Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/1/2018 (965 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

Welcome to the Canadian Football League, a great place to showcase your football talents and an even better place to coach.

As you may have heard, several players have taken to the airwaves to express their dissatisfaction with the inadequacy of entry level contracts, specifically James Wilder Jr., and the removal of the NFL option window, in this case, Victor Butler. It says here that this bitter pill of 2018 CFL football reality would be easier swallowed if the league wasn't already offering coaching staff each and every benefit the players are looking for, and then some.

Guaranteed contracts? While the NFL is seemingly always increasing the percentages of deals that are guaranteed for their players, the only thing that is for sure for Canadian athletes is the signing bonus. With as many injuries as there are in football, and performance peaks and valleys, clubs feel they must be able to move away from athletes whenever the cost-benefit ratio falls out of favour. Coaching contracts? For the most part are to be paid in full no matter how wretched a defence or offence may be struggling, or how badly the locker room may be tuning the coach out. If you sign a contract as a coach in the CFL, and you’re pretty much going to see it one way or another.

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Salaries have always been a point of contention in the CFL and always will be. With a cap that doesn't keep pace with the existing deals that are maturing, there are two ways teams manage to keep their rosters competitive. Every roster takes advantage of the huge supply of American talent and leverage that lack of demand into paying the shortages of elite Canadian talent. You have to be an exceptional American prodigy to continue to convince decision-makers that those cheaper, plentiful options waiting in the wings could not provide adequate performance at a much greater discount. There is always limited money to go around, and to pay the top tier talents, you need many more deals hovering around the minimum mark, and continual turnover of those players who have forayed into the middle class. While coaching salaries in the CFL are certainly budgeted every season, there is actually no capped limit to what can be spent. Whatever a club can afford can be paid out, and you can have as many or as few of them as you wish. If it was a fixed expense for every team, it would be easier to justify diverting more money to minimum salaries and the player salary cap.

When it comes to promotions, rarely does a contract ever limit a coach from moving up the ladder. It doesn’t matter if it is the first year or last year of a contract. If something better comes along, not only can coaches interview for it, but they are given the green light to take it. Contractually, the CFL is currently requiring its players to spend a minimum of two years at great savings, before they can take another kick at the southern comfort can that is the NFL. It should be noted that while many franchises, seemingly on a case-by-case basis, allow their players out of deals to spin the NFL wheel of fortune, they certainly don’t have to, and as we have seen, don’t always. While many coaches would be been better off cutting their teeth for several years before leap frogging into positions they aren't prepared for — just like players needing years of seasoning in the CFL before chasing the NFL — they certainly don’t heed this advice.

While there are divisions and inequities between management and the labour force in all industries, it can’t be easy for the talent in the CFL to watch their instructors enjoy all these freedoms, flexibilities and benefits that they so desperately seek.

Doug Brown, once a hard-hitting defensive lineman and frequently a hard-hitting columnist, appears weekly in the Free Press.

Twitter: @DougBrown97