The COVID-19 pandemic has taken aim at every aspect of our way of living. Now the impacts are really hitting home for sports fans, players and owners alike as the CFL seeks a bailout from the federal government to stay afloat during and post-pandemic.
The CFL has been apart of the Canadian way of life for over a century. For many, when hockey is not on, at least the CFL season will be around to keep the live sports itch at bay.
In many of the markets, especially in Saskatchewan, football is not just a game. It’s part of the way people live and the Roughriders are an extension of those who view and love the game.
Imagining a time when Roughrider nation can’t pack Mosaic Stadium is something that, even as a Calgary-born transplant, no one wants to witness.
Sports in our daily lives is worth so much more than killing a few hours a few times a week. Seeing a league that is so much a part of the fabric of this nation struggling the way it is, is tragic. It further shows that no one is safe from the hardships the pandemic has brought.
Personally, when the sports leagues started to shut down, that is when I really took in the severity of the situation we are facing.
These organizations are dependent on packed stadiums, merchandise and advertising among many other factors to stay afloat during any given season. For all of them to pack it in and kiss goodbye any sort of flowing income, meant we are really in for a rude awakening of what is to come. And were we ever.
The commissioner of the CFL, Randy Ambrosie, recently asked the federal government for up to $150 million in assistance and added he believes the 2020 season will be cancelled during a questioning from a House of Commons committee on May 7.
Ambrosie told the committee the best-case scenario for the 2020 season is a drastically truncated schedule. He added the most likely scenario is no season at all.
Amrbosie also said the league is currently reliant on money from fans, broadcasters and sponsors who pay in advance for games. He said if the season is cancelled, the financial crisis for the CFL will become “very real and very big.”
I don’t even want to really consider a Canada without the CFL. I grew up in a household with a 1992 Grey Cup champion who will remain nameless, due to the fact he sported a certain red jersey, and this is Rider country.
Some of my greatest memories to date were watching his old games, scouting new talent and everything else related to the game.
What makes the league so great, is the style is so completely unique to our country. Gritty, tough, fast and intense, just the way we like it. It’s not the NFL, but it’s ours and that is all that matters.
To think that if this goes south, there could be a generation who would only hear stories of the great Stampeders and Roughriders rivalry, or any of the great legendary CFL storylines is heartbreaking. To lose something that is completely unique to Canada is something that should be prevented at all costs.
There have been reports that the CFL is looking to use hub cities as some sort of saving grace to the 2020 season. The idea is to have a city in the east and one in the west where all teams play, minus the fans so the season could continue.
Whether or not there is an agreement to save the 2020 season the money being hemorrhaged from these teams in some cases you would have to think would be difficult to recover from.
At this point, Saskatchewan not being able to host the Grey Cup is the least of our concerns. The big battle that is ahead is whether the league can remain viable until the pandemic passes and we can get back to a somewhat normal way of living.
We can only hope that something is done to not only save the upcoming season, but save the entire league as well.
