Commissioner Ambrosie: one team exceeded salary cap in 2019

According to CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie, one team has exceeded the 2019 salary cap based on the league’s recent audit of team financials.

Ambrosie is currently on Randy’s Roadshow, his a nationwide tour of CFL cities. He spent Tuesday in Calgary.

I had the opportunity to ask Ambrosie about the league’s salary cap audit he stated that “to my knowledge, and this is with the most recent information, only one team exceeded the [salary] cap last season.”

When reached for comment, the league would not confirm which team exceeded the cap or the amount by which they surpassed it.

“Out of respect for the league’s ongoing salary management review process, we won’t comment until we issue a new release on this year’s final results in April,” said a league spokesperson.

Once the league has completed its audits of all nine member clubs, any team over the cap has the right to an appeal. This process is not made public; only the final results are announced in April.

Still, Ambrosie did not hesitate to confirm that one team exceeded the salary cap in 2019 based on the league’s recent audit.

Given the league’s soft cap penalty of a dollar-for-dollar fine for exceeding the cap up to $100,000, surpassing the cap slightly won’t result in harsh consequences. Teams can lose draft picks, however, if they are beyond the cap by more than $100,000.

Previous salary cap offenders include the Saskatchewan Roughriders (2007, 2008, 2013) and Montreal Alouettes (2007).

Ryan Ballantine

Ryan Ballantine is a lifelong Stamps fan and host of the Go Stamps Go Show Podcast. He has been covering the team since 2008.