Quote Originally Posted by Cordo View Post
You don't take the knocks & make the sacrifices that these players make if it's a hobby. CFL players might not be paid like pros in other leagues but they bring a professional mentality when it's time to play. That is what truly makes the CFL product great & it makes you forget as a fan that a lot of these guys have to take a second job to support themselves & their families. If you had a bunch of guys half-assing it out there, the CFL would have died a long time ago.

The prospects for the league have been looking better than they have been in a long time. The TV money more than doubles starting this year, Ottawa is back in the league with stable ownership, new stadiums for Winnipeg, Hamilton & Saskatchewan here or soon coming. Sure the team we cheer for isn't in a good position but in comparison to other times in league history, this is nothing. I can't blame the players for looking at this stuff & wanting to cut an improved deal for themselves. These aren't millionaires....
I find the notion that "a lot of these guys have take a second job to support their families" utterly ridiculous based on the average CFL salary of over 90 thousand dollars per season. Real people raise families on 2 incomes that combined is almost half a CFL average salary. And whats wrong with taking second job? Plenty of regular people do just that.

I have no problem with players getting a 10 percent raise, that seems fair. I get the feeling that the PA feels that after a few seasons of the league righting itself, now the players should benefit to max potential, Its a classic case of "Too much Too soon". And hearing grumblings from player reps that Players have historically made great sacrifices for the league (paycuts) so the CFL could survive is no reason to give them everything they want today.

I see no reason why players today sould benefit from the sacrifices of previous generations players. If that is some sort of rationale than tHe players pension fund should benefit more than players salaries today.