2025 SMS increase

[theaardvark]

Great find Waffler!  I didn't know about that.  That would negate any advantage a team who got the news early (if any) had.  That would allow us to match/beat the Lawler deal now that we know we have gobs of extra SMS to spend!

Dobson too!

No way we overpay Lawler and Dobson just because we have new $SMS money.  Its not the Mafia way. 

We're not a "Moneyball" team, but we're not the Yankees either.

Walters consistantly cobbles together championship calibre rosters without breaking the bank.  He understands there are going to be losses every year, NFL or drunken sailor CFL GM's, that are willing to outspend us.  He knows that we can survive a few losses each year because we have, on average, an above average team, and each year he scores a few new recruits or overlooked players that perform high above their paygrade.

Players we lost, mostly to Goveia, aren't coming back.  The fact that they left is enough alone.  even if we could now match or improve on their tamper deals,why would we bring those traitors      back.

[Jesse]

No way we overpay Lawler and Dobson just because we have new $SMS money.  Its not the Mafia way. 

We're not a "Moneyball" team, but we're not the Yankees either.

Walters consistantly cobbles together championship calibre rosters without breaking the bank.  He understands there are going to be losses every year, NFL or drunken sailor CFL GM's, that are willing to outspend us.  He knows that we can survive a few losses each year because we have, on average, an above average team, and each year he scores a few new recruits or overlooked players that perform high above their paygrade.

Players we lost, mostly to Goveia, aren't coming back.  The fact that they left is enough alone.  even if we could now match or improve on their tamper deals,why would we bring those traitors      back.

We're a salary cap league, aards. Everyone spends the same amount of money.

We've build the entire core of our roster by making guys the highest paid at their positions: Bighill, Jefferson, Lawler, Collaros.

You are completely making this up as you go along.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Haha, this isn't Ambrosie/CFL money to spend, this is entirely the teams' money!  Easy for Ambrosie to up the limit since it's not his dime!   

I think it might be nice to have the SMS slightly unaffordable for around half the teams, so that there's some incentive for teams to make lots of money and be more successful!

Right now teams like WFC not only gain no on-field advantage for being the best run business, but they also get penalized by having to pay everyone else's "equalization" payments!

If the SMS was higher than some teams wanted to spend, then we can gain an on-field advantage.  Even if it's just 100-200k that would be a good incentive.

400k is nothing to sneeze at!  So many posters were saying last season the CFL is always poor and broke and teams don't want to spend, must have small caps, etc.  400k kind of proves that wrong!  Either that or Ambrosie is nuts!  Then again, I'm sure this had to pass a majority of team owners.

I think the league probably created the new revenue, not the teams, if you didn't notice most stadiums were half empty last season, including Sask. Hamilton, Ottawa, Edmonton and Calgary....almost all attendance looked to be down, except Wpg. and Mtl.  BC might have gone up, but Doman spent it as fast as he made it.

[blue_gold_84]

We're a salary cap league, aards. Everyone spends the same amount of money.

We've build the entire core of our roster by making guys the highest paid at their positions: Bighill, Jefferson, Lawler, Collaros.

You are completely making this up as you go along.

Well said.

You could add Oliveira, Demski, Stanley, etc. to that list. Perennial all-stars rarely get short-changed in contracts, if ever.

Ya gotta pay to play*. That's not debatable.

* contend as consistently as this team has

[DM83]

Is Chung still out there? That would solve a lot of needs.

[TecnoGenius]

"Lawler on Monday agreed to an offer from Hamilton for some $75,000 more per season than Winnipeg offered"

I knew the $ had to be over $30k more than our offer for Kenny to bail again.  They made him an offer he couldn't refuse, and I'm fine with him bailing for 75k.

But now we have the $400k to play with, pay it (well, 30k less than 75k!) and get him back!

[TecnoGenius]

Is Chung still out there? That would solve a lot of needs.

He'll never leave BC.  And they'll never release him.  Plus, he's getting to be old now.

[TecnoGenius]

I think the league probably created the new revenue, not the teams

Now that we have the Sun article, ya, it looks like the extra bump will be made possible through extra revenue sharing.  Still, I like the idea of making teams come up with (at least some/most of) the money.

[TecnoGenius]

I don't know where you're getting that. Marketing money over $200K counts against the SMS is my understanding. If it was truly unlimited and not against the SMS then there isn't any SMS.

I quoted the contract that doesn't say that. Can you quote a source, equal to or better than the actual contact, that backs your understanding?

TB is right.  We put this to bed after the GC.  The SSK forum had a much better discussion about it.  They hate BC and their shenanigans more than I do!!

All that marketing money was just free outside-of-SMS giveaways to Rourke and Betts.  It's all just lies and nonsense to cheat.  And if that's the playing field the CFL has created, we should be doing it too.  Just doing what BC did we can give Kenny an extra $200k for marketing, completely SMS-free!  Do it KW!

[Pigskin]

He'll never leave BC.  And they'll never release him.  Plus, he's getting to be old now.

Chungh is a FA. At 32 he is a kid compared to some of the players on our OL.

[TecnoGenius]

No way we overpay Lawler and Dobson just because we have new $SMS money.  Its not the Mafia way. 

Sure it is.  We made an offer in good faith based on the knowledge at the time regarding SMS cap.  Now we have new knowledge that we have an extra $400k to spend across the roster as we see fit.

Half the guys are already locked in stone, so all that remaining money is gravy to go chase those who bailed or new FA talent.

We literally have to spend it, and the choices on how to do so are dwindling fast.

So if we undershot HAM on Kenny by $75k before, we can take $50k of the newfound $400k and get Kenny back.  What we won't do is play bidding war if HAM then says they'll pay him an extra $50k too!  But I have a sneaking suspicion that a couple of teams (like HAM) got wind of the extra $400k ahead of time and have already taken that into account.

[TecnoGenius]

Chungh is a FA. At 32 he is a kid compared to some of the players on our OL.

Hah, ya.  I guess.  Stan & Neuf are older by a fair chunk.  Still, our M.O. is usually to have 2-3 oldsters on OL, not 3-4.

I still maintain he won't leave BC.  Wasn't the whole deal when he left WPG that that is where he was from?

That said, in one of the games this year Chungh screwed up on a downfield block and their run play failed and he was swearing loudly and having a tantrum right on TV.  It was really funny.  There's a non-zero chance he's sick of losing in that club...

My guess is he's just holding out for more payday and maybe BC is trying to shortchange him, but he'll resign at a slightly lower price soon.

[Blue In BC]

I quoted the contract that doesn't say that. Can you quote a source, equal to or better than the actual contact, that backs your understanding?

I'll look for it but it's the only thing that makes sense. You can't have a promo total $$ that is infinite.

Your post mentioned it would be audited. Why would it be audited if there was no limit. I don't really see anything in your post that is definitive one way or the other.

EDIT:  Found this which suggests you're right but that there is a grey area caveat in the auditing. Another Ambrosie mess up IMO. How and who determines the marketing value of any player. It could be argued that Rourke is worth $200K or not as the face of the team. That's somewhat regardless of what off field stuff he does.

If he is, then so is Collaros or other starting QB's.


https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://3downnation.com/2024/11/12/cfl-teams-could-face-salary-cap-punishments-for-abuse-of-marketing-money-randy-ambrosie/&ved=2ahUKEwiN06697LGLAxW9HDQIHV_yKP8QFnoECCQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2wLTAOnCo5H2pisVE0wmag

[Blue In BC]

Anyway. What changes happen now with this increase to the SMS cap? What is equitable? I don't want to see top players renegotiating another $50K on top of $250K for example. As I've suggested, I prefer increasing the ELC but by how much.

Adding another Canadian or 2 to the roster is also appealing.

[TBURGESS]

I'll look for it but it's the only thing that makes sense. You can't have a promo total $$ that is infinite.

Your post mentioned it would be audited. Why would it be audited if there was no limit. I don't really see anything in your post that is definitive one way or the other.

EDIT:  Found this which suggests you're right but that there is a grey area caveat in the auditing. Another Ambrosie mess up IMO. How and who determines the marketing value of any player. It could be argued that Rourke is worth $200K or not as the face of the team. That's somewhat regardless of what off field stuff he does.

If he is, then so is Collaros or other starting QB's.


https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://3downnation.com/2024/11/12/cfl-teams-could-face-salary-cap-punishments-for-abuse-of-marketing-money-randy-ambrosie/&ved=2ahUKEwiN06697LGLAxW9HDQIHV_yKP8QFnoECCQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2wLTAOnCo5H2pisVE0wmag

It's a glaring error in the contract that the Lions took advantage of. 

You can't change a contract after the fact without all parties signing off on the change. BC wouldn't sign. The players wouldn't sign. Therefore, retroactively saying that they could face SMS punishments is just sabre-rattling IMO.