During the Toronto Argonauts championship rally, players and team personnel one by one took to the mic and refereed to the team as a “family.” It’s bad news when family business is spilled publicly.

And it’s been a busy week for disgruntled Argonauts players making their contract demands public.

First, running back James Wilder Jr., the CFL’s rookie of the year, took to the Canadian football blog 3DownNation to declare he’d rather sit out the 2018 season then play for $56,000 when he had NFL interest.

Then, Argonauts sacks leader Victor Butler wrote a first-person piece on the same site claiming “the Argonauts are holding me hostage” and refusing to let him out of his deal that paid him $60,000 in 2017.

Hmmmm though it was just me https://t.co/xzfv4lRvZe — James Wilder Jr (@IAm_Wilder32) January 26, 2018

I Wonder if a statement will come out saying their was no discussion with him too — James Wilder Jr (@IAm_Wilder32) January 26, 2018

Both cases are eerily similar. These are former American players and former NFLers who had dominant, all-star-calibre first seasons and claim they had verbal agreements that they could try their luck in the NFL again. And now both not only refuse to play out the second year of their two-year contracts, they are going public about the dispute.

This ordeal publicly has brought attention to what many CFL agents, scouts and front office executives have been quietly saying for years: the CFL (and CFLPA) have to bring back the “NFL option year” in standard CFL contracts.

Starting in 1997, the CFL permitted in its standard player contracts an option year for players to try their hand in the NFL.

The NFL option window was technically between Jan. 1 and Feb. 16 of the option year, but players and their agents generally tested the waters as soon as they had played their last game.

During the 2010 negotiations, prominent players like 2009 Most Outstanding Rookie Martell Mallett and 2008 BC Lions star Stefan Logan departed for the NFL after just one CFL season. So, starting in 2012 and continuing until the current CFL collective bargaining agreement, the “NFL loophole” was eliminated and the popular “one-and-one contract” was no more.

There was thought process behind eliminating the option window for NFL opportunities. CFL rosters are fluid at the best of times. It’s hard to sell a product and market the starts of the league and build team continuity when players are in and out of the league faster than the average fan can keep track.

That ignores the fact that when most American players come to the CFL they aren’t playing for their current salary. They’re investing in their future and playing for an opportunity to garner additional NFL interest. Although the vast majority end up staying in the CFL, they come in the hopes of leaving for an increased payday.

Last year, the NFL minimum salary was more than every non-quarterback player in the CFL made.

Still, the number of players the CFL loses to the NFL is miniscule. And if someone can put an extra zero at the end of a paycheque in an occupation with a short lifespan, do you really want to stand in their way?

Butler and Wilder Jr. were criticized harshly by media and some fans for threatening to fail to comply with their contract despite having no leverage.

Any media member who makes more money covering a league then the players playing in the league should pump the breaks on the criticism of players who choose to put physical security over financial security. Yes, the players do sign a contract that it would be noble for them to honour in the event they outperform it. But teams don’t nobly continue to pay players when they underperform.

You won’t meet better ambassadors for the CFL than Darian Durant and Kevin Glenn and their respective teams had no issue cutting them as soon as their production didn’t match up with their salary. The contracts aren’t guaranteed so why would a player extend loyalty that isn’t reciprocated?

But what needs to be remembered is regardless of who is right or wrong, no matter who has better legal standing, this is not good optics for the Toronto Argonauts or the CFL.

This is not good optics for the league that brands itself as a progressive league of opportunity.

The best recruiters are the players. It is advantageous for them to have a good experience as that impacts the next wave of talent coming to the league.

Being a CFL GM is the toughest job in sports as it is. You have to balance a minimal cap, scouting multiple leagues in multiple countries while managing an import ratio.

The current system is making a tough job more difficult and adding a moral component to what should be solely merit-based decisions.

The issue is these cases haven’t been dealt with consistently by all of the member clubs.

Some teams promise players all the time if you have an extraordinary season and have NFL interest we will release you. But what constitutes an extraordinary season? What constitutes NFL interest? Is it a workout? Is it a camp invitation? Is it a multi-year contract? And are you willing to do that with all of your players or just the stars? Agents tell players that one team is willing to do it with one player and other teams aren’t. It can create animosity within a locker room if some players get to explore opportunities but others can’t. It’s a mess that is easily avoidable.

Chris Williams and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats even went to court because he wanted to pursue an NFL opportunity with the New Orleans Saints before an arbitrator settled the case.

While leading the Lions, Wally Buono granted the release of Anthony Gaitor, Alex Bazzie, Adam Bighill and was even known to make calls on his players behalf to vouch for them.

This off-season Chris Jones encouraged Duron Carter to see if a NFL team would make a serious commitment to him before coming back and signing with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Former CFL GM Jim Barker built his teams off of the understanding that contracts would be ripped up once a player had a better opportunity down south. In return, if things didn’t work out, that player would first look to return to Barker’s organization.

The Argonauts historically have been the leaders of releasing players before their deal was up in good faith. P.K. Sam, Byron Parker, John Chiles, Dontrell Inman, and Armond Armstead are just a few American players to come to Toronto and leave early in pursuit of the NFL dream.

The Argonauts have also been lenient in lending the NFL their off-field personnel. Last off-season, former head coach Scott Milanovich was allowed out of his contract to pursue an opportunity with Jacksonville Jaguars as their quarterbacks coach. This off-season, Marc Trestman was rumoured to be in play for the Seattle Seahawks vacant offensive coordinator job. It’s doubtful if he wanted it and secured it his good friend Jim Popp would stand in his way. Before that, the Argonauts have allowed Curtis Rukavina and Chris Rossetti to pursue NFL opportunities after being fixtures in the Argonauts football ops department.

Why would the rationale be different with a player than it is an exec? Aren’t they both part of the same football family.

The truth is football isn’t a family. It’s a brutally cold results-oriented business. Which is fine. As long as everyone is upfront about the parameters.

The CFL can’t institute a rule saying teams like BC aren’t allowed to let players out of their contract. So, they need to do the next best thing and reinstitute the rule allowing players to test the NFL waters going into the last year of their deals.

Football, like any business, is a relationship business. And this ambiguity around pursuing NFL opportunities is ruining the already strained relationship between players and management.

If the CFL is going to preach Pierre Trudeau style that “the border is open” for American players looking for a second chance on their football dream, they have to allow for that second chance to be realized and that dream to be fulfilled south of the border.