CFL and CFLPA talk money. (CFL)

         The CFL and CFLPA held two days worth of talks on Monday and Tuesday, primarily talking about money. With 97% of the CFLPA and it's members in favour of a strike, the CFL must tread lightly during the current round of negotiations, but also can't fully cave in to the CFLPA as well. Players want an increased salary and more guaranteed benefits for when they retire, and are willing to disrupt the start of the season to achieve this goal.
         There is however, a large disparity between what the players association wants and what they can get, and this seems to be getting lost in the discussion. As I've mentioned before here on TTS, there is only so much money to go around within the league. The CFL does not bring in anything close to what the NFL does, and this includes advertising, endorsements, partnerships, merchandise, and other revenue tools at their disposal. It's become far too easy for any player's association from any league to want a bigger piece of the pie.
       
         Unfortunately, the league must play hardball. They can ill afford to lose any of the fan base over a squabble like this, and the players should already know this.
         These labour negotiations could have been done at the start of the year, but instead were parlayed until too close to the start of the season, the intention being to cripple the CFL, and force them to the table to accept whatever proposal the CFLPA will eventually make. Until two days ago, there hadn't been any talks between the two sides since April 9th, and this is due to egos on both sides of the table being unable to coexist.
         Randy Ambrosie needs to shoulder a lot of the blame as well, as he hasn't really done much to help the proceedings, nor put the minds of loyal fans at rest. He delayed negotiations until now because of "other priorities". What could be a bigger priority than making sure the CFL actually plays football this season? Is he trying to tell us that the F in CFL (it stands for FOOTBALL, case anyone forgot) doesn't actually mean anything because the league has 'better things to do'?
        His lack of leadership is fully on display in this matter, preferring to stay silent, and put global expansion and foreign interests ahead of the league and it's domestic problems. This serves no purpose, and is pretty much a big middle finger being waved at the fans themselves.

        As far as TTS is concerned, both the league and the player's association need to put aside their egos and get it done, FOR THE FANS. There really is no other option.