CFL pinning hopes on COVID-19 vaccine Commissioner emerges from months of obscurity to all but guarantee 2021 season will happen By: Mike McIntyre Posted: 7:00 PM CST Monday, Nov. 16, 2020

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/11/2020 (1805 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It appears to be a case of vaccine or bust when it comes to the future of the CFL.

That was the big takeaway from Randy Ambrosie’s virtual “state of the league” address on Monday, in which the Winnipeg-born commissioner emerged from months of relative seclusion and obscurity to give fans an update on what he and his colleagues have been working on during a lost 2020 season.

Turns out, not a whole heck of a lot. Unless you count waiting and hoping and praying that scientists around the world can discover an effective way to protect the masses against COVID-19.

“The single best solution for the CFL is to be able to get our stadiums opened up, to get our players back on the field and to get our fans back in the stands. That is the single best thing that can happen to our league,” said Ambrosie. 

I’m not sure tying your ultimate survival to what happens in a petri dish is the best business plan, but that’s essentially what the gate-driven CFL has done. While pretty much every other pro sports league in North America has found a way to keep going — with or without fans or even in hubs and bubbles — Ambrosie and company opted to take a knee and go dark.

Oh sure, they originally went hat in hand to the federal government, hoping for a financial bailout. But when told by Ottawa to take a hike, there was no apparent Plan B other than waiting for the pandemic to pass. Now, months later, it appears nothing has changed on that front. That doesn’t inspire confidence, especially with infection numbers surging in many CFL markets, including Winnipeg.

Fortunately for Ambrosie, this approach no longer appears to be the desperate Hail Mary it would have been a short time ago.

Only hours before he kicked off the CFL’s “Grey Cup Unite” event, the league got a much-needed shot in the arm when Moderna announced a vaccine that appears to be 94.5 per cent effective. That comes on the heels of last week’s claim from Pfizer of a similarly effective drug that could soon be ready for wide distribution.

A clearly confident Ambrosie made repeated reference to both developments in his half-hour hot stove session, in which he all but guaranteed a 2021 season would occur, spoke of a schedule being released soon and hyped up next year’s Grey Cup championship game in Hamilton.

“The single best solution for the CFL is to be able to get our stadiums opened up, to get our players back on the field and to get our fans back in the stands.”
– CFL commissioner, Randy Ambrosie

Which begs the queston: Just what the heck did he plan to say to the nation if not for these encouraging recent medical science developments?

“It’s hard to ignore that there is some good news happening,” said Ambrosie, who is no doubt thankful for the potential lifeline being thrown his way. 

Whether it can happen in time for next summer remains to be seen, but anyone hoping to hear about alternatives if a COVID-19 “cure” isn’t ready would have come away disappointed by Monday’s session. Ambrosie gave very little in the way of details, throwing out vague references to modelling several scenarios and what he called a comprehensive “business reset” that he claims will mark “the beginning of a renaissance in this league.” 

It was around this time I glanced at the little counter at the top of the screen, indicating how many people were tuning in to the live broadcast on the CFL’s home page, and noted it said there were a whopping 386 viewers. I suspect many of them were media. 

Which only underlines the massive uphill climb the CFL faces in not only trying to remain relevant, but winning back many fans who may have already moved on, or perhaps won’t have the means to invest in the product going forward.

I’m not sure tying your ultimate survival to what happens in a petri dish is the best business plan, but that’s essentially what the gate-driven CFL has done.

We got a sense of that through a few of the screened questions posed to Ambrosie by TSN’s Sara Orlesky, including one who asked if the league will give full refunds to those who want to pull their season tickets. My eyebrows raised at the fact that particular question made the cut — especially after Orlesky noted they received hundreds of submissions for Ambrosie and tried to focus on certain themes that emerged. 

Like almost everything, Ambrosie didn’t have a lot of answers short of saying to “talk to your ticket rep… I’m sure they can work something out with you.”

There were questions about border restrictions, enhanced screening and safety at stadiums, other funding models that didn’t involve government bailouts and a new collective bargaining agreement with players, which gives you a sense of the many obstacles still standing in the way. 

Here’s the thing: While a vaccine will make our world a safer place, there’s no guarantee it’s going to cure everything that ails the CFL. This was a league with plenty of warts pre-COVID-19, and those may become even more magnified in the future. 

Which is why Ambrosie’s talk of expanding the league’s footprint outside of Canada, with an enhanced global strategy aimed at putting the CFL on an international map, seems like a silly distraction at this point. How about we focus on taking care of our own backyard first, including putting the sport back on the map in major trouble spots such as Toronto and Vancouver?

While a vaccine will make our world a safer place, there’s no guarantee it’s going to cure everything that ails the CFL.

I’ll give the league credit for the Grey Cup Unite concept, which will include more than 30 virtual league and team events this week, which should have been the crown jewel on the 2020 schedule with the two best teams squaring off Sunday in Regina. They have to do something to remain relevant, and this undertaking is a solid step in that direction. 

But the real test is still to come, despite Ambrosie repeatedly pushing an “all is well” narrative. Truth is, we don’t really know how much damage has been caused to the CFL, both short-term and long-term.

“We’re not going to let 2020 knock us down. We did get knocked down. But like great football players, we’re going to get right back up, get back into the huddle and look forward to the next play. There’s lots of reasons to feel optimistic for 2021,” Ambrosie insisted. 

“We can start to see a light at the end of this tunnel.”

Perhaps, but it’s worth remembering that sometimes that light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train. And the CFL has plenty of work ahead to get back on track, even with the dream of a vaccine getting closer to becoming a reality. 

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg