Ambrosie excited about CFL restart, knows it’s a long road

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This article was published 21/08/2021 (1514 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — Few would envy the last 20-plus months experienced by CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie, even if those trying times included a lucrative and steady paycheque.

As COVID-19 ravaged the world, including Canada from coast to coast, Ambrosie and the league’s board of governors racked their brains trying to come up with ways to field an entertaining product in a global pandemic — while also trying to remain financially viable. There were frustrating failures, including a fumbled effort to obtain money from the federal government, followed by a cancelled 2020 season.

There were also some successes. As time rolled on and breakthroughs with the coronavirus — none greater than the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines — opened up more opportunity, the CFL found its light at the end of the tunnel. Soon, there was a willingness to compromise with needing to return to the field and taking on what will surely be another hit to the bottom line in 2021. The league lost somewhere between $60 and $80 million in 2020, without ever playing a down.

But even as we reach Week 3 of a shortened 14-game regular season, Ambrosie isn’t exactly riding the emotional wave felt by many fans now that the country’s three-down game is back. Make no mistake, he’s certainly thrilled to have the CFL return to action, can get emotional when talking about what the players have had to endure the last nearly two years and is quick to dump praise on everyone who owns a part of the league’s comeback.

He just knows there’s a lot more work to be done to build a prosperous future, while also understanding just how vulnerable the present really is. COVID-19 is still a very real threat, and that threat isn’t going away anytime soon. Especially with a fourth wave already sweeping across the nation.

The CFL hasn’t been immune, either. The league has already seen positive cases sideline players, even though they’ve been handled relatively seamlessly — and no games have been affected.

“We’re all watching carefully if and when there are developments and, boy, you sure learn to breathe shallow in those moments,” Ambrosie said in an interview with the Free Press Friday.

“But I’m also so gratified by the people we’ve got in place to support us. Tell me if we’ve ever, in our league history, had two people, in Dr. Dhiren Naidu and Dr. Bob McCormack, our chief medical officers, better to have counselling us?”

Ambrosie said both Dr. Naidu and Dr. McCormack, both of whom have long and impressive resumes in the medical world, and also have close ties to the CFL, are not only interested in helping the league, they’re actively engaged in making sure it can wade through these uncharted waters. And it’s been through their dedicated support and sound medical advice that the league has taken action, including continuing to campaign for the public and league personnel, including players, to get vaccinated.

“The one thing that is indisputable is that vaccinated people — the data is absolute on this — they’re far, far, far safer than those that are unvaccinated,” Ambrosie said.

The commissioner pointed to Winnipeg as a prime example of the benefits in being fully vaccinated. He was in attendance at IG Field two weeks ago to watch the season-opener between the Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats and marvelled at how much fun the fully vaccinated fans were having mingling without a care throughout the stadium. Winnipeg is currently the only CFL province that requires fans to be fully vaccinated to attend games (MLSE, the owners of the Toronto Argonauts, will have full vaccination mandatory by mid-September).

Ambrosie wasn’t about to play politician when it came to commenting about other provinces that have more relaxed rules. He knows it’s not his place, even if he’s a steadfast champion of getting vaccinated and has received both his doses. And the fact Saskatchewan’s home opener led to a handful of positive cases.

But that doesn’t mean he’s completely without say.

Just look at what the CFL enacted when it comes to encouraging its players to get vaccinated. As it currently stands, the league’s policy states teams that don’t have a vaccination rate of 85 per cent risk the possibility of players forfeiting their pay in the event an outbreak leads to a cancelled game that can’t be rescheduled. None of the nine CFL teams have reached the required threshold, though a few teams are believed to be close and are just waiting the necessary two weeks after the second shot to become official.

The CFL has also drawn a line in the sand when it comes to freedoms for vaccinated and unvaccinated players. Those players that are vaccinated can socialize with family and friends outside the team bubble, which extends to games on the road, too. They can also return home for the bye week, including to the U.S.

The policy, which was implemented Aug. 3, is similar to the NFL, and is in place to protect the financial health of the league. It also sends a strong message that the CFL wants their players to buy in on getting vaccinated.

“There was starting to be mounting evidence that a fourth wave was coming. And then there was the delta variant leading to more cases, and now the trend is much different,” Ambrosie said. “We want to create an incentive that we’re all in this together. We all have, essentially, the same shared responsibility to do everything we can to get back on the field and stay on the field.”

Meanwhile, efforts are being made to ensure a road ahead. Talks with the XFL have stalled and there’s no reason to believe they’ll start up anytime soon, especially with the U.S.-based league not set to resume play until 2023.

So it’s back to preserving the Canadiana in the CFL, and discovering what revenue streams are available — including single-game betting — to boost the league’s business model. Ambrosie said that although there’s been plenty of work to get this season underway, they haven’t stopped focusing on the future. One he believes will be bright.

“Given the landscape of sports and fan engagement and the various ways people will consume sports, the world is just changing so fast and we have an opportunity to ride the wave and be part of the change in a positive way,” Ambrosie said. “We have to be open to new ideas and be, to some degree, willing to take some risks — but smart and good risks — that will take us to a better place.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton