CFL financial status

[Sir Blue and Gold]

...When the commissioner says seven out of nine teams did not make money, he isn't actually saying 7 out of 9 teams aren't profitable and there's a clear distinction there.

My assumption is that he means game day revenues (inc. sponsorship) minus total team expenses. 

The TV deal is roughly $50M a year or about $5.5M a team (unconfirmed by Bell) which comes very close to covering the entire player salary cap of every team combined. If you were to factor that in along with the other revenue sharing from Grey Cup it's a different financial picture, hence why the salary cap is going up. That's not to suggest anyone's making bank, but it's probably not as dire as it sounds.

You also need to think a bit strategically here - he's already negotiating that next contract with his words here.

[theaardvark]

Millionaires / Billionaires owing franchises that lose money is not uncommon.  The losses on these teams, while big numbers for you and me are rounding errors for them, and write offs.  Its not a huge concern in my books, so long as we can get passionate owners with deep pockets.

Yes, Winnipeg is a model that makes money/sense, but a lot of our current success is because of our current success on the field.  Its hard in Edm. to sell tickets knowing the on field product is that bad.  BC has a huge facility to fill, which no doubt has a large nut to cover.  CGY had a dynasty, now they just die nasty.  Toronto is Toronto, until they get some more colourful characters to sell tickets, who knows, Montreal must be doing better with their recent success.  I find it hard to believe that Hamilton is losing money, again, more success on field would help, no doubt.

If the league was a little more balanced, gate might be a bit better.  But in general, while its "not a solid business model", most sports leagues aren't. 

Most are vanity driven, and maintaining the actual status of the league by raising $SMS levels, banning air horns, being more open about neg lists and salaries, better data mining ability and more accurate stats tracking and availability, all these things will make for a better, less unprofitable league.

Worst comes to worst, we can sell it to the Rock (just joking)

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Ti-Cat caretaker Bob Young seems to be divesting his ownership of the team, last year he sold 40% to Stelco and this year he sold another chunk to former player Marwan Hage.

[bomb squad]

Ti-Cat caretaker Bob Young seems to be divesting his ownership of the team, last year he sold 40% to Stelco and this year he sold another chunk to former player Marwan Hage.

He deserved better.