Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it! In honour of the season, here's what's on each CFL franchise's Christmas list. We'll find out soon enough if they received what they wanted or not...
Montreal: The return of Anthony Calvillo and Marc Trestman. The Alouettes are in pretty good shape this holiday season, coming off their second consecutive Grey Cup victory and their third-straight trip to the big game. There are questions about how their team's going to look at the start of the year, though, as they have a league-high 13 potential free agents and could lose valuable players like S.J. Green, Chip Cox and Avon Cobourne.
Still, by far the biggest name on that list is Calvillo. It's tough to see him signing with another franchise, as he's been with the Alouettes since 1998. It's unclear if he's going to come back for another season, though; while this year's playoff run shows that Calvillo can certainly still play at an incredibly high level, he did recently have surgery to remove his thyroid after cancerous cells were found in a throat lesion. There's every indication at the moment that Calvillo could be healthy at the start of the season if he wants to play, but whether he wants to come back and spend more time away from his family is a question mark.
The Alouettes could also lose head coach Marc Trestman. The rumours of him heading to the NCAA to coach Minnesota or Miami didn't pan out, but the NFL season is still on. Trestman's NFL credentials are stronger than his college ones, and several of the franchises he's worked with (including Cleveland, Minnesota, Arizona, Oakland and Miami) could be looking for a new coach this offseason. Trestman also lives in North Carolina, and there are plenty of indications that the Panthers aren't going to renew John Fox's contract; they could also be in the mix. It's unclear if Trestman will receive a serious offer at the NFL level, but he has been named as an NFL head-coaching candidate before and has only increased his reputation since then.
If the Alouettes are able to bring back Trestman, Calvillo and some of their free agents, it could be a very happy New Year for them; if not, their toasts to auld lang syne may be more muted, as the good times might be tougher to come by in future.
Toronto: A quarterback. That might be Cleo Lemon or it might not; he was making some progress towards the end of the year despite playing with a torn ligament in his pinky finger. Still, his stats on the year weren't great; he finished with 3,433 passing yards, 15 touchdowns, 19 interceptions and a 61.7 per cent completion mark. Toronto's going to need a better quarterbacking performance than that to have success next year; we'll see if that comes from Lemon or someone else.
Hamilton: A stadium. With the collapse of the railyard site and council voting down a proposal to re-examine Confederation Park, things aren't looking good for the Tiger-Cats' future. They need a resolution to the issue, and they need it quickly; Pan-Am Games money is only on the table for Hamilton until February, and it would be even more difficult to get a stadium deal done without that. If no stadium deal is found, they might not be the "Hamilton" Tiger-Cats for too much longer.
Winnipeg: Attendance! The Bombers have a new stadium under construction, but the deal involves them borrowing $85 million from the provincial government. To pay that money back, they're going to need lots of revenue, and most of their proposed streams for debt payment rely on drawing large numbers of fans. If Winnipeg can improve on their 4-14 record and draw plenty of fans to Canad Inns Stadium this year and their new stadium after that, the finances should work out. If their attendance starts to fall, they could be in trouble.
Saskatchewan: A coach. There's still no resolution to the Riders' coaching search, although Hamilton defensive coordinator Greg Marshall is believed to be a strong candidate. It isn't crucial to have a coach in place immediately, as the draft isn't for months yet and the season's even further away, but once a coach is hired, he can firm up his staff, refine his offensive and defensive game plans and work with the personnel department on finding and scouting players who might fit it. The Riders' announced timeframe of mid-January should be fine, but you wouldn't want to wait much longer than that. This is a crucial decision, though, so it's understandable they want to take their time and get it right.
Calgary: Returning free agents. The Stampeders could also be hit hard by free agency, with 11 of their players potentially testing the market this offseason. The three league all-stars on that list (cornerbacks Brandon Browner and Dwight Anderson and offensive lineman of the year Ben Archibald) might be the most crucial pieces. If the Stamps can hang on to those guys, they should be set for another strong year; if not, they might have a tough time filling those holes.
Edmonton: A nice welcome to the league for new head coach Kavis Reed. Reed is taking on his CFL first head coaching job, and that isn't the world's easiest transition to make. He's got a strong lineup of assistants, but it's his job to synthesize all of their plans into a cohesive framework. Plenty of rookie head coaches have done well in the CFL, but there are many others who have failed. We'll see which category Reed falls into.
B.C.: Quick completion of B.C. Place. PavCo president and CEO Warren Buckley told me at the Grey Cup that it would be ready by September at the latest, but construction projects of this scale aren't always easy to keep on time. The sooner the new stadium is open, the better for the Lions; not only will the new B.C. Place have a larger capacity and more amenities than Empire Field, it's also supposed to have 80 corporate boxes as opposed to Empire Field's seven. That makes a substantial difference to the bottom line. It also would be helpful to have the stadium open well before the Grey Cup so any kinks can be worked out. Empire Field has its charms, but you can bet the Lions will be eager to move to their new home as soon as possible.
The league as a whole: Further growth in TV ratings. The CFL's done very well on TSN over the last couple of years, with the Grey Cups in particular drawing spectacular ratings. If the league can keep that momentum going and build on that success, that should help to grow the game even more; it should also prove very important to the CFL's bottom line when the next TV contract negotiations happen.
We'll see which gifts Santa brought for each franchise down the road. On the whole, though, it's been a tremendous year for the CFL. Even if each team only gets lumps of coal, there's still plenty for them and all their fans to celebrate. In that spirit, merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
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