‘We’re going to find a way’: Ambrosie doesn’t guarantee 2021 season, but plans are being made

While CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie wouldn’t definitely say the season would go ahead in 2021, he says plans are currently being thought out.

“I really believe that there’s so much desire to play that we’re going to find a way. We’re going to find a way to be back on the field. We’re going to find a way to satisfy our fans and make 2021 happen,” Ambrosie told 980 CJME’s Green Zone on Thursday.

“But just as importantly, we’re going to get this league heading in a bigger, stronger and better direction and I’m really excited about that. As disappointed as we are in 2020’s lack of football, it just might be that it helps us build a better CFL.”

The 2020 CFL season was cancelled in August due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the inability to have fans inside the teams’ stadiums.

“The truth is, and to be perfectly fair, I think we’re all working under difficult circumstances and we don’t know what the trajectory of the COVID virus is going to be. We don’t know really at this stage whether or not health officials are going to let us play,” Ambrosie said.

But he also said the league’s owners and governors are going to meet in November to try and determine the best way to have a 2021 season. Each team is currently going through an exercise where it comes up with a worst-case scenario.

“(We will) ask each team how would they and can they find a way to play under that worst-case scenario? The old ‘plan for the worst and hope for better,’ ” Ambrosie said. “We’re just going to have to find a way to do it. That’s it, full stop. We’re going to have to find a way to do it.”

The mountain the CFL needs to climb seemed to get a bit bigger with the death of B.C. Lions owner David Braley earlier this week.

Ambrosie says many are still mourning the loss of Braley but admits the future of the Lions remains bright.

“We’re going to find a solution. Football in B.C. is alive and well. The B.C. Lions have such a huge opportunity. Amateur football there is great … I’m just convinced that football is destined to be big and strong in B.C. and the B.C. Lions are going to be great and that’s what I’ll be talking about with David’s family in the days to come,” Ambrosie said.

The CFL will be holding a week-long virtual Grey Cup Unite event from Nov. 16-22, which will feature a fan state of the league, a head coaches’ conference and all-decade rewards. The Grey Cup was originally set to be played at Mosaic Stadium on Nov. 22.

“Our goal is to get everybody energized,” Ambrosie said. “We can reflect on the past, we can reflect on 2020 but more importantly we have to look forward to 2021 and beyond because football in Saskatchewan and football across this country is so important to who we are and we’ve got to get it going again.”