JuranBoldenRules

The players actually asked to remove the revenue sharing in 2010, it was their idea. At least that's the impression I get from Doug Brown and the CFLPA counsel currently and at that time, Ed Molstad. At that point revenue was stagnant and they wanted more real dollars tacked on to the SMS limit. Penton and Toth were giving Doug Brown a pretty good ribbing about it last night. Goes to show how narrow the view of the CFLPA is, and I guess that makes sense since most of them aren't around more than a few years.

The playing field is slated to be 25 feet below grade. Not going to be a lot of wind.

I'm not a fan of the half open, half closed designs. Terrible shadows, no sun on the seating area. Not worth it for the 1-2 games it might rain. Works for British soccer stadiums cause they get rain/cloud cover for 35 games and sun for 4-5 games. But, they had the same pressure we did here with people saying why not a dome? We compromised with the covered seating area, they are calling it "roof ready" just in case someone trips over $250 million to turn it into a dome.

Sadly, the practice roster beer vendors make even less.

Scott Flory, noted lover of the comma, needs a media consultant, to help him craft his message.

Good. I will miss adding to my stack of unused playoff tickets though.

Montreal has to beat out Ottawa and at least tie with the 4th place team in the west to get the last playoff spot. They get 2 extra games against eastern teams instead of western teams. They have a very good defense. All of that gives them a pretty big advantage over Edmonton and Winnipeg IMHO. I don't know if I'd agree with that. I certainly don't know if I'd agree that it would be a big enough difference that a roster player to-be would look at it and say "hey, this team is markedly better than this one" They were the 3rd worst D in the league last year, they need to change their ratio and they lost their middle linebacker. It could definitely go either way. Their D is relying on a lot of relatively old players in key spots too.

Hamilton must really like Aprile, because they have no one else behind Fantuz and Giguere.

The media is a huge part of any labour negotiation, from Superstore cashiers right up to pro athletes. Most unions and large employers have media consultants just for that purpose. It's a matter of whether you want Gary Lawless (or a news reporter in the case of other negotiations) putting out leaks, many times inaccurate or one-sided, or if you want to control the message. On Cohon's part, he's trying to get the message of the money in their pockets to all the players. Having been a part of a bargaining unit and outside that fence as an employee, often employees have no idea what offers are on the table, particularly coming from the employer's side. I'm part of the internet generation, so I have no idea what it was like before so many avenues of instant communication were available, but I imagine it was even more closed. Straight up money is often used to move the bargaining unit off other issues, stuff like benefits and player safety in this case, and strike a quick deal when both sides are bordering on desperation. It's sort of like a car salesman, "come on let's get this deal done, I'll fill the tank!"

It`s weird for Popp to say that cause he`s drafted a pretty significant number of guys who had NFL contracts, along with guys who have NCAA time left. His first two picks in 2010 were signed by the NFL when he picked them.

How much does the cap going up in 2014 matter to the players? Aren't most of them signed for 2014 anyway? I suppose they might get some extra if they sign an extension. I haven't seen any proposal that raises everyone's salary up 5% or something across the board. I'd think the bigger issue is where the cap is heading in 15-16-17-18.

41 inch vertical at his pro day in 2012. That's up there with Phillip Hunt. Good indication of how explosive he is off the snap.

That's like saying he's been more dog crap then cat crap. Both brands are pretty terrible when it comes to quality. Every person I know who's owned a Volkswagen has hated it. I know a couple people still running Volkswagen's from the late 80s-early 90s that are pushing half a million km's, with not much more than regular maintenance and new brakes. I'd assume newer ones aren't as durable, because no cars made this millennium seem to be.

Very good point, after all ... when's the last time that happened? Sheets had 772 carries and receptions in college. 1 in the NFL. Smith had 960 carries and receptions in college. 721 in the NFL. Hopefully Smith can bring something to our team, but he's high mileage and he's been more Chevy than Volkswagen to this point.

If Laurent couldn't get a deal pre-draft, what are the chances of him getting one when teams are fully stocked with draft picks and UDFAs? He's also probably costing himself money in the CFL by holding out, teams are going to have to fit him in with their rosters almost complete along with their projections of where the money will be spent.

The right thing for him probably would have been to at least play one more season of CIS before joining the Bombers, but that would have required sneaking him through waivers. He hadn't played a lot of receiver, was really raw and not developed physically, he needed to play more games, not get 2nd team reps and watch from the sideline with a CFL team for basically 2 seasons. With the new eligibility rules, Etienne wouldn't have been in the draft until 2012, and still would have had one year of CIS eligibility left. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up being a 45-50 catch 500 yard ish receiver for his career, disregarding his first two seasons where he didn't leave the sideline even when he was dressed.

Muamba and Mulumba have loads of practice roster time left in the NFL. Won't be here anytime soon. Bilikudi looks to be ineligible for NFL practice rosters, at most he has one season of eligibility left.

Sears or Washington. Maybe one of the new guys. I thought they wanted that to be a Canadian spot? I always thought it would be Alexander at Safety with Bucknor at Field Corner. But If Alexander is better at Corner hopefully Newman can really step up and be a good safety for us. I just can't see two Canadians in the secondary. I see it as 4 OL, 2 REC, 1 rotating on D Two NIs starting in the secondary is unlikely, but ocassionally occuring as part of 3 OL, 2 REC, 1 DB and 1 rotating on D is quite possible. This has to be Walter's/OShea's backup plan if none of our NI's meet the minimum standard needed for a starting right tackle. Agree with this. I'm not a huge fan of Neufeld, and I don't think it will be that hard for Newman, Thomas, Lucas and Bucknor, maybe Stephan and Briggs as the season goes on, to cover all defensive snaps one at a time. Having 2 NI's on the field defensively is much less of a liability (given the guys we've added who can play a little bit) IMO than having Neufeld chasing after edge rushers, not allowing any of our QB's to confidently set up in the pocket. If Neufeld is capable of starting at RT, fine. But I'd hope we wouldn't stick him in that critical spot out of ratio desperation. I think we also need to see him healthy before he can be pencilled in.

They owe $40 million which is less than half the Bombers debt so the Riders have a much better chance to actually pay the debt off. Maybe the Bombers should have had a surcharge on tickets to help pay down their debt as well. I do happen to think that the Riders wanting fans & companies in Saskatchewan to help raise another $40 million in additional revenues to pay off the Riders stadium debt after their surcharge of $8 rising to $12 per ticket is greedy. If I buy tickets to a Rider game as a casual fan or season ticket holder then I've done enough. No way I'll give more. I bet a lot of individuals & companies will feel the same in Saskatchewan. Plus a $100 million dollar loan taken out by the City of Regina that will be paid through the $12 facility fee on Riders tickets, which would work out to needing to sell about 465,000 give or take a few thousand tickets to events at the stadium to make the yearly payments. 11 Rider games (if they make the playoffs) x 33,000 (assuming they sell out every game for 31 years) leaves them about 100,000 short. Who knows, maybe they'll draw 3 summer concerts that bring 100,000 into the stadium, every year for 31 years. It's very similar to IGF, just that the city is more involved than the province, but the ability to meet long-term debt obligations as the deal proposes is lacking in both cities.

Good to see another long snapper added. I'm not too enthused about relying on a starting LB to do that job over 18 games, high risk of injury for a guy playing every down, and then who snaps? Rather have a specialist doing that job, and Fitzgerald sure didn't look too capable of doing the job last training camp.

They've been begging for private investment in the new stadium for years already. All they've got so far is some diversion of a hotel tax from the hotel association that amounts to $15 million over 10 years or $10 million over 5 years, something like that, basically a drop in a pail. Much like our stadium, the government will end up paying for it. They might end up recovering more of that investment than we will, but very similar deals, other than the U of M getting some money from the Feds here to build a new facility to replace Frank Kennedy.

Plus a housing allowance.

I'd hope we'd be able to find someone better than Will Ford at tailback given an off-season to find some guys.

But, most of the guys fans care about are in the upper class of CFL players. For example, if a couple import QB's break from the PA, that could have more influence than 150 other imports striking. Break from the PA and what? Stop playing in the CFL I guess. Anyway the fans don't vote on contracts the players do. Most would be in favour of a base increase. Break from the PA and try to rally players to oust the PA leadership, much like a group in the NHLPA did in the spring of 2005. I'm in favour of increases across the board, but to have the minimum salary hit 6 figures by the end of the decade would be a little bit out there. TSN money isn't guaranteed in perpetuity, and it's almost impossible to negotiate something like a minimum salary down. The best solution for the minimum salary would be to make it a % of the SMS ceiling IMO, not a specific number. Six players making big coin are not going to rally hundreds of lower paid players wanting a raise. And they already ousted a person and got their man. 100k is not unreasonable IMO and if the league struggles they can deal with it then. The players have shown in the past they are willing to move to save the league. If every player in the league makes $100k, that's about $6 million per team in player salaries. That's not paying stars, veteran players, starting NI's and QB's much more than the minimum. You're effectively doubling the amount teams spend on player salaries within a half-decade, unless every player is going to play for the minimum. The league just doesn't have the stability to sustain that kind of upward pressure on payroll. There's no guarantee that the TV money will stay, the league went from a pretty significant TV deal in the early-mid 80s to basically nothing before. This deal runs through 2018. Who even knows what the market for cable TV and broadcasting will be by then... The stuff about players giving up money to save the league is hardly relevant IMO. What about the cheques Bob Young, Wetenhall and Braley have cut to save the league? You're talking tens of millions vs tens of thousands. Players aren't going to win that peeing contest. Raise the SMS limit, the floor raises too, players will get paid, because they have to. Raising the minimum salary absurdly beyond the current average salary within 3 years just does not make sense. The owners and players need to share the windfall, so far both proposals have been ridiculously lopsided in favour of the side proposing them.

As a centre his technique is pretty much going to be the same. He might have to work on adjusting his footwork, but it's nothing that Wylie wouldn't be able to help him with. It might be more different if he was going to be playing tackle. He'll probably be snapping shotgun about 65 times more a game than he ever has before. That's a concern. But I'd prefer him learning to do that than Morley doing it. The yard off the ball is one too, he'll have to get used to more of a finesse game than just pure head bashing, DL and blitzers have a little more time to read the blocking and make a move, or set him up for a stunt. Tackles are on an island in American and Canadian football, and the yard off the ball isn't as big of a deal, most edge rushers in American football aren't lining up right on OT's, they either line up a gap wider, a step off the line as basically a LB or both. The big difference would be the athleticism of the edge rushers between the GNAC and CFL. I don't think it's fair to compare him to Brett Jones, but I have a feeling we'll get a heavy dose of that.