Even though time is working against the Canadian Football League, commissioner Randy Ambrosie is trying to remain patient with regards to scenarios for a potential 2020 season.
According to TSN reporter Farhan Lalji: the CFL is still considering multiple return to play options, including one-hub and adopt-a-team models with fans and no-fans. Delay is primarily due to waiting for more favourable science and testing which could lead to a more favourable financial model being acceptable.
The governors have been kept up to date on the work the committee is doing and the primary focus is still finding a way to play in September. It’s unfortunate the players haven’t been kept in the loop the same way, especially if a new business model is also being developed.
CFL Players’ Association executive director Brian Ramsay called out Ambrosie for not receiving concrete ideas regarding a collective agreement nor concrete direction about opportunities to get on the field this year.
Montreal Alouettes’ quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. knows when the pocket is collapsing and a decision has to be made. That’s the same way the passer feels about the 2020 CFL season. The 27-year-old singled out Ambrosie on Twitter.
“Can we please get a set date on when a decision will be made? I got kids Mann,” Adams Jr. wrote. The players appear united with Adams Jr., but Ambrosie does not have a do-or-die decision day for a potential CFL season in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re not at a point yet,” Ambrosie told TSN’s Rod Smith, “where we’ve got a date in mind that we’ve gotta call this.”
Ambrosie has stated the earliest the CFL might return to play – for a shortened but meaningful season – is September. Of course, a final decision on whether that will indeed happen depends on how medical and government officials respond to whatever final plan is developed.
