AMBROSIE PLEADS FOR GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

Federal politicians gave CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie a rough ride Thursday during his testimony before a House of Commons standing committee on finance.

Ambrosie spoke via video during a panel on arts, culture, sports and charitable organizations. His appearance came after news broke last week the CFL had requested up to $150 million in financial assistance from the federal government due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

During his testimony, Ambrosie said the league’s future is “very much in jeopardy,” adding CFL teams collectively lost about $20 million last year. He admitted for the first time the most likely scenario for the CFL is a cancelled 2020 season.

“Ours is a big brand but not a wealthy business,” Ambrosie said. “Unlike large US-based leagues, our biggest source of revenue is not TV – it’s ticket sales.

“Governments coping with COVID 19 – for reasons of public health that we totally support – have made it impossible for us to do what we do. Our best-case scenario for this year is a drastically truncated season. And our most likely scenario is no season at all.”

Following Ambrosie’s presentation, MPs Kevin Waugh (Conservative, Saskatoon), Peter Julian (NDP, New Westminster-Burnaby) and Peter Fragiskatos (Liberal, London North Centre) all took turns taking the CFL commissioner to task. At times, Ambrosie appeared on the defensive.

“Some of your comments have a lot of holes in them,” said Waugh, a former sports journalist who asked if the CFL was looking for a bailout or loan.

“What we’re looking for is a partnership with government,” Ambrosie said. “Our fundamental position is that we are looking for financial support that we want to pay back to Canadians.

“If it’s in the form of a loan, perhaps we pay some of that loan back through programs . . . we’re really looking for a business relationship that would be good for Canadians in the long run.”

Waugh also pointed out the CFL’s three community-based franchises – Edmonton Eskimos, Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers – all turned seven-figure profits in 2018. He added the league’s six remaining franchises are privately owned by people or corporations with deep pockets.

“The fact is that in the face of essentially a zero revenue model, all of our teams, including our community teams, are going to suffer significant losses that are going to be hard to recover from,” Ambrosie said. “The real issue is this crisis is essentially going to quadruple or more the financial losses that our teams will take in a season that could potentially be lost altogether.”

Julian wondered why Ambrosie’s presentation didn’t include any presence by the CFL Players’ Association.

“Those are the world-class athletes, as you’ve said, that actually are the heart and soul of the CFL,” Julian said. “What would they be saying if they were before the committee?

“And how much of the financial support you’re requesting would be going directly to the players of the CFL?”

The CFL and its players have resumed meeting about potential contingency plans for the ’20 season after talks broke off for roughly two weeks. Ambrosie said Thursday the two sides are scheduled to gather Friday.

“As for how much will go to players, we have to work that out,” Ambrosie said. “We know, for example, our players and alumni could be a potential solution in the healing of Canada.

“Our approach was that we simply wanted government to know we need help. The details of how it all comes together are yet to be decided and that has to be with our players and that has to be done with government as partners.”

Julian remained undeterred.

“Thank-you for your answer,” he said. “But the reality is, as we know, it’s the CFL players that are the heart of CFL football and I think it’s important we hear from them as quickly as possible.”

Julian also questioned Ambrosie about some of the corporations and individuals involved in CFL ownership. He added at a time when many Canadians are struggling, why isn’t the league’s wealthier ownership, “stepping up to provide support for the CFL?”

“All of those groups and people you mentioned have been stepping up,” Ambrosie said. “The question really for us is how many losses can these owners take when they’ve been losing approximately in total $20 million a year?

“And there is now, of course, a dramatically accelerated level of losses that will come with a truncated season or a lost season altogether.”

Fragiskatos asked Ambrosie why the CFL had approached government and not banks for financial assistance.

“I think the answer lies in the fact that as a league last year we lost approximately $20 million,” Ambrosie said. “First of all some of our teams are community teams that, by virtue of their structure, can’t take on traditional commercial credit.”

Fragiskatos countered, “If banks won’t support the CFL, why should the federal government support the CFL?”

“It’s not a question of whether banks would support us,” Ambrosie said. “The issue is you’re now taking a $20-million loss and you’re almost certainly making that loss bigger in future years.

“Our challenge is . . . we’re going to see our losses grow as a result of not being able to play games. And if you add traditional consumer debt to our financial statements, all you’re going to do is bloat our losses, not make our losses reduced.”

The CFL has already cancelled the start of training camps – which were scheduled to open this month – and pushed back the opening of its regular season to early July, at the earliest. Ambrosie acknowledged more cancellations of games could be looming.

“We are currently operating on the money (of) our fans, and to a lesser extent our broadcasters and sponsors, pay us in advance for games,” Ambrosie said. “The day is fast approaching when we will have to cancel several games and perhaps the season.

“And then our fans and partners will have every right to demand their money back. At that moment, our financial crisis will become very real and very big.

“A ban on large gatherings means no revenue, no business, for us. We want to ensure it also does not mean no CFL, for the future.”

Ambrosie made it clear these are desperate times for the CFL.

“I don’t mind telling you, this is humbling but the fact is we need your support,” he said. “So we can be there for all the community groups that depend on us.

“Whenever it comes, we want our next Grey Cup – Canada’s 108th – to be the place where we can all celebrate that we did get through this. And that Canada is back.”

(Canadian Press)

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Norbert
Norbert
4 years ago

See ya in the Hammer 2021. It’s going to be awesome!

SeeSeeRider
SeeSeeRider
4 years ago

How does the taxpayer feel in Regina, Winnipeg, Ottawa & Hamilton which have all built new stadiums in the past half dozen years? In Toronto the MLS team probably would be celebrating but it may be hard to fill the stadiums on a regular basis in the other places. And they haven’t been paid for. Something that the government should be looking at. Going forward, should the CFL survive & I think it will, there better be funds set aside for these kinds of contingencies & both owners & players better be on board even if this means reduced salaries.… Read more »

Mike Stackhouse
Mike Stackhouse
4 years ago

Unfortunately, many people have yet to allow reality to sink in. This league is in real peril and there will be other sports teams to follow if not entire leagues. Canada, outside Quebec, had about 55 people die from this virus today. We had more recoveries today than actual cases. There are about 3000 people nationwide (38 million total that live in this country) in the hospital as a result of this virus. The health experts can tell you one thing, but the evidence is overwhelming. This is not a serious virus and if you are not an elderly, vulnerable… Read more »

Anonymous
Anonymous
4 years ago

Theres a traditional belief here in Saskatchewan that Covid19 is on a precipice of a harsher second wave. The warning signs are there in all the movements that surround us. It’s in the air, it’s on the grass, you just can’t see it. Be aware, be safe, respect.

Mike Stackhouse
Mike Stackhouse
4 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

I don’t care how many waves there are…..it’s not deadly to healthy people and especially not young healthy people.

SeeSeeRider
SeeSeeRider
4 years ago

WOW. So we could have 2 waves or 4 waves or 16 waves but the carnage is irrelevant as long as the young & healthy don’t die. WOW. Surprise, the young & healthy aren’t immune & yes they are dying. Low death rate, but still there. But were it true, it doesn’t mean they won’t die from COVID 19. Check some legitimate sources, Mike. Maybe even check in with Georges Laraque & see what he has to say.

Jerry
Jerry
4 years ago

Mike, – it’s a moot point and a dead horse. I agree with you 100%. You get maybe 3 or 4 people commenting and nobody is listening. As a test put down “BlACK” – that SeeSeeRider guy will write “WHITE” – it’s just how they are. Always remember never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience. The evidence and the facts show you are correct. There is the idea of taking precaution and when the NBA shut down you have a lot of people going what huh? Then the group… Read more »

SeeSeeRider
SeeSeeRider
4 years ago
Reply to  Jerry

Well you brought up Occam’s razor, an idea mentioned in Einstein’s greatest work but year’s later reformulated by him as”It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple & as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience”. In other words make things as simple as possible but not simpler. You want to boil it down to a conspiracy. OK then. I give you Hanlon’s Razor. “Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by neglect”. Greed, lack… Read more »

Jerry
Jerry
4 years ago

Over 270,000 people have died worldwide from Covid despite social distancing measures. You think this isn’t serious? What do you think those numbers would look like if we hadn’t taken such extreme measures?

This is a really poor take and quite frankly offensive.

SeeSeeRider
SeeSeeRider
4 years ago
Reply to  Jerry

Kudos Jerry.

SeeSeeRider
SeeSeeRider
4 years ago

I can’t believe, Mike, that you actually said it’s not a serious virus when we are at 4MM cases & over a quarter million dead. When you look at 3,000 in hospitals it looks small compared to the total population. So if we had, say, 300,000 in the hospital, would that be statistically significant? Less than 1%. There are 217,000+ cases in Italy, a country of 60MM & the health system is overwhelmed. I suspect we’d have a problem. We don’t have a majority of the population of Canada living in communes. The government doesn’t want large groups because the… Read more »

stephen powell
stephen powell
4 years ago

This is seriously delusional and a bigger threat to the CFL resuming. As a percentage of total cases in Canada, the largest demographic is 50 -59 year olds at 16.46%. Over 80 is 15.9%. Under 30 is north of 17%. Let that reality set in. And trust me, ask Georges Laraque, you really really really don’t want to catch this virus. Distance. Wash your hands. Stay well.

* Stats provided by Statista, as of May 7, 2020. (https://www.statista.com/statistics/1107149/covid19-cases-age-distribution-canada/)

wct
wct
4 years ago

He received the reception he deserved. Some of the handouts are ridiculous enough without including the absurdity of the CFL. And I’m a long time season ticket holder.

Roy
Roy
4 years ago

CFL and its commissioner eviscerated in their ask.

Noopsie
Noopsie
4 years ago

Let’s have a all in comprehensive in depth no hold barred CFL audit of all franchises top to bottom, this includes the water boy.