CFL 2021

petros

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CFL unveils 2021 schedule, Ticats-Bombers to open season


The CFL released its 2021 schedule Friday, and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats will face the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the opening game of the regular season.

The 2019 Grey Cup rematch will take place Thursday, June 10. The preseason kicks off May 23 with the BC Lions traveling to face the Calgary Stampeders.


"We're looking forward to hosting our comeback season in our stadiums, in front of our fans," CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said in the announcement. "With this schedule, we're signaling that we're looking forward with optimism to playing in 2021."

The CFL nixed the 2020 season due to COVID-19 issues and a lack of funding from the Canadian government.

To limit cross-country travel, the 2021 schedule includes eight more divisional games than usual. As a result, not every team will visit every stadium at least once over the course of the season.

The Labor Day week - Week 13 - features five games:

The 2021 Grey Cup will be awarded Nov. 21, with Hamilton set to serve as the host city.
 
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bob the dog

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2020 shone a new light on the CFL for me. Grew up thinking they were pretty well a government institution only to realize now that they are nothing more than a private corporation that has long took advantage of enthusiastic fans of the game. To think a 100 yr old organization grossing over $200 M per year needs to ask for a $30 M loan to cover operations is just bad. Meanwhile a bunch of high priced CEO's and the like sit around getting paid while the players get thrown under the bus and left to fend for themselves once again. It's to the point that if a nickel of my money goes toward Randy Ambrosie's $750,000 salary then it is a nickel too much. I'll sit and watch from home.

Real deal would be to dump those clowns all together and start fresh with the players. It takes no genius to figure out how to sell football tickets in most Canadian cities. Anyone from the prairie provinces could do the commissioners job. Lets not get started on the Global initiative.

As for the schedule, lets start with dropping the exhibition games. They serve no purpose and burn up three weeks of good weather. In the old days exhibition was about getting in shape which no longer applies. Now it's just a money grab from the season ticket holders to pay top dollar and watch Usports players have their day in the spotlight. Most rosters are set before the season and they could start with a 50 man roster that needs to be reduced to 46 after two games. Every game counts for points.

CFL has been another dog of an organization over the years that has been fortunate to have the fan following they do. Time for some inner reflection imo.
 
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IdRatherBeSkiing

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The NFL ran with no exhibition games this year. They had a lot more injuries than normal as the players were not in 'game condition' in the first 4 weeks. Seems to have stabilized now the season has progressed.
 

bob the dog

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46 man roster gives lots of flexibility for newbies. Most rosters are set by free agency with only a couple of openings for training camp standouts.

There is still a training camp that should really tell everything there is to know. Players themselves complain that it is a 365 day a year job so the getting into shape doesn't really apply.

Sask has supported the league as well as anyone. CFL league office has always appreciated that.
 
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bob the dog

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We love football.
Not seeing what is so special about Craig Reynolds that any Rider season ticket holder (man or woman) couldn't do just as well. Just that he's the guy that gets to make $400,000 because that is the going rate. Would rather he pay for his ticket like the rest of us.

That job was formerly a volunteer position. Community owned, not for profit, and a self serving administration. Not one of them with a nickel of their own in the game.
 

petros

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It's not the 1920s when being an athlete wasnt a career and teams werent businesses. Management of a team, facilities and marketing the team as a brand is now a full time job. It's a stressful and demanding position that warrants proper remuneration in order to retain a person of quality in that position.
 
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Mowich

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46 man roster gives lots of flexibility for newbies. Most rosters are set by free agency with only a couple of openings for training camp standouts.

There is still a training camp that should really tell everything there is to know. Players themselves complain that it is a 365 day a year job so the getting into shape doesn't really apply.

Sask has supported the league as well as anyone. CFL league office has always appreciated that.
"Of these teams, the Roughriders are both the oldest still in existence that continuously has been based in Western Canada (as well as the oldest-surviving team in the CFL's present-day West Division) as well as the oldest in North America to continuously have been based west of St. Louis, Missouri. They are also the continent's oldest community-owned professional sports franchise, older than every American professional sports team outside baseball other than the aforementioned Cardinals (who, unlike the Roughriders, no longer play in their original city, and have moved twice in their history) and older than every Canadian sports team outside football except the Montreal Canadiens, who were founded about nine months prior to the Roughriders."


RIDERS RULE!
 

bob the dog

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It's not the 1920s when being an athlete wasnt a career and teams werent businesses. Management of a team, facilities and marketing the team as a brand is now a full time job. It's a stressful and demanding position that warrants proper remuneration in order to retain a person of quality in that position.
According to them.

I have followed the Bombers a little closer over the years. There is a reason attendance is down that has nothing to do with the players or the game itself. Community owned, not for profit, controlled by one person who makes up the job as he goes and answers to no one. Check out the Grey Cup rings that he spared no expense on paid for with tax dollars Coincidence it is a big W.

I love the game but hate the business.
 
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bob the dog

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"Of these teams, the Roughriders are both the oldest still in existence that continuously has been based in Western Canada (as well as the oldest-surviving team in the CFL's present-day West Division) as well as the oldest in North America to continuously have been based west of St. Louis, Missouri. They are also the continent's oldest community-owned professional sports franchise, older than every American professional sports team outside baseball other than the aforementioned Cardinals (who, unlike the Roughriders, no longer play in their original city, and have moved twice in their history) and older than every Canadian sports team outside football except the Montreal Canadiens, who were founded about nine months prior to the Roughriders."


RIDERS RULE!
Pretty interesting stuff. Must have been at least one other team around back in the day in order to have a game but point taken about the longevity of the franchise.

Not specific to the Riders but I'd say time to give that a rest as well with going back 100+ to Lord Grey and all. The modern era and game of the CFL started around 1960 which still makes it an old league. It was about the fans and the players. Now it is about the Presidents and the Commissioner and the rest. Players don't even have guaranteed contracts.
 

bob the dog

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More specific to the Riders;

Dave Ritchie once said that every first year starter will cost a game at some point.

I put Jeremy O'Day in that boat for costing Sask the western final by trading Collaros and going all in on Cody F. Rookie mistakes happen at all levels. What was he thinking? John Murphy got the last laugh on that one.
 

petros

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Teams aren't one person.

How can someone say they are part of a team when they fly in for games then fly home that night and stay for 4 days?
 
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bob the dog

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Arash Madani reporting collusion amongst owners to target the minimum base salary $4.75M vs the cap of $5.35M.

Bizarre to me how the CFL views player salaries as the problem with the CFL.

XFL will be a very going concern come 2022 imo.
 

bob the dog

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Not that I am down on the CFL league office but....

While the CFL did not secure a loan from Ottawa, it has been receiving government aid. Two sources familiar with the situation told The Canadian Press on Wednesday the league was to collect between $7 million and $9 million in wage subsidy from March to August. And if the program remains intact, that number could climb to as high as $12 million by year’s end.