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You can quibble about east-west rotation and how long Hamilton has gone without hosting a Grey Cup (essentially a quarter-century) and suggest the Tiger-Cats should have received the nod for 2020. And given recent and projected rotation, that’s a strong case. But in the same way that the International Olympic Committee dealt with Paris and Los Angeles last year, the CFL found a way to make at least two of the three finalists for 2020 happy. Montreal will have to wait at least three more years for the chance to host the Grey Cup.

The bottom line is that the CFL has had more than its hard core fans talking about three-down football these past couple of weeks in February, and that’s good for the league, its nine franchises, its broadcast rights holders, corporate partners and licensees and suppliers.

Any concerns that the CFL would be shortchanged by the launch of the Alliance of American Football — the new U.S.-based spring league that kicked off the weekend after Super Bowl LIII — have evaporated very quickly this month. In fact, the long-standing Canadian institution that is the CFL has looked, sounded and felt very stable, solid and confident going into its 2019 season, especially when compared to the nascent Alliance.

Bears of the Week

This was not a good week for the Alliance. It never is for any business — inside or outside of the business of sport — when a payroll is in danger of being missed.

That was the unfortunate predicament that came to light when it was announced that Caroline Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon — of all people — would be named the new chairman of the board for the Alliance. That was one of the dividends paid out to Dundon when he invested $250 million into the new eight-team league to help it meet payroll and keep it afloat to fight another day.

Regardless, it was not a good look for the new kid on the football block, just two weeks old.

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