The Secrecy of Player Salaries, Pt. 2 (Twitter Edition)

A recent debate has broken out on Twitter regarding publicizing player salaries. I have written previously on the subject but input from people who are directly impacted by disclosing salaries have given their opinions on the subject.

It all started when Sportsnet's Arash Madani sent out a tweet somewhat bemoaning the fact that the CFL does not release player salaries. Dave Naylor of TSN also weighed in. Both reporters feel as if the salaries should be made public.

Then things got interesting. First, it was Nikki Jimenez who agreed with me that salaries should be kept private. Then Kevin Glenn made his opinion known, which aligned with Mrs. Jimenez.

The arguments for disclosing salaries were the same we always hear: other leagues publicize their salaries so CFL should as well and fans pay the salaries so they have a right to know. I don't agree at all with either sentiment. For starters, just because other leagues do it doesn't mean every league has to. That is, quite honestly, a rather weak reason. Secondly, while fans may pay to watch the team and therefore contribute to players' salaries, teams like Hamilton lose money, which means fans aren't paying the whole freight. Also, just because your purchases help to offset cost doesn't grant you the right know what the employees make. Purchases made by Tim Horton's customers pay for those salaries, but you wouldn't dare walk into your local coffee shop and ask to know what the guy or gal behind the counter makes.

I'm not surprised at the stances taken by the respective groups; reporters want to know more and players (and their wives) want to keep their privacy. I also don't think either side is wrong, I just happen to side with Kevin Glenn and Nikki Jimenez.

I am sure this is an issue that will continue to spring up, but until a really strong reason for publicizing salaries is made – and that has yet to happen, in my opinion – the status quo is just fine. Players are people too, and just because they are talented enough to make a living in a high-profile profession, does not mean they lose the right to their financial privacy. I don't see how a fan's enjoyment of the game is enhanced by knowing what the players make. I understand that transparency is important, but so is individual privacy. On this issue, privacy should win out.

Two Tiger-Cats Named CFLPA All-Stars

The season may be over, but Tiger-Cats are collecting accolades as Receiver Chris Williams and Running Back Avon Cobourne have been named CFLPA All-Stars.

Williams's selection is no surprise. He had a great rookie season for the Cats, leading the team in receptions and yards.

Cobourne being one of the two Running Backs named is a bit surprising. Cobourne is a great player, and had a very good season for the Ti-Cats (his first in Hamilton), but Cobourne wasn't even named a Division All-Star by the CFL, so it's weird that he would beat out both Cory Boyd and Jerome Messam for the PA's selection.

There were some omissions that were surprising. Neither Jamall Johnson nor Rey Williams made the team, but the biggest snub was Justin Hickman (as well as Odell Willis). I don't know what a player needs to do to be named an All-Star by their peers, but I would think leading the league in sacks, which Hickman (and Willis) did, would be enough. Apparently not.

Anyway, congratulations to both Avon Cobourne and Chris Williams on their selections.

LABOUR DEAL REACHED!

The CFL and the CFLPA have reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year labour contract. Terms have not yet been disclosed, and the deal has not been ratified by either the Players' Association or the Board of Governors. Ratification will likely occur before the 2010 CFL season kicks off on Canada Day.

The CFL and the CFLPA, to the credit of them both, avoided a work stoppage (something that seems unlikely south of the border with the NFL), and fans will not be deprived of Canadian professional football in 2010.

With this messy little piece of business out of the way, we can now concentrate on what really matters: where to put the new Tiger-Cats stadium the games themselves.

With the pre-season opener less than three weeks away, we are oh-so-close to the return of the best football in the world.

The CFL Is Not Immune

While it's not the same doomsday scenario we are all hearing being talked about south of the border, labour unrest has hit the Canadian Football League.

Dave Naylor of TSN and the Globe and Mail wrote an excellent article this morning detailing the likelihood of a work stoppage halting the beginning of the 2010 CFL season. Naylor says that a work stoppage, be it an owners-imposed lockout or player-imposed strike, is possible; it is also highly unlikely. With the huge gains in popularity the CFL has made in the past couple of years it would be completely devastating for the league if it were to shut down, even for a little time.

The league right now is experiencing unprecedented success. TV viewership is up, attendance is up, there is renewed talk of expansion, new stadiums are being discussed in multiple cities (one of them being Hamilton, which is a rather contentious issue that I will be posting about in the near future), and revenues are up. Now is not the time for the CFL to have a work stoppage.

It would seem as if the league and the players understand this. The last time the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expired, the league played that season (2005) under the terms of the expired agreement and agreed to a new one the following off-season. If a deal cannot be reached by the time the current deal expires – which is June 5th – I expect a repeat of 2005.

It seems that the sticking point in negotiations revolves around, what else, player salaries. Currently, players receive 56% of defined revenue that the league generates. The league would like to lower that number. The CFLPA would like for the salary cap to rise from the current $4.2 million per team to $4.7 million. These don't seem like huge hurdles to overcome.

There are obviously other issues that will arise, or have arisen, during the negotiations, but neither the league nor the Players' Association is commenting publicly. It seems as if both sides have taken on an agreement not to negotiate through the media. To them I say, "Bravo." All anyone who follows the NFL has heard the past year and a half is posturing from both the NFLPA and the league. It's a nice change to have these negotiations not take place in the public arena. I must also note that everything we do know is through leaks and the acquisition of confidential information by members of the media.

The recent history of labour unrest is not pretty in North American sports. Major League Baseball took almost 4 years to recover after the 1994 players' strike, and the National Hockey League still hasn't recovered in the United States since the lockout that cost the league, and its dwindling fan base, the 2004-2005 season. Both of them recovered easily in the places that they are most revered – baseball in the USA, hockey in Canada – but as someone who used to schedule his Saturday nights around Hockey Night in Canada, I have probably watched a combined 10 periods of NHL hockey since the lockout ended, and don't even get me started on my lack of interest in baseball since 1994.

The only difference, for myself, in this scenario is that my first love has always been football. I would come back to the CFL and the Tiger-Cats should a season be lost. Heck, I started this blog because I love the CFL so much. I would be upset, but I would come back.

That said, losing a season, or even part of a season, would cripple the CFL. I would like to think that both the CFL and the CFLPA understand this situation and will do whatever it takes to avoid a work stoppage. There is too much to be lost by both sides, and I think at the end of the day each side will understand this and a deal will be signed.