Winnipegger did his best in thankless job as CFL commissioner

With the Canadian Football League on the search for a new commissioner, it’s only natural to look back on what the old guy did before analyzing what the new guy might do.

Since news broke over the weekend that Randy Ambrosie would be stepping down sometime after the Grey Cup next month, there have been a handful of stories written and podcasts produced on the subject, with most of the early reviews resulting in a failing grade.

It’s fair to say Ambrosie leaves a post he’s held since July 2017 with some unfinished business.

Most notably, he was never able to get CFL 2.0 even close to the heights he had promised, believing that bringing in players from around the world would result in several lucrative TV deals one day and a pipeline for Canadian-born players to play in other football leagues around the globe.

Ambrosie spoke for years about wanting the league to expand to 10 teams. While there were attempts to find a CFL home in Atlantic Canada, as well as a brief infatuation with partnering with the Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson-led XFL, neither seemed close to getting off the ground.

Then there was the faceplant Ambrosie did when testifying at a House of Commons standing committee on finance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The commissioner arrived at the meeting with his hand out asking for $150 million to save the league but was ill-prepared to answer many of the politician’s questions, including why he hadn’t brought any representation from the players.

As real as those hiccups were, it says here Ambrosie took on a thankless job, one that comes with little power, the best way he knew how. There’s no doubting Ambrosie, a Winnipeg native who is a former CFL O-lineman, was passionate about the league and the people in it.

He also did a fair amount of good, including improving the league’s ownership groups; was always accessible to the fans and media; increased the number of U.S. eyeballs on the product through a TV deal with CBS Sports; was able to convince teams to engage in revenue sharing; and signed a seven-year collective bargaining agreement that lasts through the 2028 season.

Ambrosie also deserves a lot of credit for trying to navigate the league through a global health crisis that no one could have predicted, even if he did look foolish at times. The toughest part of the job, though, and ultimately what cost Ambrosie his, is trying to navigate the CFL Board of Governors.

The CFL’s BOG consists of one representative from each club, with each team having its own opinion of how the job should be done and market-specific needs they want protected. Ambrosie, or any CFL commissioner, is a glorified puppet in many ways, asked to sell a plan to the board of directors, who then bear no responsibility or public criticism when things go south and possess the power to force a change of course or fire you if a majority see fit.

It’s just the third time since 2000 a commissioner has lasted more than three years, with Ambrosie now into his eighth. That’s a solid run for a guy who didn’t always get to where he wanted to or promised.

Now, let’s dive into the league’s other top stories from the week that was in the latest edition of CFL Rundown.

1) Despite only one game counting for anything in the standings, the final week of the regular season proved to be a solid slate of football. Two games had incredible endings, including the Edmonton Elks beating the Toronto Argonauts with a walk-off rouge. Unlike Week 8, when the Argos defeated the Saskatchewan Roughriders with a single point off a missed field goal, the Elks actually trotted out their punter for the final score, with Jake Julien booming a 54-yard punt through the back of the end zone for the one-point victory, 31-30.

2) While I didn’t love — but accepted — Toronto’s missed field goal for the win, I thoroughly enjoy what the Elks did, which was simply smart football. The Argos had missed a 49-yard field goal earlier in OT, with Edmonton running back Javon Leake smartly running the ball out of the end zone to preserve a tied game. That set up the chance to win off a rouge, which head coach Jarious Jackson then opted to do, rather than call on rookie kicker Vincent Blanchard, who was playing in his first CFL game after getting drafted in May. What’s more, Julien was on the verge of, and eventually set, a new league single-season record for highest punting average, at 54 yards per kick, with his longest boot this year travelling 87 yards.

3) I wrote about it in my post-game story and again in my next-day column, but it’s worth repeating a third time just how incredible it was to witness the final moments in the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ 28-27 win over the Montreal Alouettes. Like a scene out of the Wizard of Oz, a tornado of fall-coloured leaves swept across Molson Stadium, with heavy rain and even a bit of hail soon to hollow. It came right as the Alouettes were punting back to the Bombers deep in their own end, up two points and with just seconds remaining. That was enough for Joseph Zema to botch his punt and give the Bombers a 51-yard field goal for the win, with Sergio Castillo delivering a boot right down the middle. It’s likely we never see something like that happen ever again and if you haven’t seen it, it’s worth watching.

4) Outgoing Elks president Rick LeLacheur said the club is zeroing in on a new president and that they hope to hire a GM and head coach soon after, preferably by Grey Cup. Interesting timing, considering a lot of teams usually use the GC as an opportunity to gauge interest or talk to potential hires. This suggests they’ve already got a good idea of who they want, and with fewer than three weeks before their preferred deadline, it suggests they’re going to keep Geroy Simon as GM and Jackson as the coach. That’s a fair amount of stink to carry over from the Chris Jones era, but no one can get a quicker jump on the 2025 season.

5) Calgary Stampeders president Jay McNeil threw his full support behind Dave Dickenson, saying he plans to have the GM/HC back in 2025 despite finishing the last two seasons a combined 11-24-1. McNeil wasn’t nearly as courteous to Dickenson’s staff, with special-teams co-ordinator and assistant head coach Mark Killam, defensive co-ordinator Brent Monson and defensive line coach Juwan Simpson all getting their walking papers. For many CFL pundits, the belief was Dickenson might fire himself as HC and give the title to Killam. That’s obviously not the plan now, and while Dickenson managed to remain with the club that’s employed him since he was a player in 2008, you have to think the leash will be short for him to turn things around.

6) I feel better about the Ottawa Redblacks after their win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, as QB Dru Brown was able to find his groove for the first time in weeks, throwing for 445 passing yards and three TDs compared to one interception. I still don’t feel good about their chances in the Eastern semifinal against the Argos. Toronto has been playing some of its best football down the stretch and they have the players in all three phases to make it a long night for the visitors.

7) Moving over to the Western semifinal, count me as someone who isn’t convinced a sudden change at QB will be enough for the Lions to down the Riders. I hope the best for Vernon Adams Jr., who has an incredible opportunity in front of him to rewrite the narrative of his year after being replaced by Nathan Rourke. While I do think Adams gives the Lions the best chance to win, I still don’t think it will be enough to make up for B.C.’s glaring issues on defence. Meanwhile, the Riders are playing even better than the Argos and should be able to take advantage of the crowd and cold November weather on the prairies.

8) We clearly know who Travis Kelce is rooting for on the eve of the CFL playoffs. The star NFL tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs was sporting a Bombers No. 8 Zach Collaros jersey on the latest episode of New Heights, a massively popular podcast that Travis does with his older brother, recently retired and future Hall of Fame O-lineman Jason Kelce. While a cool development, it shouldn’t come as a surprise, as Collaros and the Kelce brothers were former teammates and roommates while attending the University of Cincinnati and remain close friends to this day.

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

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