Argos at BC GDT Friday 9PM CT

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

1. When you're made of money, $1M+$3M fine is nothing.

2. What is it worth to have BC in their home GC?  It's a huge stadium.  10k more tickets sold?  20k?  $400 avg x 10k = $4M... well look at that, eh?

3. Once you've gone over $300k + fines, why not do more?  Ya he probably won't reach $1M, but why not blow another $100k on 1-2 misc pickups to make them unbeatable in the WDF?  Then do it again... and again...

I would have never thought such a thing was possible, but then they bought Betts after already being way over with Rourke.  Now anything is possible.  Only if Ambrosie gave them a call to rein them in will the shenanigans stop.  Did Ambrosie do that?

I think you're underestimating the pier pressure Doman will be subjected to when  sitting down with fellow owners at league meetings. As a new owner they won't be shy to scold him for breaking league guidelines and potentially upsetting league parity if he goes off on a free-spending spree. Unless he's an F.U. type guy, he'll probably tone down his spending and fall in line with the wishes of the majority of team representatives.

[Jesse]

I think you're underestimating the pier pressure Doman will be subjected to when  sitting down with fellow owners at league meetings. As a new owner they won't be shy to scold him for breaking league guidelines and potentially upsetting league parity if he goes off on a free-spending spree. Unless he's an F.U. type guy, he'll probably tone down his spending and fall in line with the wishes of the majority of team representatives.

I don't think this is relevant.

Doman hasn't done anything new or Earth-shattering. I don't think he's anywhere near as high on spending as techno keeps proclaiming. And the rules are in place to keep people from spending too high. A few teams are fined most years because things happen. No one is getting "peer-pressured" at league meetings.

[TecnoGenius]

I think you're underestimating the pier pressure Doman will be subjected to when  sitting down with fellow owners at league meetings. As a new owner they won't be shy to scold him for breaking league guidelines and potentially upsetting league parity if he goes off on a free-spending spree.

I fully agree.  I think the league is also getting involved and sent messages to him.  That Ambrosie thing in a pre-game show the other week was probably a coded message to Doman: "cool it with the SMS overspend".

He probably doesn't want to be a pariah in the league with TPTB or the other owners.  Unless he really is a big DB... in which case he can tell them all to pound sand.  What are they going to do, force him to sell the team or the league takes it over?  That would be disaster for the CFL, not for Doman, who almost certainly is losing money every year on the Lions.  Who has who by the short ones?

However, I have no doubt that an out of line team can face other pressures and punishments (maybe hidden) from the league.

[TecnoGenius]

Doman hasn't done anything new or Earth-shattering. I don't think he's anywhere near as high on spending as techno keeps proclaiming. And the rules are in place to keep people from spending too high. A few teams are fined most years because things happen. No one is getting "peer-pressured" at league meetings.

You act like it's just me.  I got all my numbers from other sources, articles and posters.  I didn't come up with them and I am not the main proponent.

And owners definitely feel a peer pressure among their group, just as players feel a peer pressure amongst theirs.  (FIFO anyone?)  The dynamic exists in all 6+ person groups.  I'm on a couple of boards and you can see it in action in every meeting.  Nothing says you have to succumb, but it definitely exists!

P.S. Betts & Rourke signings are not mere "things happening".

[Jesse]

You act like it's just me.  I got all my numbers from other sources, articles and posters.  I didn't come up with them and I am not the main proponent.

And owners definitely feel a peer pressure among their group, just as players feel a peer pressure amongst theirs.  (FIFO anyone?)  The dynamic exists in all 6+ person groups.  I'm on a couple of boards and you can see it in action in every meeting.  Nothing says you have to succumb, but it definitely exists!

P.S. Betts & Rourke signings are not mere "things happening".

Fair enough!

Let's just say I take things with a grain of salt. Some of the media reporting all of this loves to stir things up (that's the job). We don't know how much they had on the cap, so we don't know how much half a salary for two players is going to push them over. But you keep taking that amount of uncertainty and talking about it like they're ready to throw the cap away entirely.

[TecnoGenius]

We don't know how much they had on the cap, so we don't know how much half a salary for two players is going to push them over. But you keep taking that amount of uncertainty and talking about it like they're ready to throw the cap away entirely.

Fair enough.

Us uberfans (you included) tend to have a feel for how much a team is spending.  We can glance at the week 1 roster and probably guess whether they are in cap h.e.hockeysticks or not: mainly because our team is in it!  You also look at who a team was forced to shed in FA.  If they're shedding mid-priced guys that are "keepers", then that is further proof of cap problems.  M.Mitchell over J.Grant?  Wheatfall over Bailey?  Fox/Adams over Walker?  Haba over Jeffcoat?  Heavy proof of cap issues.

Look at BC's roster, even without Betts/Rourke.  It's not ELC nobodies, it's got more star vets than we do!  Their R corps with the 2 H's and McInnis/Cottoy, plus Stanback: very expensive leaders in their category.  Only one ELC in the R/RB corps!  One of the league-best vet OLs.  Extreme vet DBs.  Coveted QB (VAJ).  League best K... I could go on.

So any uber-fan looks at all that and instinctively knows BC is as tight to the cap as WPG, and we know for a fact WPG is at the extreme limits because KW came right out and told us.

Now look at MTL, with 75% of their best players on ELC!  That's why they could bring in Sankey et al late and barely reach the cap.  You look at their week 1 roster and it seems like the cheapest one in the league.  We all would die for that many all-star ELCs.  (And it'll be their turn to be in major cap trouble next season, with a ton of player sheds.)

Yes, instincts can be wrong and no one except BC GM can be certain of anything, and I could be massively wrong.  But my logic is sound and my gut is screaming and many in the media and forums (peer uber-fans) are saying the same thing.  So my guess shall remain "way over cap" just as your guess will remain "probably only over by a normal amount".

The beauty of it is, we all will learn the 100% pure truth in about 4 months when the league publishes the cap overages.  But just because that will happen, doesn't mean we can't b & m about it now, eh?  It's better to do so now because by Jan '25 I bet no one will really care what the true numbers are because it will be water under the bridge.

Lastly, I think it's important we keep on BC's case because I'm not sure they're done yet... 50/50 chance they do another splash signing before the playoffs.  There should be some level of outrage now, because such a move should warrant extreme outrage.  I guess I can save my whinging for the next development: I've said basically everything there is to say.  I'm sure everyone's already come to their own conclusion already.

[TecnoGenius]

Word from 3down is Hollins has a dislocated shoulder.  So he should be back this season (unlike a broken collar bone).