As a long time devoted Argonauts fan... I must admit that those days when they were signing "ex-NFLers and all-American heroes as saviours" were darn exciting times around here. The balance in economics between the American and Canadian game has changed so very much... now it's more lucrative for a Canadian kid to sit on an American taxi squad than to be an all star in the CFL. Personally... I really miss the days when Canadian teams could sign recognizable NCAA players right out of college ball... especially when their physical attributes didn't exactly meet NFL standards. Nowadays they'd rather take a UDFA deal from an American team... and potentially bounce around the perimeter of the NFL for years... than sign up here.
My opinion... it's not just the massive amounts of TV money that make the NFL so attractive to borderline prospects... it's the lack of fair living wages for non-stars up here that has created the current situation. The implementation of the salary cap may have saved the CFL... and permitted some teams to prosper out west... but it almost just as surely a killed any interest in the league by the younger generations in Toronto.
I respectfully disagree in that I say it is 100% of the amounts of TV money that have done this. Even if there was no salary cap in the CFL, how do you compete with players making 20M+ USD? You may be able to steal some back ups if you were to pay them close to 1M per season, but would that really make a difference? Does the average fan even know any NFL back ups? Hardcore football fans might, but that audience is not the audience you need to attract. It's not a big group, and you pretty well already have the hardcore fans.
It's us vs the rest of the country
Yeah, it's entirely a function of the difference in TV money. The CFL routinely signed NFL draft picks in their draft year up until the early 80s. Once the 84-86 CFL TV contract expired, the CFL experienced over a decade of financial problems while NFL revenues exploded. Other than Rocket Ismail (which required a massive contract), I can't remember any NFL draft pick in the last 30 years who decided to skip the NFL and sign with the CFL.
Argos get deal done with Cordarro Law
https://www.argonauts.ca/2021/02/04/...deal-done-law/
The 2019 sack leader and the #5 guy as bookends? Yes, please.
Argos making waves.
Would have been nice for Dinwiddie and his staff to have gotten a years experience in but I guess they will.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the last few days, kudos to Murphy, Pinball and the entire Argos organization for being aggressive in addressing many areas of need.
Hopefully QB depth next on the bucket list.
Toronto Argonauts
18 Time World Champions
With the possible exception of Linebacking, the team seems to be shaping up very nicely. Great to see the team making moves to bring in effective rush ends--that has been missing for the last couple of years. Looking at the roster, the team may find itself releasing some fine talent at cut down time.
This team certainly looks stacked on paper. Love what Pinball and Murphy are doing. The Argos have to start generating talk around town and this could help a lot.
Year of the Rocket: John Candy, Wayne Gretzky, a Crooked Tycoon, and the Craziest Season in Football History (https://sutherlandhousebooks.com/pro...of-the-rocket/)
Bouncing Back: From National Joke to Grey Cup Champs (https://bit.ly/3fvip5x)
YOTR YouTube https://bit.ly/37jtG4f
BB YouTube https://bit.ly/2TSYPs7
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