2024/2025 Blue Bombers Off-Season Thread

[HardCoreBlue]

5 hours ago, bigg jay said:

Full comparison from 3DN:

Have to laugh at the football ops & management grades the Riders got.  They let the players get to do whatever the f**k they want and have for years now so it doesn't surprise me that they got good scores in that regard.

The low scores across the board sans Hamilton on nutrition and diet fascinate me being that these men are professional athletes. Is this a cost issue?

[17to85]

2 hours ago, HardCoreBlue said:

The low scores across the board sans Hamilton on nutrition and diet fascinate me being that these men are professional athletes. Is this a cost issue?

You try feeding 50, 60 people see if everyone agrees in what you choose to do

[Brandon]

8 hours ago, HardCoreBlue said:

The low scores across the board sans Hamilton on nutrition and diet fascinate me being that these men are professional athletes. Is this a cost issue?

I thought Wade bragged about feeding the guys good meals?   

[GCn20]

17 hours ago, Booch said:

I thought we were the creme dela creme and should have A's straight across the board...no?

This is the CFL, no one is going to get straight A's across the board. Half the league doesn't make a living wage.

12 hours ago, 17to85 said:

You try feeding 50, 60 people see if everyone agrees in what you choose to do

Especially when you have the diversity of caloric intake just within the room. The big guys eat a lot different from the skill guys.

6 hours ago, Brandon said:

I thought Wade bragged about feeding the guys good meals?   

The meals served are good. Gotta remember that when an OL or DL doesn't get half a cow on a plate, or a receiver doesn't get his kale and blueberry protein shake 6 times a day they hold it against the team.

[rebusrankin]

Isn't the minimum $70,000? That's a living wage.

[wbbfan]

1 hour ago, rebusrankin said:

Isn't the minimum $70,000? That's a living wage.

A lot of other factors though. Is 70k a livable wage in Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal? 
 How much does an American player take home in usd when earning 70 cad? 
 How many players are supporting their family back home and them self here, is 70k a living wage for two full sets of bills? 
 I hate the actual take home of the average player who starts half the season or less? 
 

I don’t have a lot of those answers, but I strongly suspect that the guys making less than 100k aren’t living an easy life. So having quality transpo and free grub is probably very important. 

[HardCoreBlue]

16 hours ago, 17to85 said:

You try feeding 50, 60 people see if everyone agrees in what you choose to do

Sure but just from an elite athlete perspective, from an Olineman to a scat back and everything in-between, there are some (but not all) consistencies in what science is telling them to put into their bodies to help with performance.

[rebusrankin]

42 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

A lot of other factors though. Is 70k a livable wage in Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal? 
 How much does an American player take home in usd when earning 70 cad? 
 How many players are supporting their family back home and them self here, is 70k a living wage for two full sets of bills? 
 I hate the actual take home of the average player who starts half the season or less? 
 

I don’t have a lot of those answers, but I strongly suspect that the guys making less than 100k aren’t living an easy life. So having quality transpo and free grub is probably very important. 

Fair points. Honestly it was just the blanket claim that half the players don't make a living wage that irked me. Lots of Canadians who work full time and make less who also get by.

[johnzo]

55 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

A lot of other factors though. Is 70k a livable wage in Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal? 
 How much does an American player take home in usd when earning 70 cad? 
 How many players are supporting their family back home and them self here, is 70k a living wage for two full sets of bills? 
 I hate the actual take home of the average player who starts half the season or less? 
 

I don’t have a lot of those answers, but I strongly suspect that the guys making less than 100k aren’t living an easy life. So having quality transpo and free grub is probably very important. 

do practice roster guys still make $500 / week? 

Were practice roster guys even surveyed by the PA?

[GCn20]

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

A lot of other factors though. Is 70k a livable wage in Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal? 
 How much does an American player take home in usd when earning 70 cad? 
 How many players are supporting their family back home and them self here, is 70k a living wage for two full sets of bills? 
 I hate the actual take home of the average player who starts half the season or less? 
 

I don’t have a lot of those answers, but I strongly suspect that the guys making less than 100k aren’t living an easy life. So having quality transpo and free grub is probably very important. 

Exactly right. Heck even a person making 70k as a CDN resident with a modest house and a modest vehicle is pay cheque to pay cheque these days. It's what 2k biweekly take home or something like that? For sure the meals and services provided by the club are very important. Also these guys are beating the crap out of their bodies for that. 

Edited December 18 by GCn20

[GCn20]

53 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Fair points. Honestly it was just the blanket claim that half the players don't make a living wage that irked me. Lots of Canadians who work full time and make less who also get by.

Why would it irk you? 70k is not a high salary in this day and age. If people get by on less, good for them but that doesn't make the point less valid. I guess it all depends on what you consider a living wage to be. Winnipeg and Saskatchewan the min salary may allow some breathing room, but places like Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Hamilton a 70k salary barely pays minimum expenses.  Over half the league plays on a minimum or close to minimum contract, and many guys only a partial min salary between regular game cheques and PR money. This is the economic reality of the CFL and has been for a long time.

[rebusrankin]

You know what, I don't think you're going to get it so I'm going to move on.

Edited December 18 by rebusrankin

[johnzo]

1 hour ago, johnzo said:

do practice roster guys still make $500 / week? 

Were practice roster guys even surveyed by the PA?

answering my own question.  Practice roster players make $750/week (before taxes) + housing allowance.  Housing allowance does not count against the salary cap.  As an annual wage that's $39K before taxes.

Canada computes the poverty line differently for different regions because cost of living differs between downtown Vancouver and rural Quebec.  It varies between $32K and $40K annually as of 2020.

So right away you've got 13 guys per team making wages that are right around the Canadian poverty line (without counting housing allowances, which I've got no insight into.)

 

[Sard]

49 minutes ago, johnzo said:

answering my own question.  Practice roster players make $750/week (before taxes) + housing allowance.  Housing allowance does not count against the salary cap.  As an annual wage that's $39K before taxes.

Canada computes the poverty line differently for different regions because cost of living differs between downtown Vancouver and rural Quebec.  It varies between $32K and $40K annually as of 2020.

So right away you've got 13 guys per team making wages that are right around the Canadian poverty line (without counting housing allowances, which I've got no insight into.)

 

Keeping in mind that it's for 6 months of work.

[bigg jay]

12 minutes ago, Sard said:

Keeping in mind that it's for 6 months of work.

Also that the PR is a minimum of $750 a week - clubs can pay them more if they choose but it all comes out of the cap just the same.

[johnzo]

44 minutes ago, Sard said:

Keeping in mind that it's for 6 months of work.

correct.  I made it an annual income in order to compare it with Canada's poverty line. 

The math doesn't change, though.  Think about it in terms of month expenses -- Canada's poverty line divided by 12 is $2700-$3300 a month, and the minimum-wage PR player is only making $3000 a month (plus housing expenses) before taxes so they're in the poverty neighborhood during the football season ... unless they get a good housing stipend, PR money over the minimum, or unless they can burn offseason savings during football season.

[wbbfan]

3 hours ago, johnzo said:

do practice roster guys still make $500 / week? 

Were practice roster guys even surveyed by the PA?

Good question, I presume every one was offered the chance since the turn out was soo high. 
 

1 hour ago, johnzo said:

answering my own question.  Practice roster players make $750/week (before taxes) + housing allowance.  Housing allowance does not count against the salary cap.  As an annual wage that's $39K before taxes.

Canada computes the poverty line differently for different regions because cost of living differs between downtown Vancouver and rural Quebec.  It varies between $32K and $40K annually as of 2020.

So right away you've got 13 guys per team making wages that are right around the Canadian poverty line (without counting housing allowances, which I've got no insight into.)

 

Great insight here. 
 How does it work for us guys, do they pay both sets of taxes or do they get part of the Canadian taxes back? 
 

1 hour ago, Sard said:

Keeping in mind that it's for 6 months of work.

some what true. Thing is, in modern sports you don’t have an off season any more. You can’t just be off fishing and drinking. Maintaining a high level football level of athleticism, and sharp skills is a full time job. Unless you’re Jake Thomas. Canadian linemen get to fish and drink all off season. 
 

51 minutes ago, bigg jay said:

Also that the PR is a minimum of $750 a week - clubs can pay them more if they choose but it all comes out of the cap just the same.

does the excess count against the cap? I’d be interested to see how often this happens. 
 

 

[GCn20]

2 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

You know what, I don't think you're going to get it so I'm going to move on.

I do get it. I just don't believe that one has to starve in order to be considered making less than a living wage. You and I have fundamental differences on what that term means I guess. Are the players attending soup kitchens..no...are they financially struggling at 70k a year...yep...many are.

Edited December 18 by GCn20

[bigg jay]

3 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

does the excess count against the cap? I’d be interested to see how often this happens. 

Yes, all PR salaries count against the cap.  I would guess it doesn't happen often because of the cap but you'd have to think a guy like Drew Richmond was making more than the minimum (why else would you sit on the PR for 3 years at that minimum rate?). 

[wbbfan]

27 minutes ago, bigg jay said:

Yes, all PR salaries count against the cap.  I would guess it doesn't happen often because of the cap but you'd have to think a guy like Drew Richmond was making more than the minimum (why else would you sit on the PR for 3 years at that minimum rate?). 

I imagine the blue chip guys and QBs get a full salary most of the time yeah. 
 

35 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

I do get it. I just don't believe that one has to starve in order to be considered making less than a living wage. You and I have fundamental differences on what that term means I guess. Are the players attending soup kitchens..no...are they financially struggling at 70k a year...yep...many are.

I knew some guys back in the afl who ate at soup kitchens every day and had pb sandwiches for dinner every night. 
 

Guys supporting a family back home may well have their family relying on food banks. With the cost of housing and food idk how people do it these days. When I was young and struggled hard 20 bucks went a long way. 

[johnzo]

3 hours ago, GCn20 said:

I do get it. I just don't believe that one has to starve in order to be considered making less than a living wage. You and I have fundamental differences on what that term means I guess. Are the players attending soup kitchens..no...are they financially struggling at 70k a year...yep...many are.

So much of this varies by situation that it's really tough to talk in general about a living wage (read the wikipedia page on Poverty in Canada for an overview about why poverty and income studies are so complicated)

A Blue Bomber who has no obligations beyond his monthly xbox live payment is gonna have a lot easier time living on C$70K than a guy who's supporting his spouse and two kids in Vancouver on that wage, or god forbid sending money back to the USA. The exchange rate is murder these days.

Edited December 19 by johnzo

[Mark H.]

1 hour ago, GCn20 said:

I do get it. I just don't believe that one has to starve in order to be considered making less than a living wage. You and I have fundamental differences on what that term means I guess. Are the players attending soup kitchens..no...are they financially struggling at 70k a year...yep...many are.

70K is pretty much what a lot of people take home...after deductions, income tax, etc. - for a full year of work.

70K for 6 months work, with meals and housing allowance provided...is not a bad deal

Working out shouldn't prevent anyone from having an off-season job

 

2 hours ago, wbbfan said:

some what true. Thing is, in modern sports you don’t have an off season any more. You can’t just be off fishing and drinking. Maintaining a high level football level of athleticism, and sharp skills is a full time job. Unless you’re Jake Thomas. Canadian linemen get to fish and drink all off season. 

I disagree.  I'd wager most of them have an off-season job.  

[Piggy 1]

30 minutes ago, Mark H. said:

70K is pretty much what a lot of people take home...after deductions, income tax, etc. - for a full year of work.

70K for 6 months work, with meals and housing allowance provided...is not a bad deal

Working out shouldn't prevent anyone from having an off-season job

 

I disagree.  I'd wager most of them have an off-season job.  

I'd take 70G and laugh all the way to the bank.....

[Goalie]

22 minutes ago, Piggy 1 said:

I'd take 70G and laugh all the way to the bank.....

No doubt. I’m not making that currently. Maybe with a big bonus but not quite. 70k is a solid wage here in Winnipeg in my opinion. Maybe not in Vancouver or Toronto tho. But my 400 000 dollar home goes for 1.5 million in Vancouver so. 

Edited December 18 by Goalie

[Noeller]

I've made a lot of bad decisions that are totally on me, but ya, if I could make 70k in Manitoba, I would move back tomorrow and laugh and laugh and laugh..... My life would be set.