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This article was published 31/1/2015 (2058 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A record-setting television deal.

Labour peace for at least four more years.

Big crowds.

And $1 billion -- and counting -- in new or renovated stadiums.

Are we in the midst of the golden age of the CFL?

Tom Higgins, in his 33rd season of riding the roller-coaster that is the CFL, thinks that might be going a little far. But...

"The TSN deal allows us to grow our product. The last commissioner did a fabulous job in that regard. He grew the product and that was huge and critical," said Higgins, who has a uniquely valuable perspective as a former player, head coach (he's currently the field boss in Montreal), GM and a league official (he is a former director of officiating).

"And the new stadiums have really made the transition for this league. It's ensured it will be around for the next 100 years. When someone comes out to the 200th Grey Cup, they will say: 'Hey, it's had its challenges. But this league is still around because it's such a great product.'

"So yeah, we're in good shape, but we're not as good as we want to be and we need to keep working towards that."

Higgins cites a familiar list of outstanding issues that continue to act as a drag on the growth of the CFL. Topping the list: The lack of a suitable playing facility for the Toronto Argonauts and the problems that come with one man -- David Braley -- owning two franchises -- Toronto and B.C.

But context is everything when you're assessing the current state of health of the CFL and against the backdrop of a litany of existential issues that not so long ago were threatening the viability of the entire league -- not just one franchise -- things are just peachy these days.

Consider just 20 years ago, the CFL was in the midst of a disastrous expansion to the U.S. blowing up in their faces, that at the time threatened to take down the rest of the league with it.

And consider that just 25 years ago the CFL had no television deal of any kind and the league had to cobble together their own network just to get a few games on the air.

Today, the CFL has a new deal with TSN that pays them a record $40 million a season for four more seasons. That's almost triple what the last TV deal paid and there are already some CFL executives that are rubbing their hands together at the prospect of negotiating the next TV deal in what is now a much more competitive broadcasting landscape in Canada since Sportsnet decided to get into the game in a serious way.

Sportsnet's $5.2-billion bid to take over the NHL rights last year certainly got the attention of the head office of the CFL, which draws similar ratings to the NHL. And Sportsnet's announcement last week they are about to pump an unprecedented amount of cash into broadcasting curling suggests even that TSN sacred cow is now in play.

Some folks in the CFL wonder if their next broadcasting deal might precipitate a bidding war the likes of which the CFL has never seen before.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers CEO Wade Miller said he's not sure what the next TV deal might be worth. But as the custodian of one of the league's shiny new stadiums, he is sure about one thing -- there is an optimism about the long-term future of the CFL right now like there hasn't been in a very long time.

"The league right now is in a very, very strong position," said Miller. "And you see that with all the new stadiums being built...

"There's a lot of good right now for the CFL and it sets the table for the new commissioner to come in and take it to the next level."

The league is currently in the final stages of a search for a new commissioner to replace outgoing Mark Cohon, who gets a lot of credit in CFL circles for everything from negotiating that rich new TSN deal to creating the stability that's led to CFL cities being comfortable with the idea of plowing hundreds of millions into stadiums that will be around for decades to come.

Among those on the search committee's shortlist is Tom Anselmi, the former president and CEO of MLSE, the huge Toronto sports and entertainment conglomerate that operates the Maple Leafs, Raptors and Toronto FC.

No, it is not a coincidence the league is looking long and hard at hiring someone for their top job that knows how to make pro sports work profitably in the CFL's biggest media market.

Left behind in all the growth in the CFL, however, has been its players. Former Bombers great Joe Poplawski recalls how the salary he was making catching footballs in Winnipeg in the late-1970s was not much different than what he would have made doing the same job in the NFL.

"I was a Canadian-born player so my dream was to play in the CFL," said Poplawski. "But the fact is there wasn't a bunch of difference back then between the salaries in the CFL and the NFL."

Times have changed -- to put it mildly. Consider: The average salary in the NFL today is US $1.9 million; the average salary in the CFL is about Cdn $80,000.

The CFL players, of course, tried to do something about that in the last round of contract talks, threatening to strike and delay or cancel the 2014 season if their demands weren't met. But in the end, they capitulated and settled for a handful of tiny concessions that, with the collapse of the Canadian dollar since then, actually has them making less today than they were before.

Calgary Stampeders union representative Keon Raymond said the league is only restricting its own growth by underpaying its players.

"We need to develop a healthier relationship between the league and its players," said the Stamps defensive back. "It's the players that bridge the gap between the league and its fans because we do so much in the community.

"We've got four years left on our collective bargaining agreement and we need to spend that time building a better relationship."

Higgins said while every league and its players aspires to be more like the NFL, there's at least one thing the CFL has the NFL will never have.

Higgins told a story about hosting the 1997 Grey Cup in Edmonton when he was the GM of the Eskimos and sitting down with then NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who had travelled to Edmonton that week to see the game and have some meetings.

"Tagliabue said: 'You have something we will never have. Your Grey Cup brings the whole country together,' " Higgins recalled.

"And I think that's true -- their Super Bowl is more of a spectacle whereas we have something no one can replicate.

"We're truly unique and different in the CFL."

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek