THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE

1. SJHL SEASON CANCELLED: I’ve done an awful lot of thinking about this and I don’t really want the SJHL or the Western Canada Baseball League or even the CFL in some half-baked setup with 100 or 200 fans in the stands. That’s not the real thing. I want all of these things back when our arenas and ballparks can be full. And that can’t happen until we beat this virus. We need to keep our foot on the gas to complete this marathon and we’re damn close to the finish line. Some of the complaining about the need to shut this stuff down has me wondering what will happen if god forbid we have to deal with a World War 3. Will these same people argue that we must ignore Russia or China invading our personal freedoms so we can finish the SJHL season? Of course not. We can’t have an SJHL if our personal freedoms or health are under attack. How is this situation any different? It’s not. There is a strong belief that we’ll be living mostly restriction-free, though probably still wearing masks, by Canada Day. If shutting down some of these things until then is how it has to be, then so be it.  

2. CHANGES TO CFL BUSINESS MODEL SHOULD BE ON ITS OWN TERMS: Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader Post nailed it in his recent column about the Canadian Football League and tweaks it should consider to its business model. Adding more Canadian starters would not hurt the on-field competition enough to make most viewers notice and would set the league up nicely to fight for government funding the next time we have a crisis like the one we have now. Moving practices to late afternoon in an effort to help players set up fulltime jobs during the day would diminish the on-field product a little but not enough to damage the entertainment value of the game. All of this in connection with a stop to overpaying overrated American football coaches will cure the problems with the CFL business model. Don’t listen to Dwayne Johnson. He just wasted 15 million dollars on a failing business venture when he bought into the XFL. It’s pretty clear that guy has no idea what he’s talking about.   

3. SPORTS LEAGUES CAN RELY ON GATE REVENUES: Alongside Justin Dunk, TSN’s Dave Naylor is Canada’s is foremost football insider. He’s objective, analytical and fair. Precisely why I expect more out of Dave than to suggest the league needs wholesale changes to be economically viable going forward, as he did in a recent radio interview. The league getting as much as 60% of its revenue from ticket sales appears to worry Dave greatly. So, if this is such a terrible thing, does that mean all sporting or business ventures who rely on ticket sales should just close up shop? Does this mean the Regina Red Sox, WHL, SJHL or musical artists who live off the proceeds of ticket sales should just shut it down permanently because of a once-in-every-100 years event?

4. SEMPLES OWNING THE PATS: They have deep pockets and are willing to cover the Pats losses. Sounds like great owners to me. However, I really hope the city of Regina doesn’t get caught up pouring a bunch of cash into building a new downtown arena, either. I keep hearing members of the Pats ownership group, past and present, insist that Regina needs a new facility. Would be nice but it seems like the only people calling for this is the Pats, themselves. If you interviewed 20 people on the streets of Regina, I suspect you would have a hard time finding more than a few who would either think there’s a need to do anything with the Brandt Centre or build a new arena at all. In fact, I would opine that a new arena away from the current location would creating whining about not having the same complex we enjoy now at Evraz Place. If the Semple’s want a new arena for Regina, then they can build it themselves. A little public money is okay but no more than 25% max.

5. WE DON’T NEED TO BE NORTH DAKOTA: One contributor to this blog has been constantly pointing out that North Dakota isn’t so worried about this covid nonsense and has allowed bigger gatherings for kids sporting events and consistently touts how wonderful this is. I hear locals here in Saskatchewan sometimes say they wish they lived in California, Florida, Arizona, BC, Alberta and Toronto. Maybe even Mexico. Never have I ever thought or heard anyone say, “Boy I sure wish Saskatchewan was more like North Dakota. Wish I lived there.” Truth is, North Dakota is a dump and my least favorite part of my trips down to Minneapolis. North Dakota’s main mall has gone bankrupt through all of this and their economy is in the crapper, too. Much worse than Saskatchewan’s. Aside from Weston Dressler, they have almost nothing to be proud of.   

6. COVID DOES AFFECT EVERYBODY: Obviously, everyone is impacted differently. That’s a given with any crisis. But I had one person suggest to me that I’m so open to public health taking these measures because the crisis hasn’t impacted my livelihood all that much. Well let’s see, my income is down and my workload is up from all of this. One would think that would impact my livelihood, would it not? I have a newborn at home who can’t see her grandparents or any other family because of this, either. If you’re a wealthy person who is lucky enough to stay home, one would think your inability to travel anywhere would impact you too, would it not? Or how about the fact we all have to wear masks just about everywhere we go? That’s pretty uncomfortable for anyone. My point is this: Just because some of us can still work and can still function doesn’t reduce our right to have an opinion on this stuff and our right to support public health measures being taken to reduce the spread. Despite what some will have you believe, we really are all in this together.

7. KENTON KEITH: Says the CFL saved his life. In an era we’re hearing all the negative stories of all the bad things that have happened to pro football players because of their careers MAYBE, it’s important to hear the good stories too. Let’s not forget that many of these guys would have gone down a rough path, had football not been there for them in the first place.

8. HAMILTON SHOULD GET ANOTHER GREY CUP: Even if they get to host this fall, it won’t be the same. They’ll be cheated. They should get a do-over in 2023, the year after Regina hosts its Grey Cup.

9. NHL DRAFT LOTTERY: The NHL wants to help crappy teams, like the Detroit Red Wings, ensure they get a high draft pick when they finish at the bottom of the standings, rather than see their draft position drop to as low as 4^th. Baloney! There’s too much tanking in sport today. The NHL has it wrong. We need to create less incentives for tanking, not more.

10. MOVIE OF THE WEEK: If you’re TSN subscriber, go to the DOCS collection and look up the 30 for 30: Al Davis vs the NFL. I’ve heard this story ad nauseam and so was very reluctant at first to even bother with it. However, the producer does an incredible job of telling the story in a way it’s never been told before. A terrific watch for anyone who follows the NFL or the business of sport.

(Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendanhowardmc)