http://www.torontosun.com/2016/01/28...art-of-a-trend

The former Ticats and Alouettes quarterback let it be known via social media earlier this week that he had asked Montreal for his release to get a head start on CFL free agency.

Lo and behold, two days later the former Central Michigan gunslinger ended up getting “drafted” as one of the eight “franchise players” in the fledgling Major League Football (MLFB). A few other players who had cups of coffee in the CFL were also drafted as “franchise players” on Wednesday: quarterbacks Casey Pachall and Darron Thomas, and receiver Joe Adams. A few more ex-CFLers were drafted on Thursday.

There was a bit of grumbling going on at the Senior Bowl this week from CFL scouts and personnel people who were a little perturbed about how the MLFB is going about its business, which is only natural considering the potential for competition is there.

The MLFB says it is going to play 10 games between April and June, and pay its players $2,500 per contest. There are eight teams, although only two U.S. cities have apparently been announced as franchise locations. The league said it has a TV deal in place to broadcast its 40 regular-season contests.

Players will be able to leave for the NFL whenever they want, of course, which is something the CFL does not allow.

Those who are in charge of finding players for CFL teams are concerned about players getting locked into a league that has yet to announce locations for the bulk of its franchises yet expects to attract 12,000 to 15,000 spectators per game in a couple of months.

In the end, the MLFB will likely be just another UFL, XFL and FEFL, which didn’t even play title games in its first (and only) two years of existence but appears to still be technically up and running. American football fans have shown no big appetite for football outside of the NFL and the NCAA, and yet these leagues keep trying.

The CFL has no reason to be scared of the MLFB, but it is clearly concerned for players who might get caught up in a league that, like so many before it, might be biting off more than it can chew.