With COVID-19 and the CFL it seems every answer leads to 10 more questions.
Monday, the league cancelled the 2020 season. An answer to ‘are we playing football this year?’ But now, teams have to deal with all the questions that arise.
What about the players? What can GM Jeremy O’Day and his staff do for his guys that no longer have a season to look forward to?
“More just try to support them as much as possible…and look at any avenues we can to help them,” says O’Day.
“As a club I guess we’ll try to do as many appearances as we can do and get our guys in the community as much as possible. I know that only will affect a small number of the players. But we’re also going to encourage the guys that if they have opportunities to work, to help their family, that they need to do so.”
What about the players whose contracts were up at the end of the season, players like Charleston Hughes, Shaq Evans and many more?
“Unfortunately that’s not a decision I would make on my own,” O’Day acknowledges. “It’s a discussion that’s on-going right now with the PA and the league office. Those are the exact questions that we need answered.”
The CFL and the CFLPA will have to negotiate what happens with contracts. Do they expire according to the calendar? Could they be rolled over to 2021? What changes should there be to the CBA, if any?
“Questions that we need to know when we start planning for the next season is ‘what happens with their contract status moving forward?’ So those are the discussions that are happening now with the league and the Players’ Association.”
O’Day has chosen to approach it like a normal off-season until he gets new information.
“Every off-season we get guys that have NFL opportunities,” he says. “We get guys that retire. We get guys that decide to move on with their career. That’s going to happen throughout this. I hope that we don’t lose a lot of the guys through this process, but it happens every off-season.”
“We’ll do the best we can to try to get our guys back and keep them Roughriders,” he adds.
In the meantime, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for O’Day to analyze the inner workings of team. And to spend time with his family during the summer.
“The last three months have definitely been different for us in Football Operations. Usually during the season we’re literally ‘go’ from when the sun comes up to when the sun goes down. And it’s definitely been different the last couple of months. I know I’ve been able to spend a little more time–I guess a lot more time–that I’ve been able to spend with my family and had more meals at the dinner table that I’ve probably had in the last 10 years.”
“There has been more time for us to be with our families which is one of the positive things of this.”
