A pro football league could miss at least the start of the 2022 season. The Canadian Football League (CFL) Players Association told its members that six of the nine teams will be able to commence a strike on Sunday, May, 15, per Pro Football Talk. The 2022 regular season is set to begin on June 9.
“Today, the CFL tabled a new offer which addressed a number of our key issues,” the union told its players on Wednesday. “Unfortunately, our expectations on these issues have not been satisfied, and our committee does not believe that our key issues have been sufficiently resolved at this time. We need to negotiate further with the CFL on these critical issues to meet the standards and expectations of our membership. In order to do that, we need time and a united membership.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“We have planned a work stoppage, if required, that will satisfy labour laws in each club’s respective province. It is in our best interest as a Union for our members to travel to their individual club’s training facilities to be in a position to execute a legal strike. Six of our nine teams (BC, Sask, MB, Ont) will be able to strike beginning at 12:01 AM on Sunday, May 15th.
Pro Football Talk says the issues for the CFL include increased minimum salaries, length of the labor deal and revenue sharing that would lead to an annual increase in the salary cap. The current collective bargaining agreement is set to expire on Saturday, May 14. The last few years for the CFL have been challenging. The 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2021 season was postponed until Aug. 5. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers won the Grey Cup on Dec. 12, and it was the 12 championship in their history.
“I’m not going to say anything more than our goal hasn’t changed one bit,” CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said in April when asked about getting a new CBA done, per Yahoo Sports. “We want to build a long-term, mutually beneficial partnership with the players. There’s been a lot of positive conversations, I think there’s been a lot of learning, a lot of idea-sharing. I remain incredibly positive, I remain optimistic . . . I am confident that we’ll get to that outcome.”
