Selling the new tentative agreement to the CFLs players may be a challenge, Hamilton Tiger-Cats union rep Peter Dyakowski said Sunday.
Eric Hosmer USA
Jersey . The players association and CFL reached a tentative agreement
late Saturday night on a new contract. The move averted a potential players
strike and, if ratified, would secure the league five years of labour peace. But
the CFLPA needed more than four hours Saturday night to sell the deal to its
team reps during a conference call. Once news of the tentative agreement broke,
many CFL veterans voiced their displeasure on social media. "You hire a bunch of
clowns and you are probably going to get a circus," tweeted Calgary Stampeders
defensive back Jeff Hecht. "How it works in the 21st century: Unions are dead,"
Calgary running back Jon Cornish, the CFLs outstanding player last year, said on
his official Twitter account. Dyakowski, an offensive lineman with the Ticats,
says some of his teammates are definitely unhappy but hed expect most to vote in
favour of acceptance. However, he admits other team reps will face a tougher
task doing so. "Certainly we had some difficulty here with guys not embracing
it, to put it mildly," Dyakowski said. "I think in higher revenue markets its
going to be that much harder because they see theres money to be spent. "I could
see the boys on the prairies being up in arms about this so their reps have
their jobs cut out for them in explaining the benefits of this deal." The union
was expected to launch a work stoppage Sunday, threatening the exhibition game
Monday night between the Toronto Argonauts and Winnipeg Blue Bombers. That
contest will now go ahead. If the agreement is ratified, the regular season will
start on time June 26. A date has not been announced for a ratification vote.
The expectation is enough players will vote in favour, but one CFL star
requesting anonymity isnt so sure. "I wouldnt be shocked if the guys vote
against it," he said. Dyakowski, who won the CBC show "Canadas Smartest Person"
in 2012, believes the deal is the best the union could secure without going on
strike. "Is it what we started out going for? No," he said. "But there is always
give and take in negotiations. "Ultimately, what we feel we have is the best
deal we can achieve without doing significant damage on both sides. No one wants
a work stoppage." However, the anonymous player felt the threat of a strike was
the unions prime bargaining chip. "We had to miss pre-season games and give the
owners a feeling of empty stadiums, refunding tickets, not selling merchandise,
food," he said. "When the regular season approaches, at least they have a taste
of it. "For us, our training camp pay doesnt change whether we play one, two or
no pre-season games." Dyakowski doesnt see it that way. "The prospect of going
on strike, it would be a fun adventure for the first couple of days," he said.
"But at the end of the day it could just as likely be a two, four or five-month
ordeal than just a couple of days of trying to send a wake-up call." The CFL got
the players to agree to a $5-million salary cap with nominal $50,000 annual
increases. The union initially requested a $6.24-million cap and dropped to $5.2
million before accepting the leagues offer. The CFL also got a major concession
from the union on the gross revenue formula that would trigger the renegotiation
of the cap or entire collective agreement. The players, who initially wanted the
CBA to include revenue sharing, had called for the cap or entire agreement to be
renegotiated if league revenues increased by more than $18 million -- excluding
the Grey Cup -- in the third year of the deal. The CFL wanted that figure to be
$27 million, which the union ultimately agreed to. "We have a lot of guys very
upset about losing the revenue-sharing issue," Dyakowski said. "That was near
and dear to a lot of guys hearts. "We have five years to work towards it so
theres a lot of time for planning and preparation. But I think we have a
workable deal, a viable deal, a deal thats good for the teams, a deal thats good
for the players and puts money into everyones pockets." Another key bargaining
issue for the CFLPA was having independent neurologists on the field for each
game. But that wasnt included in the deal. Dyakowski did point to the minimum
salary increasing $5,000 to $50,000. And even at $5 million, he said the cap
represents a $600,000 increase over 2013. Players will also receive signing
bonuses -- $1,500 for rookies and a tiered system for veterans that will average
$7,500 each -- and see their average salary boosted to $96,000. During
negotiations, the CFL maintained the average player stipend was $82,000 while
the CFLPA has contended it was just under $72,000. The tentative deal removes
the option year from CFL player contracts, excluding rookies, allowing a veteran
to become a free agent sooner and maximize his earning potential. "Its a big win
for players freedom that will help younger players earn fairer value earlier in
their careers," Dyakowski said. Getting a deal in place is crucial for the CFL,
which is entering the first year of a new five-year television agreement with
TSN thats reportedly worth an average of $42 million a year. But games had to be
played for the league -- and ultimately its teams -- to receive the money. The
deal will reportedly net clubs an extra $2.75-million in revenue.
Andrew
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best efforts of the year.
Daniel
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and may have turned up the pressure on himself, too.
http://www.baseballgreet.com/Team-USA-Marcus-Stroman-Jersey/ . Pospisil, from Vancouver, and Sock will compete for the title against
defending champions and top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States, who
defeated the 12th-seeded French duo of Michael Llodra and Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (4),
6-3, 6-2.MIAMI - During the dog days of the regular season, the Miami Heat often
spoke about the need to not take any shortcuts on the way to the playoffs. And
thats true. That doesnt mean they necessarily enjoyed the 82-game run-up to the
best time of year. "None of us," Heat forward LeBron James finally confessed,
"are here for the regular season." When this core of Heat players was assembled,
the only stated goal was winning NBA titles, which also explains why even
getting through the first two rounds of these playoffs basically unscathed only
merited a short celebration. Miami is back in the Eastern Conference finals for
the fourth straight season, and will visit Indiana in Game 1 on Sunday
afternoon. The Heat got there by ousting the Brooklyn Nets in five games, the
end of that series Wednesday night being briefly accompanied by a few hoots and
hollers in the immediate moments after the clinching 96-94 win was completed.
Before long, order was restored to the Heat locker room. Two series wins are
nice, but they know the road only gets tougher from here. "Like LeBron said, to
be in this position four years in a row, this is the reason we came together
four years ago," Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. "Weve got a lot more work to do
but were a team that doesnt take it for granted. Were a team that worked very
hard to get to this point, so were going to go to the next round, the Eastern
Conference finals and continue to do what weve done, play this game as hard as
we can and try to continue to move forward." Indiana ousted Washington on
Thursday night. The Heat and Pacers split four meetings in the regular season.
"We know what Indianas capable of," Heat forward Chris Bosh said. "Best defence
in the league. Despite their struggles, we still see the same opponent in those
guys as we did last year and throughout this year." The Heat are now 32-7 in
first- and second-round games in the last four postseasons, that stretch
coinciding with the start of the "Big 3"; era featuring James, Wade and Bosh
teaming up in Miami.
Miguel
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wasnt enough. More pieces were added, like Shane Battier a year later and
Ray Allen two years later, and theyve all paid dividends since. Allen kept
coming up big at big times in the Brooklyn series, hitting clutch free throws to
seal Game 4 and then knocking down a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left to put Miami
ahead for good in Game 5. Never mind that Allen had missed 11 of his last 12
3-point tries in the series. Just like last year when he saved Miamis season
with the legendary desperation 3-pointer in Game 6 of the NBA Finals against San
Antonio, when the stakes were highest, Allen came through. "We did what we
needed to do, when we had to do it," Allen said. "Total team effort." Miami had
trailed for the entire second half of Game 5 against the Nets until that
3-pointer by Allen, a shot set up by Mario Chalmers seeing that Brooklyns
Shaun Livingston was charging at him and somehow leaving the best long-range
shooter in the history of the game wide open. That was the only break Miami
needed. "The most important thing is to stay in the moment," Battier said. "And
I dont there is anyone maybe in the history of the game who does it better than
Ray Allen." Added Chalmers: "Thats a great option when you know you have the
all-time greatest 3-point shooter to your left." A year ago, the Heat needed
seven games to beat Indiana in the East finals, then seven more to top San
Antonio for their second straight NBA title. Thursday was a rest day for Miami,
maybe one of the last ones the Heat will truly have before the season ends. On
Friday, the real work starts in earnest. "We still have some business to take
care of," James said. "But its great to be able to put ourselves in position to
get to where we want to go. We never shortcut the process. We understand that
each and every game is going to be a challenge for us."
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