Article content

Several fans and media carnivores subscribe to the view that the CFL is in dire need of a cap — a thinking cap.

A football-operations salary cap, they assert, is not a solution. It is a step backward, or so goes the refrain.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Rob Vanstone: A lonely voice in favour of the CFL's new cap Back to video

But let’s take several steps backward, in order to make the case in favour of the CFL’s newly enacted $2.588-million limitation on football-operations expenses.

Antiques, such as this prehistoric pundit, remember all too acutely that the CFL has been at death’s door.

Expansion to the United States, for example, was a last-ditch measure. In order to preserve Canadian professional football, there was a need to tap the not-so-vibrant American market in the 1990s.

Expansion fees were a life preserver, albeit at the cost of credibility — some whacko owners and strangely configured playing surfaces being part of the package.

The mind also rewinds to the early 1980s, when the league signed a lucrative television-rights contract with Carling O’Keefe — a (hic) one-shot deal, as it turned out.