The World According to Randy Ambrosie

The Ambrosie appearance was held in the Harvard Lounge and Ambrosie was accompanied by Rider CEO Craig Reynolds and Rider GM Jeremy O’Day.

Ambrosie set the stage by talking about the CFL and the CFL 2.0 initiative including signing agreements with other football leagues around the world. A by-product of those agreements are players from those respective countries invited to take part in the CFL Player Combine to evaluate players eligible for being drafted.

One roster spot was set aside for global players and this season there will be two. The idea of the global players is to use them as a way to break into the respective markets in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal where a more cosmopolitan market has bypassed football in favor of soccer and basketball.

By having players who are identifiable to those market segments, the hope is people will respond by buying tickets and going to games. This is only part of the CFL’s desire to have more player outreach in various communities to build awareness and potential ticket buyers.

While the CFL 2.0 campaign is looking to build awareness and interest in football, the idea is also to have Canadian players perhaps not ready for the CFL go overseas to play football. Canadian university football players typically play an eight to 10 game schedule compared to 12-14 games south of the border.

One of the criticisms of Canadian university players is they require a few years of waiting and learning on either the practice roster or backing up starting players because they do not have as much experience as their American counterparts. By having Canadian players eligible to go overseas, the idea is to give Canadian players the experience they may be lacking.

Ambrosie was also meeting with university and junior football personnel to discuss potential future developments including player combines for junior players. A combine is where players perform a number of drills designed to give general managers and coaches an idea if those players can perform at a professional level.

The combines currently feature university players from Canada and Canadian players in the NCAA in the United States. With the addition of a combine for junior players, it seems designed to build more interest and appreciation of Canadian football players.

Which is something that Ambrosie touched on – people going to university, junior and other games to show appreciation for the players and to grow fans at all levels of the sport. It’s an interesting argument to make in Saskatchewan, which has a vital young football program but not the fans that match the intensity of Rider fans.

While the Riders attempted to swing the combination of the Vanier Cup and the Grey Cup to be played on the same weekend, the logistics of such a plan will wait until Grey Cup 2021 in Hamilton. Which raises the possibility of having the Junior Football title go on Friday, the Vanier Cup on Saturday and the Grey Cup on Sunday for quite the football weekend.

Ambrosie asked for a show of hands to determine interest or approval of the new playoff. The new system got 70-75 per cent support from those present.

One development in the CFL 2.0 plan came from Australia where that country’s football association voted to operate under Canadian football rules. Ambrosie said the Australians like the speed of the Canadian game and felt it had more action which would go over well with Australian audiences.

One interesting comment from Ambrosie came from posing the question of CFL teams playing teams in Europe or Asia and what kind of rules they would use. Currently the Europeans operate under American rules so hybrid rules would be needed to ensure CFL and European teams could compete on the same field.

One of the options would be losing the 12^th player, but playing on a CFL sized field to encourage wide open play. The idea of CFL teams holding games against European opponents seems to have come from soccer where teams from various leagues play each other.

Ambrosie compared the CFL 2.0 to the NBA under former Commissioner David Stern who when he took the NBA dealt with a league whose playoff games were not televised live because it was felt there was no market for them. Stern expanded the reach of the NBA and got the NBA playing games outside of the United States.

Combined with encouraging the drafting of foreign players, the NBA has increased the value of individual franchises and the league world wide. Ambrosie seems to have moved on from the soccer comparison to the NBA comparison which implies greater international exposure will result in greater profitability for CFL teams and players.

Combined with what was described as the biggest fan outreach in professional sports, CFL players will be asked to visit schools and talk to kids who may just be new Canadians to those who might have been in Canada for generations.

CFL alumni will be part of this outreach with the league wanting to use the history the alumni represent to build ties to the present. The league is looking to present its plans to the players’ association and Ambrosie said the league wants to share the revenues with the players.

It wasn’t all Ambrosie. O’Day talked about the Riders free agent plans and how they felt comfortable with the team they currently have and usually teams who have not had good years tend to go deep into free agents in an effort to break whatever losing habit they are in.

The Riders feel comfortable with Cody Fajardo but said last year showed the necessity of having two quarterback who are able to play. Ambrosie was asked about the new rule limiting teams to dressing two quarterbacks and Ambrosie said it was a rule that could be revisited if it posed problems for teams.

The Riders are involved with Winnipeg, Ottawa and Hamilton in giving assistance to the proposed Halifax franchise in drawing up stadium and organizational plans as the Atlantic Schooners try to determine if they will be the 10^th CFL franchise.

Ambrosie said if Halifax did join the CFL, it would shorten the season and conceivably allow the CFL to hold the Grey Cup around Halloween instead of the end of September – presumably by eliminating bye weeks.

The Riders will be playing Toronto in Touchdown Atlantic and it is thought the experience of Rider fans bringing their passion into Halifax may help sweeten the pot for people wondering what effect a CFL franchise will have.

by Greg Urbanoski

The World According to Randy Ambrosie

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