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Contract language is a general rather than specific term, but it would most certainly include the player ratio and any proposed changes to it. That’s much more specific. So Ramsay would not speak to the ratio question, which was correctly identified by a reporter on the call as the elephant in the room.

The pachyderm was unleashed by a story published on the 3DownNation website last week, following two days of bargaining in Toronto. It cited sources and claimed that the league and the players “are in favour of reducing the number of national starters from seven to five.”

There was a rather immediate social media explosion, and some CFL players past and present engaged in both healthy and snarky debate.

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On Wednesday, Ramsay said he did not feel a need to address either his bargaining team or the membership at large with respect to the social media firestorm that ensued.

“Healthy debate is a good thing. … We have a very engaged membership, very engaged and passionate membership and their engagement is refreshing on that specific issue and many others,” he said.

Pressed to speak specifically about the ratio question, and whether it would be a divisive one for the membership, he cited it as a question of specifics and therefore declined to answer. He instead went back to the debate angle.

“We’ve got reps, like our membership, that all have their own views on specific issues but what we are confident on as a group is that everyone is fully supportive of the package that we put in front of the employer.”