In the Leader-Post and StarPhoenix, Rob Vanstone wrote a column saying CFL coaches shouldn’t be making so much money. Vanstone is right, but he didn’t go far enough. Because CFL teams can’t control their spending, they need a salary cap for their coaches.
Vanstone said if Marc Trestman gets $600,000 annually to coach the Argonauts — while Chris Jones and Kent Austin make at least that much to coach and manage their franchises — CFL players should get appropriate pay raises. Fans buy tickets to watch the players, not the coaches.
But teams need good coaches to be competitive. That’s why CFL teams tend to overpay and over-hire. When the league was floundering in the late 1980s, the CFL first set a limit of $2.5 million on players, coaching, scouting, recruiting and training camp.
There’s now a $5-million cap on players’ salaries. A similar cap on coaches would benefit all nine franchises. It should keep them competitive and from going broke.