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I asked Brian Ramsay, executive director of the CFLPA, if he had a better understanding now of what the league is trying to accomplish with the Mexican partnership than he did in late November.

“We’re not in a position to be able to explain what the league is doing,” he said, “because we don’t know.”

You and me both, sir.

Photo by Dan Barnes/Postmedia

CFL teams have always been able to sign players from anywhere in the world, Ramsay notes. But roster construction is a collective-bargaining issue, and if some element of the LFA arrangement sets aside spots for players from Mexico, that would be something for the CBA. Conveniently, a new one has to be agreed upon before the start of the next season. And on this point, Ramsay reiterates himself a few times to make it clear: On the foray into Mexico, “if there are going to be collective-agreement issues, then (the league) will have to be prepared to bring those to the negotiating table.”

Aside from the absence of discussion with the players’ association about the LFA partnership, there is no lack of other questions about it. If the idea was to find untapped sources of talent to improve the quality of play in the CFL, Mexico was a curious place to start. The LFA has yet to begin its fourth season and its players work other full-time jobs, as they are paid the equivalent of less than $3,000 for the whole of the league’s spring season. Four of the eight stadiums have a capacity of less than 2,000, and only one of them, based in Mexico City, has a capacity of more than 10,000. It does not sound like a football hotbed. Is anyone from the AFL likely to be a better football player than the dozens of Americans who can’t quite make a CFL roster? Every season turns up on-the-bubble players who starred in the NCAA and who make an impact once given the chance to perform here. It’s a much deeper pool than the 50-odd players who went through the scouting combine on the weekend.