CFL/CFLPA Negotiating, and what could happen. (CFL)

Negotiations between the Canadian Football League and the CFL Player's Association began yesterday, with the two sides having until mid-May to come to an agreement. CFL Training camps start on May 15th, so it is imperative that a deal gets done before it interferes with the upcoming season. While there hasn't been a work stoppage in the CFL since 1974, this latest negotiation could run into some issues.

Ambrosie. Still a pretty green commissioner, Randy Ambrosie is a former player who should know the plight of the players better than anyone. Unfortunately, he's being saying and doing things that most of his predecessors wouldn't have, and seems more content to ram through his new agendas more than anything. Ambrosie has a chance to become more of a player-focused commissioner than anyone before him, but I'm not sure he wants to.

International aspirations. Past commissioners (Orridge, Cohon) preferred to grow the league at home (here in Canada) and try to build on the success therein. Cohon was extremely successful in this regard, initiating 'This Is Our League", and helping to revive talk in a Halifax franchise. Numbers and ticket sales surged, and the league did better as a whole. Ambrosie seems to want to take the CFL in an international direction, making deals with foreign football leagues, and wanting to let players from said leagues transfer seamlessly to the CFL. This worries me, as this may force out more and more home-grown Canadian players in favour of internationals. This alone could cause the CFLPA to grow weary and start making demands.

Out of market. In addition to international players, Ambrosie wants to have a game or two played in Mexico. The problem with this idea is simple: This is NOT the National Football League. NFL teams rake in hundreds of millions of dollars (some in the billions), and can afford to lose a home game. CFL teams in contrast, make maybe a million dollars (or less) a season, and need the revenue from a home game to survive. Trying to gain a fanbase while making another suffer is not the way to conduct league business. Ambrosie should know better.

I have high hopes that a deal will get done before training camps open, but I'm not holding my breath. This is going to get interesting far too quickly, and for the wrong reasons.