Congratulations to me! I've been made the new Commissioner of the CFL! My first order of business is to refund the Riders for all their fines and issue a statement saying they are in fact the envy of the league. I'd immediately expand the CFL and put a team in the Maritime's. Their team colours cannot be red or black...we've got enough confusion there, nor should their name contain 'rider' in any form. I'd fine Wally Buono for always being in the refs ear. I'd ban the Lions from wearing the all black uniforms because OUCH my eyes. I'd hire an incredible marketing person and put up billboards across Canada and outside every stadium peddling our Canadian game. I'd ban the Eskimo's Punter mascot because it looks like a damn angry potato. I'd have a meeting with the Bombers and tell them to get their stadium fixed properly once and for all because their fans (ick) deserve better. I'd get rid of all the new contact rules and let our players play football or at the very least institute the Dressler rule where a receiver cannot intentionally run into a DB to draw a penalty. I'd hire a song writer and get the TiCats a new fight song because what is "oskee wee wee" anyway? For the sanity of @RBeesFan I'd prevent any Redblack player from signing with the "stinky" Argo's. I'd have to do something to the Stampeders for just being the Stamps. Oh yes...and I'd make sure people knew punters/kickers are players too.
Okay, so maybe it's not a good idea to hand over the reigns of the Canadian football league to a rabid Saskatchewan Roughrider fan. However, when it was announced that Jeffrey Orridge would be stepping down from CFL Commissioner on June 30th, it got me to thinking about the qualities we really need at this position.
First and foremost the new Commish needs to be someone who knows and understands the league in all it's glory and issues. They either need to be Canadian or someone who has played/coached/worked for the league. They need to be fair in all judgements by treating all the teams equally and at the same time reserving judgement of issues covered by law up to the law makers. None of this 'grey' rules for you while black and white rules for others. They need to be in the public promoting the brand and attending games regularly so that fans see that he/she has our best interests at heart...which of course they must have always.
Names like Michael Clemons, Duane Forde and Glen Suitor have been thrown around in conversation when fans and media discuss who should hold office next. We always like to provide names of people we are familiar with even though the CFL usually chooses names of people we don't know at all. It's a tough line to walk. We need someone who has a dynamic personality but who knows how to reign himself in and apply business rules and technique at the same time. He/She should be logical, supportive and inspirational in their comments. I don't think holding a designation for the CBC would be helpful while perhaps owning your own chain of stores or restaurants might better apply.
This is the Canadian Football League. Let's make it truly Canadian...really show What We're Made Of... by having football teams located coast to coast. The fan base is already in the Maritimes, willing and waiting. The new Commissioner and his board needs to get the ball rolling on this. It will unite fans from across the nation and bring everyone together in a great big CFL family. I know this kind of thing takes time but I believe we are passed ready for a 10 team league. Having 10 teams also makes us look better across the border, if that's an image we should be concerned with. I personally have trouble following the NFL because there's so many teams...but the CFL? Well, 10 is a really nice number for people unfamiliar with our funky 3 down game to follow. This is the best way to #BringItIn and grow appeal everywhere.
Player safety is incredibly important and with new research coming out constantly on concussions and this has to be something the new commissioner supports. We've seen over the last few years players who are still in their prime deciding to retire because of concussion issues. We've also seen outgoing Jeffrey Orridge provide statements where he denies concussion issues exist. We've reached the time where we just can't do that anymore. CFL players deserve someone who understands the research and...excuse the pun...is willing to face it head on.
Just as that candidate needs to know about health they should be developing a video game and online streaming for fans as well. Is there a better way to appeal to young people than provide a way for them to play or watch games right on their phones or tablets? "I can be Chad Owens in this cool new CFL game on my ipod". Now how awesome would that be? This season the NLL let fans stream a game on social media. This is the way of the future. We aren't always plugged in front of our televisions anymore...we're busy, sometimes we pvr (especially to ffwd through the nasal drainage commercials) and sometimes we are traveling and want to watch the game and many people don't even have cable packages anymore. These idea's alone would catapult the league to another level. This is the next relationship the commissioner needs to foster. How can we bring these ideas to fruition? I hope the next Commish knows!
These are a few of the items I've compiled about the qualities the new Commissioner of the CFL should have, how they should operate and things they should do. After scouring the interweb, wondering what the actual duties entail I found a few pages in the CFL Constitution found here ---> CFL Bylaws & scroll to page 30. Jeffrey Orridge is still commissioner until the beginning of the 2017 season June 30th. Good luck to him in his future endeavors and good luck to the people searching for his replacement. The fans of this league have high expectations...please don't let us down.
