Q and A with CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie on Randy's Road Trip
Tim Baines, Postmedia February 2, 2018
In his eighth months as Canadian Football League commissioner, Randy Ambrosie has done a lot of listening: to owners, management types, coaches, players and fans.
It’s good, he says, to engage people, to seek input. That continues this month as Ambrosie goes on a cross-country tour — Randy’s Road Trip — to visit each of the league’s nine cities, plus Halifax, where there’s a good chance a 10th franchise will be granted in 2018.
“Great businesses in every industry spend a lot of time trying to understand their customers, in our case our fans,” he said. “I also think my mom would love this. She loved people and she would get a kick out of the fact that I liked hanging out, sharing stories and listening to new ideas. I think, boy, if this is hard work, sign me up for a lot more. I kind of finish every day with a big smile. Not only is it an effort to connect with the fans, there is some knowledge that will come from this that will help us run a better Canadian Football League.”
Before Ambrosie’s Town Hall meeting with fans in Ottawa on Friday, here’s what the commissioner had to say to some Postmedia suggestions.
Q: Talk about Thursday’s CFL statement, which was very clear in that players were obligated to live up to the terms of their contract. Why the need to release a statement?
A: There has been a lot written in the past week and a half. A couple of players took exception to being asked to honour their contracts. I think there was some confusion about the terms of those contracts. I felt it was important to clarify that. I think there were also comments that were incredibly unfair to the Argonauts. Toronto was simply asking the players to honour their contracts. I think they were being cast in a very negative light. I feel a responsibility to all our teams to stand up for them and ultimately our league. I wanted to make it clear that we have rules and we’re going to follow them. But I also think, if we have a rule that’s not working, we should talk about it. There should always be an open-mindedness to our culture. If we got it wrong, let’s talk about it. But what we have in place has to be respected by all teams.
Q: In the league statement, it mentioned a team — the B.C. Lions, it would seem, which had let a player go early — would be subject to fines or further penalties. What’s the reaction from B.C.?
A: I called (Lions president) Rick LeLacheur, explained the situation and the letter that would be coming momentarily and I talked him through the reasons. Rick thanked me for the courtesy of letting him know. We hung up and I went on with the rest of my day and I’m sure Rick went on with the rest of his.
Q: Will the player release (linebacker Micah Awe) be overturned?
A: I think at this point, that act has already happened, so it would be difficult to put that genie back in the bottle.
Q: From a player perspective, it seems like a one-way street. A team can release a player before the option year, but the player is bound to the contract. What’s your opinion of that?
A: There is always, in a contract between any two parties, a combination of puts and takes: benefit to me, benefit to them. You can’t look at it through the lens of one dimension of an agreement and ask if it’s fair or not. I’ve learned you have to look at the totality of a contract. In that review of the big picture, you will find things that are better for the league, some things are better for the players. I’m convinced, after all these years of sitting in negotiations, that the best place to land is when everybody’s a little bit unhappy. When everybody’s just a little bit unhappy, you know you probably got a good deal. We should talk about these things, they should be part of a good, healthy, honest discussion. Maybe things have changed, maybe we have to look at some of these things differently.
Q: Halifax is the hottest word in the CFL right now. What’s going on?
A: The group that we’re working with — Anthony LeBlanc, Gary Drummond and Bruce Bowser — they continue to advance their project with government in the Maritime region. The big question that will ultimately largely determine success or failure of landing this franchise will be can we get a stadium built. There are new and innovative ways of looking at stadium financing. Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group did something special here. This Lansdowne redevelopment and the ecosystem they built around it is being looked at as a model that could work in Halifax. There are a lot of positive signs, but a lot of work to be done yet.
Q: In a perfect world, the ownership group there would love to have a shovel in the ground by late this year. Is it possible things could move along fast enough that they would be granted a franchise this year?
A: We could move very quickly with them if they are successful in advancing the stadium project. We are working with them on the franchise modelling. Because we’re doing that work now, if we needed to move quickly, we could move quickly.
Q: In your heart, you want this to happen. Do you believe it will?’
A: I’m an optimist. They’re a really good group. I can see our league working well with them as partners. I like them. That’s part of the equation: You find a partner you’d like to work with. There seems to be a feeling this is the right time to make this happen. I’m on board to do anything we can do to support this, and I’m optimistic we can reach a successful conclusion.
Q: You’ve talked to fans about whether the league should move the season up and play a Grey Cup earlier. What has that feedback been like?
A: It’s been about an even split between those that thought it was the best idea and those that were a little suspect of the idea and liked that tradition of a late November date. We have other partners. I look at TSN. If we get real serious about this, that would be our first stop and really have a conversation with them. I can see lots of good reasons why a Grey Cup in early November would be better. I grew up in the West, I’m a Winnipeger, so I know the difference between early November weather and late November weather. Using that as a barometer, I kind of like the idea of how big we can make a Grey Cup festival if the weather conditions were going to predictably be better.
Q: You’ve got a TV contract with ESPN (in the United States) that expires at the end of the 2018 season. Any talks with them?
A: (CFL chief marketing, digital and strategy officer) Christina Litz and I went down to ESPN in December and started discussions about renewing the agreement. We had a follow-up meeting last weekend at the Pro Bowl. They like the idea of a season shift, they like the idea of a bunch of our content being post-NFL Draft and pre-NFL and college season. They like our game. We talked a lot about tapping into their big college market. So many of our players have been stars in U.S. college football. They are a huge college football broadcaster. We talked about how we can do more so the fans in Alabama and Florida know that one of their star players is playing in Ottawa or playing in Calgary or playing in Toronto and they’re playing in a game this weekend. We agreed we would keep moving forward to a long-term contract.
Q: There are other options, though, the NFL Network being one of them.
A: There are options that we aren’t going to ignore. We aren’t going to ignore what’s happening in social media. If I’m correct, Facebook made a bid for Indian cricket (for $610 million). That’s just evidence of a completely changing landscape. I wouldn’t ask Facebook for anything more than about $300 million if we were talking to them. Of course I’m smiling (when he says that).
ESPN has some capabilities that are incredibly impressive. They are changing their platform to address the changing viewing habits. That was some of what we have been talking about, what are they doing to address the changes … so much consumption is happening on mobile devices. They wanted us to know how they think that could help us drive a bigger TV audience in the U.S.
Q: What changed in Johnny Manziel that you gave the OK to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to negotiate with him?
A: In situations like this, I think our communities should expect that we would lean on experts in these fields that relate to what has gone on in his life. I said that had to be the new norm when we had a player with his kind of background. I did a lot of listening to what our experts found when they put him through the process. That gave me cause to say Johnny could play football in the CFL if he chooses and can arrive at a contract.
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