Randy Ambrosie optimistic about 2021

[B.C.FAN]

I watched Randy Ambrosie's virtual Fan State of the League moderated by Sara Orlesky of TSN today and read his longer Q&A interview with Chris O'Leary of cfl.ca. Ambrosie expressed confidence that the league will play in 2021 and said a schedule is ready to be released soon. He expressed confidence that the league's international strategy and global draft will continue and that the 2021 Grey Cup in Hamilton will go ahead as planned. He cited two recent major vaccine progress reports as reason for optimism but said that any plans will have to be scalable, which I assume means there will be some allowance for a curtailed schedule or COVID safety protocols affecting the league and spectators. He didn't offer a lot of details but news of the imminent schedule release has given me hope that the league is planning for as normal a season as possible in 2021.

https://www.cfl.ca/2020/11/16/oleary-qa ... -ambrosie/

[maxlion]

Optimism is part of the job. However, the likelihood of a vaccine having any impact on a CFL season in 2021 is exceedingly low, even in a best case scenario. The choices next year will be the same as this year: play without fans or don't play. If vaccines under development prove effective, 2022 might be a possibility.

[BC 1988]

Ambrosie is hanging everything on the chance of an effective vaccine being widely available (and accepted by the public). His plans to "release a schedule" depend entirely on the Board of Governors (so there is about as much solidity here as there was when they were talking about return to play back in September.) When he talks about Halifax, all that does is remove more credibility.

Not surprisingly it's crickets both here and on RF.

Sol-E just did an interview on Sekeres & Price.
https://www.tsn.ca/radio/vancouver-1040 ... -1.1553205

[KnowItAll]

Ambrosie is hanging everything on the chance of an effective vaccine being widely available (and accepted by the public) .

Apparently so is Dr Henry, Adrian Dix, and Premier Horgan.

[B.C.FAN]

Randy Ambrosie expanded on the league’s planning process for 2021 at the Lions’ Virtual Town Hall for season ticketholders Tuesday night. He stressed again that the plans will have to be scalable but he said the league will be guided by advice from the chief public health officers in the six provinces with CFL franchises in setting a schedule and determining when and how spectators will be allowed in stadiums.

There wasn’t a lot of new information at the town hall. Rick LeLacheur read a statement thanking season ticketholders and corporate sponsors for their continuing support. Rick Campbell introduced his coaching staff, which allowed fans to see and hear from some coaches for the first time.

Perhaps the most interesting development of the night was a humorous question to Rick Campbell from “Mike in Seattle” about who grows the best beard. “Mike” was apparently Mike Reilly, who lives near Campbell’s sister in Seattle. The friendly exchange suggests that Reilly and Campbell have a good relationship and that Reilly's contract grievance against the Lions will soon be amicably resolved.

[Sir Purrcival]

I'm thinking that if there is a vaccine in the offing and it now appears that there are least 2 feasible options on that score, the timeline would probably look something like the following.

Both the vaccines are in the midst of phase 3 trials. Once those are complete, Health Canada will have to evaluate them before release for public use. Given the urgency, they will give priority to that process. The speculation that I have here is that there may well be a vaccine becoming available late March, early April. Maybe sooner if the US decides to implement some kind of shots on an emergency basis. I could see there being some general impacts being made by mid May. Certainly time enough for the CFL to be working towards a somewhat normal looking season.

[Gridiron Ernie]

Randy Ambrosie expanded on the league’s planning process for 2021 at the Lions’ Virtual Town Hall for season ticketholders Tuesday night. He stressed again that the plans will have to be scalable but he said the league will be guided by advice from the chief public health officers in the six provinces with CFL franchises in setting a schedule and determining when and how spectators will be allowed in stadiums.

There wasn’t a lot of new information at the town hall. Rick LeLacheur read a statement thanking season ticketholders and corporate sponsors for their continuing support. Rick Campbell introduced his coaching staff, which allowed fans to see and hear from some coaches for the first time.

Perhaps the most interesting development of the night was a humorous question to Rick Campbell from “Mike in Seattle” about who grows the best beard. “Mike” was apparently Mike Reilly, who lives near Campbell’s sister in Seattle. The friendly exchange suggests that Reilly and Campbell have a good relationship and that Reilly's contract grievance against the Lions will soon be amicably resolved.

B.C.FAN, you mention the introduction of the coaching staff. The Lions' website still shows only the 2020 staff. I'm wondering if that group remains intact? I happened to see (on Travis Brown's twitter) a screen shot he retweeted which did not show either Jason Tucker or Danny O'Brien. I don't want to read too much into that, but I'm reminded that some other teams have necessarily trimmed their staffs by a couple guys in recent weeks.

[Hambone]

B.C.FAN, you mention the introduction of the coaching staff. The Lions' website still shows only the 2020 staff. I'm wondering if that group remains intact? I happened to see (on Travis Brown's twitter) a screen shot he retweeted which did not show either Jason Tucker or Danny O'Brien. I don't want to read too much into that, but I'm reminded that some other teams have necessarily trimmed their staffs by a couple guys in recent weeks.

Have you actually looked at the Lions' website Ernie? If you're relying on Travis' twitter it must be old. The Lions website shows the current staff. I don't know when it was updated other than quite some time ago but I'd assume months ago. it definitely showed the current staff when I happened to look about a week ago. Rather flashy looking graphics too. Just need some updated pics of some of them sporting Lions gear.

https://www.bclions.com/coaching-staff/

[David]

B.C.FAN, you mention the introduction of the coaching staff. The Lions' website still shows only the 2020 staff. I'm wondering if that group remains intact? I happened to see (on Travis Brown's twitter) a screen shot he retweeted which did not show either Jason Tucker or Danny O'Brien. I don't want to read too much into that, but I'm reminded that some other teams have necessarily trimmed their staffs by a couple guys in recent weeks.

Hey Ernie. All were introduced on the call (including Messrs. Tucker and O'Brien). It was mentioned that Danny has relocated to the West Coast and currently resides year-round in the Vancouver area. Coach Campbell and Kelly Bates are the other coaches that live here full time.

BTW, all the coaches impressed me, but I really liked our Special Teams coach Yanowsky. Four decades of football experience and just he screams "coach" to me. Leroy Blugh also seems like he will be a good fit for our D-line. Coach Bates mentioned how he likes the commitment of our O-line, several of whom moved here in the off-season to do their training.


DH

[David]

Interesting piece here about our Leos from Business in Vancouver (written by our former mayoral candidate....I rather wish he had won).

https://biv.com/article/2020/11/bc-lion ... t-pandemic


DH

[Gridiron Ernie]

Thanks for the info David, confirming the Lions still have their full stable of coaches as shown on their site. The screen-shot I viewed which Coach Travis Brown retweeted (via Carolyn Cody) just yesterday had a couple guys missing in the shot, so I just wanted confirmation -- in light of other teams having had to trim their staffs recently. Hambone -- I certainly do consult the Leos' website, and as you indicated -- the page of the 2020 coaching staff was put up several months ago already, in anticipation of this season, that's precisely why I was asking. Thought perhaps there were recent developments since then. Thanks folks. Cheers.

[BC 1988]

Interesting piece here about our Leos from Business in Vancouver (written by our former mayoral candidate....I rather wish he had won).

https://biv.com/article/2020/11/bc-lion ... t-pandemic


DH

Thanks for the link. Excellent article. He did get the chronology a bit mixed up though

At one comical stage in the CFL’s chequered governance, Braley had divested his hometown Hamilton Ti-Cats and taken on not just one franchise in Toronto but a second one in the Lions.

BC 1997 was long before Toronto was added in 2010 to Braley's rescues. The wording suggested it was the other way around.

[maxlion]

Almost 50,000 attended an Australian rugby league match yesterday.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/ ... k-en-masse

This speaks to the different approach that Australia took to protecting its citizens compared to here in BC. There are models out there that would allow our lives and economy to get back to normal with or without a vaccine. If there was political will to eliminate COVID in Canada, I could see having the CFL back in action in 2021.

The new vaccines seem promising, but there are significant logistical hurdles (even presuming that the vaccines are effective). So we wait.

[B.C.FAN]

For those who missed it, video of the Lions' virtual town hall with Randy Ambrosie is posted on bclions.com.

https://www.bclions.com/2020/11/18/watc ... town-hall/

Kudos to Matt Baker for the work he has been doing on public relations and social media during the doubly long offseason.

[BC 1988]

Perhaps the most interesting development of the night was a humorous question to Rick Campbell from “Mike in Seattle” about who grows the best beard. “Mike” was apparently Mike Reilly, who lives near Campbell’s sister in Seattle. The friendly exchange suggests that Reilly and Campbell have a good relationship and that Reilly's contract grievance against the Lions will soon be amicably resolved.

https://www.tsn.ca/radio/vancouver-1040 ... -1.1554011
Farhan was just on TSN 1040 with Halford & Brough to comment about the Justin Dunk assertion and LeLacheur denial that upper management was aware of the $250k guaranteed pay Reilly is owed.

I agree that (given the appearance by Reilly) the Lions are probably working towards resolving the issue (without it going to arbitration).