CFL/XFL Exploring Alignment

[SpeedFlex27]

4 hours ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

Who’s stopping you? You have gone on about the merger rumours as much of not not than anyone here. Take a break from this thread and jump to the other ones. 

And what exactly will I talk about? Ambrosie is ghosting us again. Have you heard anything about training camp from the Bombers? Here in Calgary, the Stamps are absolutely dead quiet. There's nothing to indicate anything will happen next month. Training camp is supposed to start in mid May. What do we hear from the CFL? Crickets. Tell you what, Norman Einstein, why don't you start? And one more thing, if you want to be a moderator maybe apply when there's an opening. Until then, please don't tell me what I can or can't say on any threads. 

Edited April 3, 2021 by SpeedFlex27

[SpeedFlex27]

2 hours ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

Training camps open in early May. Pre-season starts May 23. Regular season starts June 10. That information has been out since December. 
 

Of course I know that is not what you mean, but that is the information and as of now it is current. League has been up front about it being dictated by health regulations and subject to change, but so far they have not changed that target, despite the rumour mongering from the media and the impatience on the message boards. So just accept those dates as gospel for now, and if/when Health Canada declares the red alert lockdowns extending into June you, I, Randy Ambrosie, and everyone else will find out together. My season tickets have been renewed as of March 15 by the club (at least they took the money off my credit card) so I am sure they won’t forget to tell me if there is an alteration. 

In other words, you have no idea like the rest of us. But accept it as gospel. 

[TrueBlue4ever]

20 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

And what exactly will I talk about? Ambrosie is ghosting us again. Training camp is supposed to start in mid May. What do we hear from the CFL? Crickets. Tell you what, Norman Einstein, why don't you start?

I post on many topics - US Politics, NHL hockey most prominently right now as those are active events and not months away. But let’s discuss who the Bombers should target with their first draft choice, who will fill the void in the receiving corps? Biggest loss in the off-season, player or coach? Biggest gain? Who is ready to step up into a bigger role? What vet may not survive the cut or will regress? A whole boatload of topics for you to debate. Have at it. 

14 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

In other words, you have no idea like the rest of us. But accept it as gospel. 

Why not? It’s not like there is another option. Pandemic has kind of put the world in a fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants mode, and I do not feel so self-important and entitled that I DEMAND to know what the unforeseen future will guarantee  me, and how dare they change plans and not keep those impossible to make promises they have little control over. 

[SpeedFlex27]

17 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

I post on many topics - US Politics, NHL hockey most prominently right now as those are active events and not months away. But let’s discuss who the Bombers should target with their first draft choice, who will fill the void in the receiving corps? Biggest loss in the off-season, player or coach? Biggest gain? Who is ready to step up into a bigger role? What vet may not survive the cut or will regress? A whole boatload of topics for you to debate. Have at it. 

Why not? It’s not like there is another option. Pandemic has kind of put the world in a fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants mode, and I do not feel so self-important and entitled that I DEMAND to know what the unforeseen future will guarantee  me, and how dare they change plans and not keep those impossible to make promises they have little control over. 

Quit lecturin' me & others here as it's very annoying. You stick to your opinions & others can have theirs. I don't see me or anyone else calling you out so show the same courtesy to everybody here. 

Edited April 3, 2021 by SpeedFlex27

[SpeedFlex27]

22 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

I post on many topics - US Politics, NHL hockey most prominently right now as those are active events and not months away. But let’s discuss who the Bombers should target with their first draft choice, who will fill the void in the receiving corps? Biggest loss in the off-season, player or coach? Biggest gain? Who is ready to step up into a bigger role? What vet may not survive the cut or will regress? A whole boatload of topics for you to debate. Have at it. 

Why not? It’s not like there is another option. Pandemic has kind of put the world in a fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants mode, and I do not feel so self-important and entitled that I DEMAND to know what the unforeseen future will guarantee  me, and how dare they change plans and not keep those impossible to make promises they have little control over. 

Just one other thing. I've really tried to not be so snarky over here. I try not to argue anymore as I'm tired of confrontations. I'd rather try to get along than argue or fight over some stupid topic. So, this will be the last thing I say on this. I am tired of being accused of being angry & picking fights. I'm sincerely trying to get along & really just have a truthful conversation with people. You don't have to agree with me but at least respect what I have to say, even if you don't like it. I won't comment anymore about this. 

[JCon]

Your daily reminder that TSN has a financial interest in pumping a CFL-XFL merger. 

 

[Brandon]

It's a good article and makes sense to me.

I don't see any issue with it being a smaller league / small potatoes rather then trying to expand and becoming a big league.   I don't see TSN really caring either way. 

[Noeller]

I don't buy that "a significant number of people want 4 down football"....bullshit. A significant number of people want the NFL. There's a difference there. It's not like they want the NFL because it's 4 downs...they want it because of the hype. People who only watch NFL aren't suddenly going to start watching the CFL because it's 4 downs. I refuse to believe that.

[Bigblue204]

33 minutes ago, Brandon said:

It's a good article and makes sense to me.

I don't see any issue with it being a smaller league / small potatoes rather then trying to expand and becoming a big league.   I don't see TSN really caring either way. 

I'm not sure I'd call it "good". It's typical 3rdown put something out for the sake of putting something out. Someone notify me when there's actual news about this situation cause as of right now Naylor/TSN/3rdown etc is just putting out the same story via different words/headlines. 

3 minutes ago, Noeller said:

I don't buy that "a significant number of people want 4 down football"....bullshit. A significant number of people want the NFL. There's a difference there. It's not like they want the NFL because it's 4 downs...they want it because of the hype. People who only watch NFL aren't suddenly going to start watching the CFL because it's 4 downs. I refuse to believe that.

It actually addresses that in the article. Saying it seems to be the hype of NFL that is drawing people and not the style of football....claiming the increase in NFL viewership in Canada doesn't correlate with an equal increase in american college ball.

But yeah. "A significant number of people want 3 down football" is equally as true.

Edited April 9, 2021 by Bigblue204

[SpeedFlex27]

With this Third Wave powered by variants along with government restrictions & closures the training camps across the league won't be opening in mid May. So, call a news conference, make the official announcement that the season is delayed, set another target date say mid July & be done with it. How hard is that? C'mon Ambrosie get off your ******* ass you useless POS & talk to us!!! 

Edited April 9, 2021 by SpeedFlex27

[Noeller]

As bad as things look right now, I still feel really confident in a season starting around Canada Day. Whether that's the actual regular season starting then or just TC, I think we'll see players in camp and ready to go by mid summer. As fast as the cases are rising right now, they're going to drop equally fast once the vaccines take hold..

[SpeedFlex27]

1 hour ago, Bigblue204 said:

I'm not sure I'd call it "good". It's typical 3rdown put something out for the sake of putting something out. Someone notify me when there's actual news about this situation cause as of right now Naylor/TSN/3rdown etc is just putting out the same story via different words/headlines. 

It actually addresses that in the article. Saying it seems to be the hype of NFL that is drawing people and not the style of football....claiming the increase in NFL viewership in Canada doesn't correlate with an equal increase in american college ball.

But yeah. "A significant number of people want 3 down football" is equally as true.

Older demographics, I bet. The older we get, the less relevant we become to advertisers & businesses. An opinion of a 30 year old would mean more than someone like myself in their 60's. 

20 minutes ago, Noeller said:

As bad as things look right now, I still feel really confident in a season starting around Canada Day. Whether that's the actual regular season starting then or just TC, I think we'll see players in camp and ready to go by mid summer. As fast as the cases are rising right now, they're going to drop equally fast once the vaccines take hold..

Hope so. 

[66 Chevelle]

the reason why NFL fans don't care about the CFL is because they aren't aware of the CFL... true story... as a life long NFL fan I can tell you that I had completely forgotten that the CFL even existed... if it weren't for my favorite college player coming to Canada to play it still wouldn't have been on my radar... 

there is absolutely zero sports talk about the CFL in the states... sure, ESPN carries a hand full, maybe 4 games a year on the deuce, there is no media coverage here... if ESPN Sportscenter were to actually have coverage of the league during the season I believe you'd see a large spike in interest...

Maybe Ambrosie could pursue getting ESPN to actually include the CFL in there "world wide sports coverage"... just a thought...

[TrueBlue4ever]

17 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

With this Third Wave powered by variants along with government restrictions & closures the training camps across the league won't be opening in mid May. So, call a news conference, make the official announcement that the season is delayed, set another target date say mid July & be done with it. How hard is that? C'mon Ambrosie get off your ******* ass you useless POS & talk to us!!! 

I’ll just leave this here. 

[SpeedFlex27]

6 hours ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

I’ll just leave this here. 

You know, in 1978, Jim Jones poisoned 918 people including himself by spiking the punch bowl. There was the guy who drank last. He saw people dying around him before he took a swig but he drank it anyway. You're obviously that guy. 

 

[TrueBlue4ever]

14 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

You know, in 1978, Jim Jones poisoned 918 people including himself by spiking the punch bowl. There was the guy who drank last. He saw people dying around him before he took a swig but he drank it anyway. You're obviously that guy. 

 

 

Getting past the gif snipes, Ambrosie pulling the plug now just gives ammo to all those (yourself included if I recall correctly) who griped loudly last season when they postponed and then canceled the year that every other league was able to play (not exactly true, but why split hairs), so why couldn’t the CFL? Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. 

[17to85]

1 hour ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. 

No it's about the lack of leadership he has shown. 

[SpeedFlex27]

48 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

No it's about the lack of leadership he has shown. 

Yes, exactly. 

[TrueBlue4ever]

43 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

No it's about the lack of leadership he has shown. 

Ok, 3 questions for you to answer. 

1. What kind of power or leadership does Ambrosie have in this situation that he has neglected to use to fix this situation?

2. Name another CFL commissioner who was more vocal and showed better leadership in dealing with a major comparable problem like this. Specifics please, don’t just throw out “any of them” or pick a random name, identify a specific person, issue, and how they showed visible transparent leadership to the fans throughout the problem. 

3. Name a commissioner that ever had power over the owners or the Government  that could have altered the course of this season?

[Noeller]

I think the only thing Ambrosie could have done better is communicate. Even if you can't say anything because you're at the mercy of government regs, at least say that. It looks better than just saying nothing, which makes it look like you're hiding. 

[SpeedFlex27]

24 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

Ok, 3 questions for you to answer. 

1. What kind of power or leadership does Ambrosie have in this situation that he has neglected to use to fix this situation?

2. Name another CFL commissioner who was more vocal and showed better leadership in dealing with a major comparable problem like this. Specifics please, don’t just throw out “any of them” or pick a random name, identify a specific person, issue, and how they showed visible transparent leadership to the fans throughout the problem. 

3. Name a commissioner that ever had power over the owners or the Government  that could have altered the course of this season?

Yawn. Here we go...  I don't give a **** about other Commissioners & what they did or didn't do. I just care about the one we have now who is presiding over the death of the CFL under his watch. Someone who never gives a straight answer to any question. Who lacks transparency when dealing with fans & players. Who hides for months at a time letting us all twist in the wind wondering what the hell is going on. No, I won't mention other Commissioners because none of them were as bad as Scarf Boy is. And we've  had some real winners.  

 

 

[TrueBlue4ever]

Scapegoat Ambrosie all you want, but the pandemic is not his fault. The government locking things down is not his fault. A flawed business model that overly relies on filled stadiums just to break even was not created on his watch. Apathy in Toronto by a billion dollar corporation in MLSE who put pretty much zero dollars into marketing their club, the media in Toronto pushing the 4 down agenda, and owners who can’t agree with each other and who historically would rather fire a commish than let him lead were not his doing either. 
 

And the answers you want just aren’t available, plain and simple. The Government doesn’t know when things will open up again, but you continually hold Randy to a higher standard than anyone else. And if he came out every week with “ here is my update, we are still in a holding pattern until the pandemic situation becomes clearer” you be ticked off with that too. If he just pulled the plug on the season today you’d gripe about him quitting on the fans.  

Edited April 11, 2021 by TrueBlue4ever

[SpeedFlex27]

I'm tired of talking with you about the merits of Ambrosie. It just goes round & round  & has become a waste of time. I don't care if you love the guy or not.. I'll no longer respond to you about him. You're free to think he's the second coming of Jesus & can walk on water for all I care. 

Edited April 11, 2021 by SpeedFlex27

[TrueBlue4ever]

3 hours ago, Noeller said:

I think the only thing Ambrosie could have done better is communicate. Even if you can't say anything because you're at the mercy of government regs, at least say that. It looks better than just saying nothing, which makes it look like you're hiding. 

But he has said that. 

Jan. 22 letter to fans- 

Here at the CFL, we’re watching closely the pace of the virus, and the progress of the vaccination efforts. And they will ultimately affect our ability to get our great players back on the field and our wonderful fans back in the stands. We’re in constant communication with medical experts. We’re working to be ready when public health officials give us the green light.

But we are determined to play.

Feb . 18-

We’re going to play a full season. But we’re also going to have the ability to be flexible and that’s the other side of this. You have to be adaptable and flexible according to whatever circumstances come our way. We are still very hopeful that the vaccine rollout will accelerate. We hang on the announcements being made by government officials and health care officials. We are listening and watching and talking with great intensity to all levels of government to get their take on the status of the vaccine rollout because we do know that it’s going to play a major role in getting all of us back to a more normal existence.

Feb. 20-

Right now, June 10 we will kick-off, that’s our plan. We’re looking at every possible scenario that we can be flexible if necessary to make a season happen. 

Is it possible that there’s a few weeks of the season where we maybe don’t have fans? That’s a scenario that we’re talking about and then maybe after that governments will start to allow larger gatherings and we get 25-30 per cent of our stadiums filling up.

We’re talking about playing in our stadiums, we’re talking about playing in our stadiums with a smaller group of fans and then we’re hoping that as the season goes along, people are vaccinated and they are desperately wanting CFL football.

Mar. 13-

What we’re working on today is that we’re going to do everything we can to get back on the field. 

That is our focus. We want to play a 2021 season, want to get our players back on the field. We want to get our fans back in the stands. We’re obviously watching the vaccine rollout very carefully. We’re talking with public health officials about health and safety protocols.

There are only so many ways to say “we are set to go but are at the mercy of the health authorities and how the vaccines go and how the lockdowns evolve. Would an update every week that says “we are no more certain today than 7 days ago” be better? And remember that in the last week of January we had over 200 cases in a day, 2 weeks later it was down to 50, then over 100 a week later, and so on. From 50 cases a week ago to 179 a couple of days ago. This virus is so unpredictable, no guaranteed message that is given today will be sure to hold water next week.  So why make promises about 6 weeks in the future when so much can change between now and then. Announcing weekly that you are jumping from Plan A to B back to A to C and so forth when plan A is still over a month away is a waste of time and breath. 
 

And last thought, being blunt and saying “We have a plan and are good to go, but the Government has been dragging its heels on approving our return to play protocols” is not the way to get them onside. Part of the quiet is a political game. Ambrosie got  burned last year when his plea for Government bailout money went public. And when you are trying to court new business investors to increase your revenues, giving a doom and gloom approach to the fans for the sake of full transparency is not going to woo those businesses to invest in your brand. 

Edited April 11, 2021 by TrueBlue4ever

[TrueBlue4ever]

So I read a piece last week that talked about trying to get Drake to invest in the CFL as the Canadian version of The Rock with the same Twitter presence. Said his connection with MLSE made it viable. Strange article, but the one line that really stood out was “MLSE is very much pro-XFL merger and expansion into the US.” And today Bob Irving tweeted this:

Irving has been having a regular Twitter war with David Naylor, who is constantly writing about how this merger needs to happen to save the league, and comes across as pretty bullish on the idea (as does Farhan Lalji). Irving and Naylor snipe about the history of the league and the supposed reality of the modern-day economics of the CFL. All this to ask a few questions:

Does the Toronto media have an agenda in seeing this XFL merger happen? Is the the CFL catering to Toronto’s owners by exploring this, and should they be, especially given how little MLSE invests in promoting the Argos? Bottom line, can the CFL survive without Toronto and does any belief That they cannot influence their current actions?

Edited April 11, 2021 by TrueBlue4ever