By Brayden Yin

“That sucks.” 

That was the reaction of 14-year old Elliot Blake when he heard that the Canadian Football League was canceled. Blake said that if people were able to watch football, it might help “a lot of people get through the quarantine”. However, that argument was not enough to convince the Canadian government to lend 30 million Canadian dollars to the league. 

On August 17, Randy Ambrosie, the CFL commissioner, announced that the 2020 season was canceled. This meant that for the first time in 101 years, that the Grey Cup, the trophy awarded to the winning CFL team, would not be handed out. 

The CFL requested the 30 million dollars to make up for the lost money because there would be no fans to make money from. Some members of the Canadian government, like Liberal MP Peter Fragiskatos said that it didn’t make sense to give the CFL special treatment because it was an important part of the heritage of Canada. Blake was frustrated at the government’s decision. He says that they should have at least spared some money for the CFL. 

Given the crazy year, Blake says that it definitely would have helped to have football to look forward to.

Sources:

https://www.cbc.ca/kidsnews/post/that-sucks-teen-football-fan-reacts-after-cfl-cancels-season