1990 bottles of beer on the wall!
Grey Cup 2018 – in between the zip-lining, Justin Beaver, the name of the new Atlantic CFL franchise, Mexican football and the CFL Player Awards – it almost feels like the CFL is unfolding nicely as the Calgary Stampeders and Ottawa Redblacks prepare for their second Grey Cup meeting in three years.
The Stampeders are looking to avoid being the first team since the Montreal Alouettes in 1954-1956 to appear in and lose three Grey Cups in a row. The Ottawa Redblacks are looking to win their second Grey Cup in their fifth year of operation. And in Winnipeg, there are still 1990 bottles of beer on the wall, but their cruel winter will be tempered by knowing they beat the Riders in the western semi-final but yet, it will now be 28 years and counting since they last hoisted the Grey Cup.
While Edmonton has expanded the scope of what a Grey Cup festival could be, hanging over the spectacle is the prospect of a new collective bargaining agreement, and perhaps one of the biggest musical chairs of quarterbacks in recent memory, along with a salary cap on football operations for which the rest of the league can probably thank the ineptitude of the Toronto Argonauts.
The new collective bargaining agreement with the previous agreement set to expire in May, is the focus of a bit of gamesmanship between the league and the CFL Players Association over what the future of the league will look like. In a bit of a pre-emptive strike, the league has decreed no off-season contract bonuses be paid out and they have instituted a salary and personnel cap on football operations to head off the CFLPA decrying the increase in coaches and GM salaries while players, especially American players, see their salaries slip due to the whims of the currency market.