Ticats’ owner Bob Young calls 2021 CFL season ‘the very best’ in league history

The CFL was criticized for the state of its on-field product during the 2021 season but Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ owner Bob Young isn’t having it.

“You have it backwards – 2021 is easily the very best season in the long history of the CFL,” wrote Young on Twitter. “The CFL has not only survived a two year global pandemic, it has come out the other side stronger.”

Young sent the note in response to beat writers Danny Austin and Herb Zurkowsky, both of whom criticized the league’s on-field product, low attendance, and the prolonged disappearance of commissioner Randy Ambrosie.

When he was asked by what metrics Young considers the league to be stronger than it was before the pandemic, he playfully dodged the question.

“Metrics? Where we’re going we don’t need metrics!” he wrote, referencing Back To The Future for reasons that remain unclear.

Scoring plummeted to an average of 43.1 points per game during the 2021 regular season, which was down from an average of 49.5 points per game in 2019. Attendance was lower across the board as well, though pandemic restrictions accounted for some of the drop-off.

It’s possible that Young is merely excited about Hamilton hosting its first Grey Cup since 1996 and the economic windfall that accompanies hosting the CFL’s title game. Or maybe he’s just pumped about the Ticats hosting the East Semi-Final against the Montreal Alouettes on Sunday.

Regardless, we’d love to know more about why Young views this season as such an overwhelming success. It’s great that the league returned to the field — cancelling another season wasn’t an option — but suggesting that it was the greatest in the history of the league seems like a stretch.