CFL commissioner is looking forward to some Classics

Randy Ambrosie won’t be playing in any of the three CFL games this Labour Day weekend, but he’s ready for them.

The league’s commissioner played in his share of Labour Day Classics during a nine-year career as an offensive lineman, so he knows how things ramp up for the unofficial second half of the season.

“There’s a feeling in the locker room on Labour Day,” Ambrosie told The Green Zone’s Jamie Nye. “These teams thankfully don’t like each other very much (and) there’s a long history (between them).

“Whether a player’s a first-year on the team or seven or eight years in(to his career), they all come to appreciate that this is a special weekend in our league.”

The Labour Day slate begins Sunday when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are to visit the Saskatchewan Roughriders. On Monday, the Toronto Argonauts are to face the host Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Edmonton Eskimos are to take on the hometown Calgary Stampeders.

As traditional rivalry games, teams usually are pumped up regardless of their positions in the standings. Clubs also can try to use the contests to jumpstart playoff runs or, if they’re already out of contention, to blunt their rivals’ momentum.

“There is something special about Labour Day and the CFL and how they fit together,” Ambrosie said. “My dream, by the way, is a weekend not too far down the road where we add the Coast Bowl to our repertoire of games and we have B.C., and the (Atlantic) Schooners playing another Labour Day game. How exciting would that be?

“Then maybe Upper Canada-Lower Canada with Montreal against (Ottawa). Then we end up having five games on the Labour Day weekend and we don’t have to go outside; we just watch football.”

Ambrosie’s going to have to wait for that because the Schooners don’t exist. The CFL is pondering the addition of an expansion team in Halifax, and Ambrosie said the proposed ownership group is continuing its efforts.

During his wide-ranging interview, Ambrosie also said the league is “making real progress” in its search for a new owner in Montreal. Until one is found, the CFL will operate the Alouettes.

Montreal already has been the site of a bizarre moments this season.

On Aug. 9, the contest between the Als and Roughriders was halted with 2:41 left in the third quarter due to lightning. After a one-hour delay, the game was called in accordance with a rule instituted this season.

Ambrosie admitted he was nervous the weather would clear 15 minutes after the game was called. Instead, the storm continued for another two hours, meaning the contest never would have finished.

The situation led to a lot of hand-wringing — including some by the league’s hierarchy.

“The (CFL Players’ Association) and ourselves, certainly our presidents, don’t think we necessarily got this one right,” said Ambrosie, noting the league and the union agreed to the rule change in their new collective bargaining agreement.

“We’re going to have to do some work going forward to make sure that we adjust this to having maybe more flexibility — or perhaps we just have to expand the (one-hour) window.”

Saskatchewan could play a role in another alteration as well.

Many Roughriders fans aren’t happy with Thursday night home games. They point out they don’t all live in Regina, meaning they could face a late-night drive home.

Ambrosie said the league has recorded some of its best TV ratings on Thursday nights, so those broadcasts likely will continue. That said, he suggested the league will listen to Roughriders president-CEO Craig Reynolds on the topic.

“We’re going to make sure as we think about our schedule for 2020 and beyond that Craig, like all team presidents, has a real voice in how we build our schedule because we want to respect that,” Ambrosie said. “What you’ve got in Saskatchewan is truly, truly special and we want to make sure that all of your fans feel respected.”

The league has seen a rash of injuries to starting quarterbacks this season, with seven of the nine QBs who were to be their teams’ starters suffering injuries.

While Ambrosie believes the league’s efforts to protect its quarterbacks have been productive, he admitted more work has to be done. But some quarterbacks — including Bo Levi Mitchell and Jeremiah Masoli — were sidelined by non-contact injuries, meaning nothing could have been done to protect them.

“On the other side, look at what has happened in terms of bringing some of these new stars into our game,” Ambrosie said. “We’re talking about one right in your backyard (in Cody Fajardo). This young man who is there because of somebody else’s misfortune is proving to be a remarkable quarterback.”