'Progress, not perfection': CFL commissioner makes State of the League address

Canadian Football League (CFL) Commissioner, Randy Ambrosie, held the annual State of the League media address on Friday morning followed by the Fan State of the League.

Ambrosie touched on a number of topics, which included the quality of the game, the relationship between the CFL and Canadian Football League Players Association (CFLPA), health and safety, business, marketing, and revenue.

QUALITY OF THE GAME

Ambrosie noted the rule and field changes played a big role this year, which is what he believes led to the increase of scoring this season.

“We want to have the funnest, fastest, most entertaining brand of football in the world and that’s what we attempted to do,” he said.

“Scoring was up 17 per cent, touchdown drives up 25 per cent, two-and-outs were down 12 per cent, lead changes are up 17 per cent and there’s nothing like a game that’s going back and forth, and penalties were down 4 per cent,” said Ambrosie.

Ambrosie noted that the watch ability index takes into account factors that determine how impressive and ‘watchable’ a game is and this year the index was up 6.2 per cent compared to last season.

CFL AND CFLPA RELATIONSHIP

“I think that (our relationship) was a big development this year, as you know we had a big intense negotiation with the players this spring, but a positive outcome,” said Ambrosie.

The league came to a halt during training camp when the players and CFL failed to come to a new bargaining agreement in time.

However, within a week they came to terms with a new seven year deal, which included a ratification bonus worth approximately $1.25 million, up from the $1 million the league offered originally.

“This seven year deal is transformational because its going to allow us to actually work together, we’re learning to think about each other. It’s not like the flip of a switch and it’s going to be perfect but what I can say is that we’re working hard,” said Ambrosie. “What we hear from fans is that they wanted more roster stability and we will now provide more incentives for that.”

HEALTH AND SAFETY

“Injuries were down 16 per cent this year, and that’s a very positive development and I’m happy to report that padded practices didn’t have a negative effect,” said Ambrosie.

The CFL has two Chief Medical Officers that sit in the stands during games looking out for players.

“I’m happy to report we had zero repeat concussions, and that’s very important, I think that’s a testament our medical staff is working hard,” said Ambrosie. “One of the real features of our league is that we’ve got our injury spotter and this year we had four times where the injury spotter called for a player to be removed from a game. I think that puts the CFL, you know, at the front and we should be very proud of that.”

“There is a whole new approach to mental health. We’ve installed a mental health screening process that happens immediately after training camp and each team has a mental health consultant,” he added.

BUSINESS, MARKETING, AND REVENUE

Last year, the CFL announced their partnership with Genius Sports, a global leader in sports, technology, and marketing.

“In those early days, you know, it was very exciting. We’re going to have to get to know each other as business partners, and it’s been very positive. Our number of online page views isn’t five per cent this year. We launched five free to play games and that’s significant because that’s part of our marketing fan strategy,” said Ambrosie.

“It’s a new development but unless you build a firm (technology) foundation, it’s going to be impossible for us to achieve our goals.”

“We’re talking about progress, not perfection (when it comes to growing our CFL markets). There’s a new energy (in BC) and we’re really feeling that momentum build. Group ticket sales were up 60 per cent this year, new season ticket sales up 73 per cent, single game tickets up 120 per cent,” he said.

OTHER TOPICS

The commissioner was asked about the timing of the CFL season and whether there was an option to move the season up by a few weeks.

Ambrosie noted the Atlantic Schooners, the next expected CFL expansion team to join the league, will help move the season as it will even the number of teams to ten, which would eliminate a team having to have a bye week.

He noted it would shorten the regular season from 21 weeks to 19. However, Ambrosie did not give a definitive timeline on when the Schooners are expected the join the league.

Another topic discussed was moving the playoff games and Grey Cup to Saturday instead of Sunday due to the competition with the National Football League (NFL) for ratings and viewers.

Ambrosie noted next season the West/East Semi-final and final will move to Saturday, but the Grey Cup will remain on Sunday. He noted one reason for keeping it on Sunday was that the host cities rely on the extra day of revenue during the week of Grey Cup festivities.

However, a negative that was touched on was the ability to grow the game with player recruitment and finding quality players who are willing to come to the CFL.

TSN Insider Dave Naylor said something the league can’t do a whole lot about is player recruitment.

“The question we have now is, are we going to have any future Bo Levi Mitchells’ and Zach Collaros’? Are they going to be diverted (to the XFL or USFL),” Naylor said. “I always say the CFL is a glass half full kind of league, given what we’ve gone through with the pandemic, there was serious conversations about whether the league would survive, and I think overall the league has to be happy with the way it’s come out of the pandemic.”

Regarding Ambrosie’s address, Naylor said overall the biggest concentration of the league is looking at how to improve the product.

“I think you look at the progress they made particularly in Vancouver and they marked improvements in Toronto and Montreal,” he said. “However, there is recognition there’s still a long way to go on their fronts. I think the positive was that the league bounced back.”