2021 Season

[JCon]

 

Well, not yet, but pieces are starting to be put in place so that we can actually have a season this year. 

[Noeller]

4 minutes ago, JCon said:

 

Well, not yet, but pieces are starting to be put in place so that we can actually have a season this year. 

ehhhh...... not addressing fan attendance (or lack thereof) seems like a big nothing-burger....

[JCon]

Just now, Noeller said:

ehhhh...... not addressing fan attendance (or lack thereof) seems like a big nothing-burger....

Yeah, but first you need to get the teams and players sorted. Done. 

Fans, that's going to depend on vaccines and the provinces. 

 

I'm going to assume that the CFL has a pitch prepared this time for the Feds to get some cash for stability. 

[Noeller]

If not having players on board when they made their pitch last year was a major issue, hopefully today's announcement is at least a step toward having a joint proposal that's taken more seriously by the feds. 

[rebusrankin]

While I'd love to be able to attend starting in June, I'd take a start with no fans and maybe season ticket holders only around August or Labour Day (My guess is we have around 16,000 ST holders, so half the stadium).

[Blueandgold]

2 hours ago, Noeller said:

ehhhh...... not addressing fan attendance (or lack thereof) seems like a big nothing-burger....

I mean, isn’t that fan attendance kind of a provincial thing? I’m sure the CFL will allow as many fans as the province will let them have. 

[TrueBlue4ever]

15 hours ago, Noeller said:

ehhhh...... not addressing fan attendance (or lack thereof) seems like a big nothing-burger....

It would seem from the various sources commenting that the league really sees playing without fans as an absolute last resort. Some talk of a later start in August, and every financial model that we have seen In the CFL past has shown that ticket sales and game day profits generate up to 65% of league revenues. So not surprising that fan attendance is not addressed. The CFL would probably prefer to exhaust all other possibilities (including a later start or a shorter schedule with fans in the stands - which is dependent on what the Provinces will allow and not what the league would prefer), and given the angst (some have said entitlement) of fans on message boards, why put out a plan that may not come to pass? Because you just set yourself up for criticism if the season is delayed and some know-it-all’s then whine about being promised football and why don’t they just go with the no-fans plan, and why are they lying to us again? Again, planning is crucial, plans are useless because plans change. But that’s just my opinion, I don’t have this burning need to hold the league’s feet to the fire and a need to know RIGHT NOW when there are more important life issues during this pandemic. 

Edited February 24, 2021 by TrueBlue4ever

[Jpan85]

I just saw a study looking at counties in the states that allowed fan in the stands for football games this fall and there was not discernable increase in Covid cases due to people attending games.

[JCon]

28 minutes ago, Jpan85 said:

I just saw a study looking at counties in the states that allowed fan in the stands for football games this fall and there was not discernable increase in Covid cases due to people attending games.

But, was it crossed referenced with states that have virtually no rules enforcing masks, eating, gathering, shopping, etc? Just curious. 

 

I doubt an outdoor venue, with proper social distancing, will produce many new cases. I'm not sure how they manage the concourse (thinking of IGF now) but, if they're diligent, it should work out. One strike and you're out for those that don't adhere to the rules. 

[Goalie]

I'd imagine beer sales wouldn't happen

[SpeedFlex27]

4 hours ago, JCon said:

But, was it crossed referenced with states that have virtually no rules enforcing masks, eating, gathering, shopping, etc? Just curious. 

 

I doubt an outdoor venue, with proper social distancing, will produce many new cases. I'm not sure how they manage the concourse (thinking of IGF now) but, if they're diligent, it should work out. One strike and you're out for those that don't adhere to the rules. 

Some of those college games & even the Cowboys games looked insane. People weren't socially distancing. Some weren't wearing masks. 

[JCon]

2 hours ago, Goalie said:

I'd imagine beer sales wouldn't happen

Cancel the season. 

[Goalie]

2 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Some of those college games & even the Cowboys games looked insane. People weren't socially distancing. Some weren't wearing masks. 

Biggest problem by far is the differences in rules state to state hell county to county down there. 

[Tracker]

2 hours ago, JCon said:

Cancel the season. 

Well, if it is going to be a watered-down season, they could sell near-beer.

[Noeller]

 

 

[bustamente]

There will be a CFL season, might start a little latter than usual, there will be fans in the stands, most likely socially distanced at a certain % of capacity to start, and the Bombers will repeat as CFL champions, at least that's what the optimistic hamster in my brain is telling me.

[Noeller]

Saw a quote from Dr Tam today that said vaccinations are working better than they imagined and she can see full reopenings by the end of summer. Not sure I believe it, but it's the most optimistic I've ever heard her. I'll take any little bit of hope at this point... 

[Eternal optimist]

For everyone else feeling the winter/Covid blues, just be thankful your postal codes don't begin with an S!

[17to85]

2 hours ago, Noeller said:

Saw a quote from Dr Tam today that said vaccinations are working better than they imagined and she can see full reopenings by the end of summer. Not sure I believe it, but it's the most optimistic I've ever heard her. I'll take any little bit of hope at this point... 

the early studies from Israel show something like 90% of transmissions were stopped and it appears that the vaccines prevent people without symptoms from spreading. So those are pretty encouraging results. 

[Noeller]

3 hours ago, Noeller said:

 

 

 

More info here... Dunk got access to the internal memo sent to players... 

[JCon]

https://3downnation.com/2021/02/24/you-guys-are-so-full-of-it-super-bowl-champion-db-will-blackmon-provides-glimpse-into-chris-jones-led-riders/

‘You guys are so full of it’: Super Bowl champion DB Will Blackmon provides glimpse into Chris Jones-led Riders

 

I found this to be an interesting read. I'm not sure if it's a common practice but this seems to be yet another reason I don't want that trash, Jones, back in the CFL. 

[Eternal optimist]

11 hours ago, JCon said:

I found this to be an interesting read. I'm not sure if it's a common practice but this seems to be yet another reason I don't want that trash, Jones, back in the CFL. 

Although there's always two halves to every story, if even some of those allegations are factual, it'd explain a lot about Jones' time there.

[SpeedFlex27]

7 minutes ago, Eternal optimist said:

Although there's always two halves to every story, if even some of those allegations are factual, it'd explain a lot about Jones' time there.

Well he did have a practice squad for the practice squad of the practice squad while in Regina. 

[wbbfan]

10 hours ago, Eternal optimist said:

Although there's always two halves to every story, if even some of those allegations are factual, it'd explain a lot about Jones' time there.

I feel like he mentioned playing in the nfl for 12 years, 12 times in that article alone.  Worst case scenario its a constant humble brag thing, which is super annoying. But even then they were doing some really shifty stuff beyond what was publicly known. And a lot of shifty stuff came out of the jones era. 

One of 1000 reasons he should never be back in the cfl. 

[Noeller]

REGINA -- The CFL is unlikely to begin its season on its scheduled May start date due to continuing financial uncertainty, according to TSN football insider Dave Naylor.

On Tuesday, the CFL analyst tweeted that the league and the CFL players association (CFLPA) were putting the final touches on the league’s return to play protocol for staging games in 2021.

The @CFL and @CFLPA are putting final touches on the league’s return-to-play protocol for staging games in 2021. (Does not address the issue of fan attendance, which will be dealt with separately.) RTP protocol will be rolled-out to provinces for approval in the near future.#CFL

— David William Naylor (@TSNDaveNaylor) February 23, 2021

Naylor said most of the protocol was developed last summer for the proposed bubble in Winnipeg. There is also overlap of people working on the CFL’s return to play protocol that also worked on the NHL’s document, however the CFL has other challenges.

“You’re going to have to satisfy the provincial authorities with not the same amount of resources that you’re putting behind it,” Naylor said.

Naylor felt the proposal was being offered to provinces by “late this week," but might not be offered to all provinces with CFL teams at the same time.

“You give it to one government and they sign off on it then you feel confident you’re going to the next province or if you give it to one provincial government and they say 'hey, we have an issue with this, if you address it by the time you get to the others you’ve already addressed what may be a red flag,'” Naylor said.

With case numbers slowly trending downward, the league's return to play plan might appear less dangerous than when the NHL began its season in January. COVID-19 numbers were soaring in Canada and the vaccine rollout had only just begun.

The protocol will focus primarily on COVID-19 testing and stopping the spread of the virus.

“It’s really just laying out how much testing, when does the testing happen and what’s the protocol for players that test positive," Naylor said. "Also how are players going to interact and train and practice in hopefully a preventative protocol that would avoid any spread of the disease if somebody was carrying it."

While government approval is a major part of the return to play process for the league, Naylor said getting fans in the stands also provides another road block.

“Before you can even get into a conversation about how many fans you’re going to be able to put into stands, you have to get approval just to be able to play the games and hold team activity,” Naylor said. “I think the fans in the stands issue can be largely dependent on how much virus there is.”

Naylor revealed in one Canadian province, a committee was formed to discuss fans in the stands with provincial authorities in 2020. However, discussions quickly came to a halt with the second wave hit.

“That was essentially put on hold with the idea being that the conversation would be resumed once it came around to the end of winter, cases came down, vaccine rollout and the governments might be more willing to engage in that topic,” Naylor said.

The CFL’s regular season is scheduled to begin Jun. 10, however, there are still restrictions in place that would make it difficult to begin on the anticipated start date.

The United States-Canada border is still closed and many CFL teams laid off staff that will need to be re-hired to prepare for the season.

“Still got a lot of the population that isn’t going to be vaccinated. Teams are going to need some lead up to this because, as we know, they’ve laid people off,” Naylor said.

The league averaged 23,000 fans per game in 2019 and gate revenue is the highest source of revenue for teams.

“I don’t think the league wants to begin the season without fans in stands, I think they might be willing to do so if it were only a few weeks,” Naylor said.

Based on numbers from the Saskatchewan Roughriders 2020 Annual General Meeting, the team made $17.1 million from gate receipts in 2019-20, which makes up approximately 43 per cent of their revenue.

It’s unclear at what the capacity of stadiums will be, but it’s not expected to return to 100 per cent this season.

“If you want games without fans in the stands, you’re basically asking owners to throw tons of money away that they’ll never get back,” Naylor said.