The Green Zone: Riders' Jeremy O'Day preparing for 2025
11h ago
O'Day discusses Trevor Harris and changes to be made to get the Riders back to the Grey Cup.
When running a business, the customer should always come first. In the case of the CFL’s collective bargaining agreement, that’s how this has played out.
Football will start on time, with no inconvenience to the ticket-buying public. I’m expecting both the CFL and the players’ association to say they have both made sacrifices in putting a new deal together, and that negotiations were tough.
Normally, I side with the fans in matters of labour in pro sports. In the NFL, Matt Ryan has one of the biggest salaries at about US$30 million. Stephen Strasburg is at about US$35 million in baseball, while LeBron James gets paid approximately US$35 million. Fans shouldn’t be caught in the middle.
By my calculations, the average CFL salary is under C$100,000. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for the fans, but here is hoping that those who put the product on the field, the players, get rewarded in this new deal.