97th Grey Cup: Saskatchewan Rough Riders vs Montreal Alouettes

[Fve Crathva]

All of Victoria's watermelons have been shipped to Calgary.

SP

[Asher]

Let's be realistic, the CFL athletes are playing for a paycheque. There's no more "love of the game" than there is in any other league.

That being said, the salary cap in the CFL is 3.8 million. There's 45 players on a team. So that the mean salary would be approximately $85,000. You make more than that Asher? I guess you're doing pretty well for yourself then, given that you're only 26.

Regardless of what anybody on this forum makes specifically, CFL players do make a pretty good wage. The CFL minimum is somewhere around $50,000 a year, which, for most people, is a pretty damn good wage to get coming right out of college. The players get paid for playing a sport, thus "professional athlete." I don't really see what's sad about that. They get paid far more than the median wage in either the USA or Canada, and that is considered sad?

I don't really agree that the CFL athletes are only playing because they have "no other choice." I remember hearing a couple years ago that the highest average salary for any university degree (in the first year after graduation) was $50,000 for an engineering degree. So basically, if you just finished college, even if you graduated from an engineering program, you'd be better off playing in the CFL than anything else.

Minimum salary in the CFL is $35,000, not $50,000 -- and a lot more players make close to the floor than I think you know.

[Asher]

Minimum salaries in the CFL are $35,000 as a result of the CFL’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The average CFL salary is about $45,000-Canadian.

Starters, excluding quarterbacks, can command anywhere between $60,000 and $120,000, depending on their position. Quarterbacks are generally the highest-paid players, making between $150,000 and $300,000.

Before joining the CFL, Edmonton quarterback Ricky Ray was delivering Frito Lay potato chips for $43,000- U.S. a year - more than he’s made in Edmonton with the Eskimos this year.

[Asher]

From what I understand there are 46 roster players on a team, plus 6 practice roster players, plus another 6 roster players after NFL cuts are announced = 58 players under the cap.

You also need to leave space in the cap for injuries, etc.

[ShaneWalter]

Minimum salaries in the CFL are $35,000 as a result of the CFL’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The average CFL salary is about $45,000-Canadian.

Starters, excluding quarterbacks, can command anywhere between $60,000 and $120,000, depending on their position. Quarterbacks are generally the highest-paid players, making between $150,000 and $300,000.

Before joining the CFL, Edmonton quarterback Ricky Ray was delivering Frito Lay potato chips for $43,000- U.S. a year - more than he’s made in Edmonton with the Eskimos this year.

Yeah... RIcky Ray joined the CFL in... 2002 or 2003? Things have changed.

The CFL's salary cap is $3.8 million and teams (specifically the Roughriders... TWICE! ) do go over it.

You're basically pulling a Ben here.

[ShaneWalter]

It appears the salary cap is not $3.8 million, but rather $4.2 million!

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/story/2009/01/14/cfl-cap.html

The CFL is keeping its salary cap at $4.2 million in 2009.

CFL commissioner Mark Cohon made the announcement Wednesday, saying the decision to maintain the status quo is the right one for the league given the current economic climate.

"Our league is well positioned for challenging times, because it is affordable for Canadian families, accessible to our fans, and prudent in how it conducts its business," Cohon said in a statement. "The board of governors has strived to maintain that affordability, accessibility and prudence in holding the cap number steady for 2009."

Last year, the CFL boosted its cap from $4.05 million to the current level.

I was wrong about the minimum salary being $50,000. It is $41,000. Still, $41,000 is about the median yearly income in Canada, and in the CFL it is minimum salary. It isn't like these guys are starving.

http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=297990

But with the CFL seemingly deciding not to increase its salary cap -- and therefore not boosting the $41,000 minimum stipend -- it would appear the league has one less bargaining chip to use in its talks with the players.

[Ben Kenobi]

They play football up here? Who knew?

[Asher]

Yeah... RIcky Ray joined the CFL in... 2002 or 2003? Things have changed.

The CFL's salary cap is $3.8 million and teams (specifically the Roughriders... TWICE! ) do go over it.

You're basically pulling a Ben here.

How the **** am I pulling a Ben?

The point is these players are some of the lowest paid players of pro sports in North America. The NLL is probably the only league worse.

They're almost exclusively washed up players too old for college and not good enough for the NFL or Arena football.

Defend it all you want, but it is what it is. I don't see the point to following it at all -- if I'm going to follow sports, I'll follow the best of the best. High school volleyball, senior's hockey, and the CFL don't do it for me.

[KrazyHorse]

Arena football players get paid slightly less than CFL players, but basically comparable. Plus I thought the AFL just went tits up.

[ShaneWalter]

From what I understand there are 46 roster players on a team, plus 6 practice roster players, plus another 6 roster players after NFL cuts are announced = 58 players under the cap.

You also need to leave space in the cap for injuries, etc.

Practice roster players don't count against the cap, and they generally are not paid very well anyways. That isn't really unusual for players in a professional sports league to get paid poorly when they're not on the active roster. Jackie Mitchell, a former player for the Riders had been signed by an NFL team but left during the training camp because he said he could barely afford to feed himself on the per diem, let alone support his family.

There's certainly not "another 6 roster players" after NFL cuts are announced. There may be an expansion of the practice roster (though I'm pretty sure there isn't) but there is definately no expansion of the active roster in mid-season.

Still, just to prove the point, I'll take your number of 58 for the roster. With a salary cap of $4.2 million, and 58 players, that is an average of $72,413 a player. Not too shabby, and much higher than the median yearly wage in Canada.

[KrazyHorse]

Why would you compare a mean to a median?

[KrazyHorse]

The median salary for CFL players is probably in the 50k range. That's lower than the median Canadian family income (56k)

[Asher]

Practice roster players don't count against the cap, and they generally are not paid very well anyways. That isn't really unusual for players in a professional sports league to get paid poorly when they're not on the active roster. Jackie Mitchell, a former player for the Riders had been signed by an NFL team but left during the training camp because he said he could barely afford to feed himself on the per diem, let alone support his family.

There's certainly not "another 6 roster players" after NFL cuts are announced. There may be an expansion of the practice roster (though I'm pretty sure there isn't) but there is definately no expansion of the active roster in mid-season.

Still, just to prove the point, I'll take your number of 58 for the roster. With a salary cap of $4.2 million, and 58 players, that is an average of $72,413 a player. Not too shabby, and much higher than the median yearly wage in Canada.

You clearly don't understand cap economics, which probably isn't your fault because no one in Saskatchewan seems to be able to figure it out.

You need padding in your cap for things like injuries. The simple math as you do it doesn't make any sense.

The numbers I've seen show the mean is ~65,000 a year which, again, I find silly as I made more than that in my first job out of university. And I'm pretty sure lots of these guys played college ball...

I just find it hard to take a pro sport seriously when the players are clearly not highly valued. The fact that the league is so small doesn't help. How can anyone take a sport seriously if SASKATCHEWAN is a major player? Come on, now.

[ShaneWalter]

How the **** am I pulling a Ben?

You pulled an article from about 7 years ago and tried to use it to support your point, even though the situation in the CFL has changed significantly. You didn't link to the article, so one couldn't see the date on the article.

Now you could claim you were ignorant of this, and thats why you used the article except I find that not compelling because:
1) I'm supposed to believe that the first article you came across was one from 7 years ago that just happened to support your point?
2) I'm supposed to believe not linking to the article was just an innocent mistake?
3) You seem to have an idea about how the roster works in the CFL, yet you have no clue that Ricky Ray is getting paid somewhere North of $350,000 a year?

The point is these players are some of the lowest paid players of pro sports in North America. The NLL is probably the only league worse.

They're almost exclusively washed up players too old for college and not good enough for the NFL or Arena football.

Defend it all you want, but it is what it is. I don't see the point to following it at all -- if I'm going to follow sports, I'll follow the best of the best. High school volleyball, senior's hockey, and the CFL don't do it for me.

That's just a joke. For the most part, arena football players get paid nowhere near what CFL players get paid. Maybe they did 10 years ago, but not today.

As far as the "following the best," the CFL is the highest class of football league - in Canada. I suppose if you were in Australia you'd refuse to watch Australian rules football, also? Or if you were Irish you'd never watch Rugby?

[Asher]

Many of the articles even mention lower salaries than that:

http://www.verasburgershack.com/news/news5.html

With an average salary of $45,000, playing in today's CFL is no ticket to riches. Most players have to take off-season jobs just to make ends meet. Noah Cantor, an offensive lineman with the Argonauts, co-owns a pair of very popular gourmet hamburger joints in Vancouver called Vera's Burger Shack.

This is from TSN in ~2005:

http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/2005/11/how-much-do-cfl-players-make.html

Minimum salaries in the CFL this year are $30,000 for rookies and $32,000 for veterans. The minimum increases to $35,000 next year as a result of the CFL’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The average CFL salary is about $45,000 Canadian.

Starters, excluding quarterbacks, can command anywhere between $60,000 and $120,000, depending on their position. Quarterbacks are generally the highest-paid players, making between $150,000 and $300,000.

If you're telling me it's changed "significantly" since then, even though the floor and cap only went up slightly, then you need to back up those assertions because all signs point to you being very wrong.