The Great Gray Cup culminates the exciting and turbulent return of CFL

Article content

It may have been a bumpy ride at times, a season that ended with a thrilling 33-25 overtime win for back-to-back champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, but in the midst of a pandemic, Canadian Football League came back strong.

Article content

Coming out of a 2020 season that never was, canceled after a deal to play a short season with all teams in Winnipeg fell through, the CFL overcame a COVID-19 outbreak earlier in the season in Edmonton and was able to put over 26,000 fans in the stands at Hamilton’s Tim Hortons Field for the Gray Cup. It was the biggest crowd in the stadium. Really remarkable.

How they did it? Turns out the timing of the season was excellent, even with the game played three weeks later than originally scheduled due to a late start to the regular season, with no spike in COVID cases in December, fueled by a new variant.

So let’s look back. Way back. During the extended offseason, there was talk of an alliance between the CFL and the XFL, which failed twice, co-owned by Dwayne Johnson (The Rock). After much speculation, the association talks faded in early July.

Article content

“It just didn’t seem like the right time at the time,” said CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie. “They wanted to get on with the business of starting in 2023. We have a league that has a long history and a great future in front of us. We decided to part ways with the company as friends. “

With the crowd restrictions in place, the Eastern Division teams played the first weeks of a season on the road. The schedule was changed: the teams played 12 games (over 14 weeks), instead of the usual 18. It started on August 5, with Hamilton visiting Winnipeg.

“Our big concern was what would happen if we couldn’t do it this year,” said Mark Goudie, president / CEO of Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, owner of the Redblacks. “People understand the challenges. Soccer is tough. Big squads, lots of trips, short season – it’s kind of hard to take to the road and discover a bubble and things like that, so I think people understand the first year. But I was afraid of what would happen if we didn’t play football again this year. After our schedule was posted, within 24 hours, thousands of people approached us, non-season ticket holders, looking for tickets. That tells me there is a pent-up demand for what we have here. “

Article content

An August 26 game between Edmonton and Toronto was postponed, played in mid-November, after 13 Elks tested positive for COVID-19 over a five-day period. As the season progressed, and with it federal government rules that would have prevented players from traveling to meaningful games in December, more and more players were vaccinated. The teams set a goal of 85 percent. Some teams overcame that. If travel restrictions remain in place, you won’t see many, if any, unvaccinated players signed up for the 2022 season.

There was a change of ownership in BC, with Amar Doman buying the team in mid-August. Doman, a businessman from British Columbia, bought the equipment from the property of David Braley, who died in late 2020.

In a state of the league speech during Gray Cup Week, Ambrosie offered his thanks to the players, organizations and fans.

Article content

“We were in a hodgepodge, but despite all that, our fans stayed with us,” he said. “2021 is a triumph. If you were a cynic and tried to view this season through the lens of a normal operating environment, you would have all kinds of observations to make about what it was or was not. (To prepare for a season) a lot of our players got stuck with not much more than the jungle gym their kids play at in their backyards. They weren’t in their gyms, they couldn’t train with their peers. However, our athletes showed up and got ready to play a season. Our coaches prepared our players to play in strange and completely abnormal circumstances. If you were a cynic, you could say that we didn’t have the same kind of season that we normally do. But if you look at it through the lens of what we have all experienced and how much our own lives have changed in the last two years, this was an astonishing triumph. “

Article content

The Blue Bombers once again put together a fantastic year. During the regular season, they finished with the best record in the league at 11-3. But in the West Division final against Saskatchewan, they were offensively sloppy and it nearly cost them the game. They escaped with a 21-17 victory, despite having committed six turnovers. On the east side, the Ticats, who finished second, defeated the Alouettes in third place before beating first place Toronto in a division championship game that ended in league embarrassment, with players from Argos and the vice president. player staff John Murphy gets into a fight with fans moments after it ended, and videos of it are circulating widely on social media. Murphy was fired the following week.

How will next year be different? The league has talked about making changes; everything seems to be on the table. There has been talk of playing by the rules, perhaps with the ratio that a good Canadian talent base allows. From an outsider’s point of view, it seems rules and content should be the least of the league’s concerns. The CFL has yet to figure out how to market and get bigger crowds in BC and Toronto. So yes, there is a lot to fix. But there is also a lot that I like.

Do you remember the CFL motto: Diversity is strength? Bring it back. Diversity. In the countryside. And with the fans the league tries to attract.