STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – I’LL GO THERE – This will be an incredibly unpopular opinion, but you know that anyway. The only financial assistance the CFL should be entitled to when it comes to help from the Federal government is the same assistance handed out to businesses and employees who have been adversely affected by the China-started coronavirus. Players should be allowed to go on CERB if the season is canceled or teams should be allowed to utilize the wage subsidy program that covers 75% of wages up to a certain amount. If teams are paying rent on their various stadiums, then utilize whatever comes about of that program as well. 

2 – ECONOMIC IMPACT – I have seen the arguments for economic impact the CFL has in a number of cities across the country, but nobody cared about economic impact from other businesses when we went into lockdown mode. Many have to figure out a way to survive on the programs in place and I’d say the CFL should be no different. If the lockdown ended today, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says 6% of all businesses in Canada are already destroyed and it’s too late. If the lockdown extends for another month, that figure could jump to be as high as 30%. So, I am sorry if you find my CFL stance to be a bit harsh. Nobody listened six weeks ago when I (and many others who understand business) said this lockdown wasn’t sustainable beyond two weeks and companies and lives would, ultimately, be destroyed.  

3 – TRUDEAU COOL ON NHL – On Sunday, Canada’s great leader threw some cold water on the idea of the National Hockey League using Toronto or Edmonton as one of its hub cities in the event of a return at some point down the road. Trudeau says, at minimum, players would have to go into quarantine for two more weeks since they are arriving from another country before being able to engage in limited practices in small groups. Of course, this is the same leader that warned Canadians we’d be in lockdown mode for ‘many more weeks’ before we could even have discussions about reopening parts of our economy.  Less than a week later, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe sparked what ended up being reopening announcements from Premiers (I’ll use Trudeau’s words now) right across the country from coast to coast to coast.  So, I suppose he could always change his mind on this.

4 – PRO SPORTS CASUALTIES – While there does seem to be some cautious optimism on sports returning at some point this year to empty buildings, there is also the underlying notion that we could be looking at writing off 2021 as well.  Make no mistake about it.  If that happens, the CFL is over. There are a number of other teams in the NHL, MLB, NFL, and NBA that won’t survive either. I won’t speculate as to which ones but it would be very naive to suggest that of the 125 or so teams that make up those four leagues that all of them can come away and still operate without needing to fold. 

5 – VERY PREMATURE…BUT – In the event the CFL loses some teams over this pandemic or the league itself can’t survive, would it be such a bad thing to re-invent and come back as a Western Canadian league with teams in Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Fraser Valley, and Central Okanagan?  You’d have to re-jig things on the talent end of it and I’m not sure what the stadium situations are in some of those cities but I feel like most of those markets could command 15-20 thousand fans a game, and there would be greatly reduced travel.  The key would be ensuring you still have enough money to keep guys like Cody Fajardo, Bo-Levi Mitchell, Mike Reilly, etc as they are the reasons fans watch. One massive hurdle to this?  Television. The Toronto sports channels will have no desire to pay big money to a league that doesn’t include Toronto.

6 – SPORTS IN JEOPARDY – Sports has taken a back seat during all of this and it should. Public health is more important. But sports is going to be the single biggest industry affected when this is finally all over. Travel will resume and people will wear masks on planes, plexiglass dividers will be installed for better privacy in between the seats and some seats may even be removed so people aren’t jammed in so tight (prices will go way up too). Tourism will rebound in conjunction with the airlines. But, sports has a number of hurdles to overcome. You can’t play them and social distance at the same time. You can’t watch them and social distance at the same time. Can the athletes perform in masks that are effective against spreading the virus?  Fans are going to be required to wear them. What about the food and beer lines though?  How do you partake when you are wearing a mask?  Do you just go to games and not eat/drink?  Prices will go up.  

7 – MINOR SPORTS – What will be the tipping point for youth and minor sports to resume?  Can they resume?  Some parents, who didn’t worry too much about broken bones and concussions, are sure to keep their children from playing.  Bet on it.  Is there a set number when it comes to mass gatherings that will be allowed?  My thought is it will go by a percentage of each building’s capacity.  But, we still have the issue of the athletes not being able to social distance and until that matter is resolved, I don’t think you can play.  Anything.  Assuming you can play, though, could WHL teams survive on 50% attendance?  Some could, many can’t.  SJHL would be close.  Yorkton, for example, can put over 2000 in at the Farrell and they don’t draw more than 1000 most nights anyway.  However, you can bet interest would shoot skyward if they are the only game available.  The BCHL, recently, announced their financial loss at $3-million and they’ve asked their provincial government for help.

8 – CAM NEWTON – I read a story on the weekend about the New England Patriots being one of the only teams in the NFL without a starting quarterback and there are no longer any potential starters out there after Andy Dalton inked a deal to back up Dak Prescott in Dallas. People seem to be forgetting about Newton, a former elite level QB who has missed the majority of two seasons due to injury. It wouldn’t shock me at all to see Newton sign in New England and for Newton to perform better than Tom Brady did last year.

9 – PACKERS DRAFT PICKS – I’m not sure the Green Bay Packers should have to apologize for picking the heir apparent to Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers is 36 and while he’s still very good, he’s showing signs of decline. The last thing you want to have as a franchise is a lack of a Plan B at the most important position on your team. You can’t begin to be competitive unless you have a quarterback. Rodgers has a couple of years left on his contract and there’s no reason why he can’t keep going and see that out with Love learning with a clipboard and then taking over at the appropriate time. Love is no sure bet either. It gives the Packers time to evaluate and look at another guy if they miss on him. For me, the selection of AJ Dillon, a running back, is more puzzling. Aaron Jones is a free agent next year so they are already indicating they won’t be bringing Jones back by making this draft pick.  I realize investing long term in running backs is a risky proposition, but they have one of the league’s best and he’s young.  They should have looked at another area of need first.

10 – GUN DEBATE – I’m not a gun guy.  I don’t own one and would agree that nobody should own a firearm that isn’t designed for hunting, although I could be convinced on certain types of hand-guns as far as sport shooting at targets are concerned. Nevertheless, the way that banning of semi-automatic firearms was done last week is nothing short of corrupt politicians who continue to push the envelope to see how far they can go before someone in the general population has the guts to push back. I don’t blame Trudeau and his cronies at all. He’s got an incredibly apathetic group of voters and you may as well just push through as much as you can to exert control over them before they realize it’s too late to do anything about it.  As dangerous as they are with their totalitarianism, they are even more so when you look at the incompetence.  If you read some of the details, they don’t even know what they are banning.  Furthermore, Bill Blair said the government wasn’t banning any gun that could be used for hunting and then David Lametti said in almost the next breath that First Nations people are exempt from the law because these guns could be used by them for hunting.

(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance writer/broadcaster. Follow him on Twitter at @Stack1975)