.
The Rouge.
We could lose it all.
We cannot let that happen.
 

[Jpan85]

 

[rebusrankin]

To cut to the chase, I just hope the CFL survives.

[bustamente]

With the draft just around the corner I find the timing of this story a little weird. 

[Colin Unger]

35 minutes ago, Mr Dee said:

Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with the CFL asking for assistance to maintain what has to be considered a huge part of many Canadian’s lives. A part of Canadian culture. Part of Canadian history. A huge part of the Canadian entertainment industry.
Diversity is strength. 
It matters.
For the love of the game.
The Rouge.
We could lose it all.
We cannot let that happen.
 

There's nothing wrong with it at all especially considering the federal government has already agreed to big bailouts to arts and culture and alternatively have bailed out mastercard. The Government made decisions that have put many people and businesses in an impossible situation. If they are going to dictate to people and businesses that they can't operate then they need to be willing to cover the losses. 

[Jpan85]