The season didn’t need saving.

So, unlike some years past, this Grey Cup didn’t need to be a dazzling, wild-and-whacky contest to make everyone forget all that had happened in the CFL over the previous six months.

That, in case you forget, was the occasion many times before, particularly during the tumultuous 1990s when U.S. expansion failed and at least one team — yes, even Saskatchewan — was in a significant degree of financial trouble every season.

This season, by contrast, wasn’t an overwhelming success, but it wasn’t a failure, either. Football in Eastern Canada was mediocre or worse and attendance across the league was slightly down, Both the Argonauts and Roughriders had poor seasons, never good for this league.

But nobody’s going out of business, no owner is threatening to throw the keys on the table and walk away and one team, Calgary, was arguably one of the best regular-season teams in CFL history. TV ratings got a nice little bump, and as long as TSN is willing to bankroll the operation, everybody gets to keep their head above water.

So when Sunday rolled around at BMO Field, and despite Jeffrey Orridge’s penchant for uttering unhelpful things and a general lack of interest in all things CFL in the GTA, there was no overwhelming need for the game to save the season, or else.

What there was, however, was a need for a positive statement from the game, and instead, the league got three of them.

First, that this game could still entertain and maintain a very respectable TV audience of 3.6 million (less than a Blue Jays playoff number), even on a night when it seemed every single bloody play went to replay review. The CFL must rethink its momentum-killing system of allowing so many calls to be eligible for review. Beyond that, the Ottawa RedBlacks got the jump on the Stampeders to create an early sense that an upset was possible, and while there were some sloppy moments, drama built as the game turned into a seesaw contest in the final minutes of regulation, and then overtime.

There was intrigue at the end of regulation created by a Calgary decision to use backup quarterback Andrew Buckley to try to run laterally along the line of scrimmage to score from a yard out, rather than put the ball in the hands of the CFL’s most outstanding player, Bo Levi Mitchell, or the league’s top rusher, Jerome Messam.

Head coach Dave Dickenson, who called his own No. 15 (same as Buckley’s) so many times while quarterbacking the Stamps that perhaps he had a lapse of concentration, dutifully fell on his sword after the play failed and the Stamps went on to lose in OT. This was one of those moments, like Saskatchewan getting caught with too many men on the field in the dying moments of the 2009 Grey Cup, that will live on in conversation for some time.

Second, the result proved that when this league is thoughtful, patient, determined and goes about its business in a logical way, it can produce something lasting and significant.

The story of the RedBlacks going from zero to Grey Cup winners in three years is, quite simply, one of the best tales in modern CFL history. As my pal Arash Madani of Sportsnet tweeted on Monday, “Ten years ago, Lansdowne Park was in decay, the team’s GM didn’t know the QB’s name. Today, Ottawa, you’re home to the Grey Cup champs.”

Former CFL commish Mark Cohon gets a lot of credit for making sure the league’s return to Ottawa was done correctly. No temporary stadium. No out-of-town owner without the necessary cash. And, most important, the RedBlacks were given the tools under owner Jeff Hunt to be competitive quickly.

For those of us who watched the once proud Rough Riders slowly and painfully become a laughingstock, and then watched the Glieberguys make the Renegades an even bigger joke, this was, finally, a quality football product for the people of Ottawa to buy into. And they did.

Third, the game demonstrated that there’s something — not much, but something — left of the CFL culture in Toronto. Perhaps it’s just a single cinder block from an old foundation overgrown by weeds, but it was visible on Sunday.

Toronto, bolstered by lots of visitors and nice weather, was able to gather a sizeable crowd at an attractive outdoor venue and give a very good football game an appropriate, noisy backdrop. Chalk it up to the power of the heavily discounted and even free ticket, if you want, but people still had to want to be there, and enough did.

The game barely made a dent of any kind in the downtown core, but it was a demonstration of what a Grey Cup could still produce in Toronto, and gave the embattled Argonauts something to work towards. If they can generate two-thirds of the enthusiasm and interest for CFL football demonstrated on Sunday, they’ll be successful.

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This is not to say Sunday’s Grey Cup game proved the Argos will be okay. As of today, the franchise is under extreme duress. David Braley’s ownership, and lack of investment in sales and marketing, did a lot of damage, and it won’t be easy for Larry Tanenbaum, George Cope and Michael Copeland to repair that damage, particularly in an environment in which the Leafs, Raptors, Blue Jays and now Toronto FC are selling out.

But Sunday offered a sliver of hope and possibility for the CFL and the Argonauts. It’s there to be recognized and developed, or squandered.

Damien Cox is the co-host of Prime Time Sports on Sportsnet 590 The FAN. He spent nearly 30 years covering a variety of sports for The Star. Follow him @DamoSpin. His column appears Tuesday and Saturday.

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