A beer with Randy Ambrosie: CFL commish talks concussions, Halifax, Johnny Manziel, BTO and more
Tim Baines, Postmedia Ottawa Sun November 22, 2017
Nearly five months into his job as the commissioner of the Canadian Football League, Randy Ambrosie has settled in nicely.
In Ottawa for Grey Cup Week, Ambrosie is breathing it all in – and loving it.
A second-overall draft pick of the Calgary Stampeders in 1985, Ambrosie, an offensive lineman, played nine seasons in the CFL, winning a Grey Cup in 1993 with the Edmonton Eskimos. After five knee surgeries, he walked away. After two years as secretary of the CFL Players Association, he began a hugely successful career in the world of finances. The CFL wisely chose the 54-year-old Ambrosie as its new commissioner in late June.
Turns out he’s a helluva guy, about as down to earth as they come. He’s funny, with a self-deprecating sense of humour. And he sure seems like a straight shooter, a guy who’s willing to get his hands dirty to make something happen.
Postmedia wanted a different format than the standard 1-on-1 Q and A session – the league was asked if Ambrosie would sit down over a beer and discuss a wide variety of topics. Turns out he not only likes to sip on a cold beer, he’s got plenty of insight into where the CFL has been and where it could go. Here’s what the commissioner had to say, sitting at The Keg Steakhouse on York St. in Ottawa:
Q: Talk about CFL expansion, with Halifax indicating strong interest in being the league’s 10th team. Where is that at?
A: We’ve had conversation with a really strong group. What makes them interesting is they’re experienced in sport,
they have significantly deep pockets and they have strong local representation in the Atlantic region – those are important factors. A 10th team, it’s the thing the Canadian Football League has talked about forever. The big question is the stadium. I’m optimistic, but I recognize there are some big hurdles that have to be overcome. The 10th team is a fantastic idea and we should make it happen. But we’re going to be pragmatic about it. The business model has to be good for the Canadian Football League. This can’t be a case of wanting it so badly we’re willing to do anything to get it. What the Redblacks have done for us is create a new paradigm, a business model with an entire ecosystem around that football stadium. There are fantastic lessons to be learned from what the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group did.
Q: How realistic is an expansion franchise happening in Atlantic Canada?
A: It would be nice. If wishing only made it so. This will take some time. But these are really cool people. They’re smart, they’re thoughtful, they’re experienced. And I think they’re also being respectful of the political process out East. This will not be a team that belongs to a city, this will be a team that belongs to an entire region, it would be embraced by the entirety of the Atlantic region. Much as it is not the Regina Roughriders, it is the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Q: Is Halifax the obvious location or is that option still open?
A: It’s ultimately not a decision for me to make personally. The group that’s looking at it has to study those markets. Moncton’s long been talked about as another great choice. The last thing this league wants is something that can’t be sustaining. We’ll put them through the wringer, we’ve talked to them about a rigorous due diligence process and frankly I think they’re excited about that because they know that we care about their success as well.
Q: Favourite Ottawa memory?
A: I had five holding penalties here in one game. When I think of Ottawa, I think about those five holding penalties and (Coach) Bob O’Billovich yelling at me after the game.
Q: Music on your playlist?
A: I’m a classic rock guy. You’ll find a combination of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Guess Who, AC/DC. When I turn music on, I will listen to Taking Care of Business every time, that was kind of our anthem back in the day. I fancied myself a budding guitarist. There were two songs I tried to learn how to play – Smoke on the Water and Taking Care of Business. I thought if I could play those two things, life would be good. But I had these big clompy hands. My fingers don’t bend so I have some dexterity challenges with my hands being so beat up. I get a buzz and I think I’m going to try to do it – play guitar. Then I buy the guitar and don’t do it. My wife has a garage sale and it gets sold.
Q: How about playing the drums instead?
A: I’ve been married for 31 years, I married the love of my life (Barb). She’s my best friend. I love her as much today as I ever have in my life. But (playing the drums) would be cause for her to reconsider.
Q: What is it that makes your relationship so successful and special?
A: I really am married to my very best friend and I have a tremendous respect for her. I think that’s the thing relationships sometimes miss – you have to respect the other person. You can disagree when you respect somebody, but it’s hard to disagree if you don’t respect them.
Q: Does your wife have a nickname for you?
A: Let’s see … “Hey, You” … where would you like to start?
Q: How would you describe yourself and how would your wife describe you? Is it the same thing?
A: Probably the same. We were sitting with somebody and they asked my daughter if I was this gigantically optimistic guy. Samantha said, ‘Yeah, that’s my dad.’ I have to work hard for it, but my family – Barb and my three girls – the way life has unfolded, I feel so blessed. I try to wear the smile of someone who has been that fortunate.
Q: The perception is you’re a man of the people, is that something you strive to be?
A: Something I learned in my business career is you have to be who you are. You have to be authentic. People see through the pretense and the false identity and I don’t want to do that. I have built most of my success on the fact I like people and I’m willing to spend time getting to know them and understand their point of view. I find a way to take what they’ve taught me and use it to further the cause. My wife says my mom was an ordinary person living an extraordinary life. It’s because my mom loved everybody she met and she found a way to connect. She was a great listener. I’ve tried to use that great listening skill that I learned from my mom to my advantage.
Q: What’s this like for you, being commissioner of a league you have long had a passion for?
A: I feel totally re-energized. I loved my life in financial services. I worked for and with amazing people. Here I am in football. I wake up every day wearing that crap-eating grin, I feel that way. I’m surrounded at the league office by this vibrant group of people that love the game. They’re always smiling. So I figure, smile back and be authentic. I try to treat them all the same way I’d want a boss to treat my daughters. I’d want the boss to be inspiring, I’d want the boss to challenge them to be more than they are in the moment. I want to be a person who’s encouraging of them to reach their dreams.
Q: Food you can’t live without?
A: You don’t get to be this big skipping meals. I like it all. My wife, daughters and I love sushi. I love a good hamburger. I’ve got very broad tastes in food, I’m a foodie.
Q: Favourite Grey Cup memory?
A: Sitting in the locker room after we won in 1993, it was quiet. I didn’t want to take my stuff off because I knew that was the last time I was going to get out of my gear. Ron Lancaster came over and sat next to me at my locker. That moment will live in my memory forever.
Q: What was your playing weight?
A: I played one year at almost 290 lbs., that was too heavy for me. I played as light as about 255, especially after I got hurt. My body just couldn’t take all the weight so I got slim toward the end. I played a more cerebral game. I never tried to antagonize anybody, I would go the other way. After the first play, I’d say to the guy, ‘You married?’ I figured if I could just get him talking, I wouldn’t be such a bad guy. The last thing I wanted was to make him mad because nine times out of 10 he could probably fold me up and put me in his back pocket.
Q: Let’s talk about concussions. What’s your position?
A: On the first day I was announced as the new commissioner, I made a promise not only to the media in the room, but to myself, that I would study this question. A concussion is brain trauma. The reason we paid so much attention to a protocol that allows us to have a spotter in our command centre specifically looking for players in distress – why we put in place world-class procedures to watch for players in distress and the protocols for bringing them back – is because we realize concussions are a brain trauma. The part that is not clear is this cause and effect. I have met with scientists, I’ve met with doctors. You look at the Berlin report, the collection of some of the most thoughtful scientists in the world on the issue of CTE – when they’re asked about the connection between concussions and CTE, they’re saying it’s unclear. I’ve met with Dr. Lili-Naz Hazrati, a world-class Canadian scientist/doctor, a couple of times and she says what’s confusing is when you get a patient who never played sports and to the best of their family’s knowledge never had a concussion – and has the CTE protein on the brain. We don’t know the cause and effect. This is not me being defensive and it’s not me living in a fool’s paradise – I’m going to continue to read every report and meet with scientists. I won’t stop my pursuit of looking after the players. This year, in an unprecedented way, we got together with our PA (Players Association). We said, ‘What if we just reduce the amount of contact during the regular season?’ And in a move that I think took the professional sports world by surprise, we eliminated padded practices. I’m going to look for every way I can to make this game safer for our players. I don’t like fining our players, I don’t like the discipline part. But on headshots – that stuff I’m going to be tough on. I have to find a way to convince our players to take that part of our game out. If I do that and I keep studying the question, keep pursuing the truth, we’ll come to the right place over a period of time.
Q: You were a player, you can relate to the physical nature of the game?
A: The game is tough. Somebody said it’s a contact sport. No, no – it’s a collision sport. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be better. Cars weren’t unsafe in the 1960s, but we keep finding ways to make them safer – warning sensors, lane departure warnings, airbags. I’m hoping to find a way to be a leader in all of pro sports in making the game as safe as it can be.
Q: Were you ever diagnosed with a concussion?
A: Once. At the University of Manitoba. I was in my second or third season. You remember back in those days, that was the dark room, don’t go to sleep.
Q: What does the league do about quarterback Johnny Manziel (who, nearly two years ago, was accused of threatening and hitting a former girlfriend)?
A: We have to involve experts. We have to stop believing that all of us who love the game of football know enough about broader issues to make right judgements on players with a history. I think we’ve introduced a new mindset around the introduction of expert advice to help guide us in decisions on players with a past.
Q: Did you chat with Johnny?
A: Yes. I liked him. He’s a great football guy. If you asked me alone to make a decision, I sat with a charming guy who’s full of passion and energy. Through an unsophisticated and untrained lens, I thought, ‘Wow, I’d want this guy on the field in a heartbeat.’ That’s the football Randy. The pragmatic, practical business guy said, ‘Wait a minute, there are some experts we could introduce into this process where we could understand him more scientifically and objectively. That’s what I’ve asked Johnny Manziel to do for us. If and when we bring a player into our game, I want to say to the fans and the community that we’ve done our work in a thoughtful way.
Q: Do the Tiger-Cats need an OK from you to sign Manziel?
A: Yes
Q: You are going to have a schedule change next year, you’ve expanded the season by a week – each team will get three byes – why?
A: Without that 21st week, you ended up with what Ottawa faced this year – three games in 11 days. I don’t agree with it. In my seventh, eighth and ninth seasons, I could not have done it. By that third game, I would have looked at Ron Lancaster and said, ‘Seriously, coach? Look at me, I’m not capable of suiting up for that third game.’ Your body gets worn down. Your body is tired. When your body is tired, it’s more susceptible to injury. The schedule will be way better in 2018. We’re going to try to eliminate the fast turnarounds. These things are about looking after my guys, looking after my players.
Q: You made an in-season change, you limited the number of coach challenges to one. How did that work?
A: I’m happy with it, with a caveat. I’m happy because it was a victory for common sense, which, as somebody famously noted, is surprisingly uncommon. I know I also need to work with our football people, coaches and GMs to revisit that, ‘Did we get it right?’ I can’t tell you the number of high-fives and handshakes I’ve gotten where people have said, ‘Thank you commissioner for doing what was right for the game.’ It’s time for me to spend serious time with coaches and GMs to get their feedback as well.
Q: Anything else on your personal wishlist, things you’d like to change?’
A: In the next five years, I want this game to set reasonable but aggressive targets for growth. I want to set revenue growth targets, I want to set attendance growth targets, I want to set broadcast growth targets. I want our players to be in a league that is on the move and marching forward. We’re going to have two seasons in the CFL from now on – football season and business season. Football season will end Sunday night at about 9:30 (EST). Business season starts Monday at 8 a.m. I use this word ‘co-opetition.’ We compete like crazy sideline to sideline, but we co-operate with each other in the name of a better Canadian Football League.
Q: Is this your dream job?
A: I’m loving every moment of it. We’re sitting here, Having a Beer with the Commissioner, tell me that isn’t a cool thing. I feel like I’m the luckiest guy in the country. I spent time with the Prime Minister (Tuesday). For me, that was an honour. But the thing is, I think I’ve got a better job than he does.
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There is no wind shielding and the seating stands aren't that large (Smallest Grey Cup attendance since Grey Cup held in Ottawa in the 1967) 
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