CFL players ratify new collective bargaining agreement

A drama-filled couple of weeks have ended with the news CFL fans will be excited to hear.

The CFL Players’ Association tweeted out Thursday that its membership has voted to ratify a Memorandum of Agreement with the league for a new collective bargaining agreement.

#TeamCFLPA #CFL #CFLPA pic.twitter.com/dKX5KUc5xY

— CFLPA (@CFLPA) May 27, 2022

The news comes in time for the season to begin on schedule, with pre-season games around the league set to go on Friday. The CFL’s board of governors will also need to vote to ratify the agreement.

“We are pleased that players have now ratified a new collective bargaining agreement between the CFL and CFLPA,” CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said in a written statement.

“The CFL’s Board of Governors will conduct its ratification vote shortly. We look forward to a successful season — including pre-season games this weekend — and a long and productive partnership with our players.”

Just hours before a CFL-imposed deadline was to arrive, the league and the CFLPA reportedly reached the tentative deal.

3DownNation’s John Hodge reported just before 2 p.m., that a deal had been reached. The league had set a deadline of Thursday at 10 p.m., for the players to accept the CFL’s latest offer.

A previous agreement was voted down by the players’ union Monday.

BREAKING: the CFL and CFLPA have come to a new tentative collective bargaining agreement. Details coming soon to @3DownNation.#CFL | #CBA

— John Hodge (@JohnDHodge) May 26, 2022

The player reps will be recommending this deal to its membership.

Will it pass this time?

— John Hodge (@JohnDHodge) May 26, 2022

The CFL and the players’ union had agreed to a new deal on May 19, ending a players’ strike that had started four days earlier.

The teams’ player reps reportedly recommended that previous deal to the union’s members, but the majority of the players who voted didn’t ratify the agreement Monday and put the CFL’s pre-season and regular season in jeopardy.

Sticking points during negotiations included salary increases, a ratification bonus and the Canadian-American ratio.

The biggest issue on that front was the CFL offering teams a chance to make American players “nationalized,” meaning they would count as Canadians. That could have cost Canadian players starting jobs.

After the players nixed the previous offer, the CFL responded with a take-it-or-leave-it offer that proposed reducing the number of Canadian starters from seven to six.

3DownNation and Green Zone CFL analyst Justin Dunk said earlier Thursday he had more optimism around the latest deal getting the players’ seal of approval.

“I believe the Canadians and their votes in terms of the players and their voices were heard,” Dunk said. “Those were the two major factors — the lack of a ratification bonus and what was going to potentially happen to the ratio in the previous agreement that was voted down.

“It will have a much better success rate if those 30 per cent who abstained from voting actually cast a ballot.”

TSN’s Farhan Lalji reported the new deal will have two nationalized Americans per team beginning in 2023 and those players will be eligible to play 49 per cent of snaps. The number of those players could increase to three in 2024.

“The Canadian players feel like even if you go from seven (Canadian starters) to six, you’re going in the wrong direction,” Dunk said. “It used to be 10 a long time ago, but it hasn’t gone down from seven at all.

“The Canadians feel like if you chip away that to six, maybe next time it goes down to five or four because we know the CFL wants to take it all the way down.”

Lalji also reported the two teams that have the highest number of Canadian players taking snaps will get an additional second-round CFL draft pick.

A $1.25-million ratification bonus appears to have also been added, according to Lalji.

After the four-day-long strike ended, the Saskatchewan Roughriders started training camp at Griffiths Stadium on the campus of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.

The Roughriders took the day off Thursday, but are expected back on the field Friday.

The strike forced the CFL to postpone Saskatchewan’s pre-season opener against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, which was to be played Victoria Day in Regina. Instead, that game now is scheduled for Tuesday at Mosaic Stadium.