Extending commissioner Mark Cohon’s contract would be a tremendous move for the CFL

CFL commissioner Mark Cohon's contract is set to expire in March, but both Vancouver radio station News 1130 and TSN are reporting that he's agreed to terms on a new deal. If that's accurate, it's a great move for the CFL (as I argued last year). The league has been on a clear upward trend since Cohon took over in 2007, is on solid footing in most markets, continues to draw excellent television audiences and appears to have financial stability across the board. Cohon has shown talent for solving problems as they come up, a vital skill in this league, and he's also demonstrated a commitment to hearing the fans' voices, which will be crucial to the CFL's continued success. A new deal for Cohon would increase the league's stability, show that it's moved above some of the petty squabbles of the last decade and set it on track for what's looking like a positive future.

It's worth noting just how far the CFL has come in five years. When Cohon took over in 2007, the Ottawa Renegades had been suspended just the previous year, and there were significant financial issues facing several other markets (most notably Toronto, where the David Cynamon/Howard Sokolowski partnership was primarily staying afloat thanks to secret funding from B.C. Lions owner David Braley). The league wasn't drawing massive TV revenues, as its games were split amongst CBC, TSN and RDS, and it was only two years removed from the gong show of announcerless games on CBC (thanks to a union strike). Merchandising revenues weren't anywhere near as high as they are now, the prospect of a Toronto NFL franchise loomed on the horizon, and expansion was right out of the question: the bigger debate was if other teams were going to follow Ottawa into the ether.

Just five years later, almost every CFL franchise is in reasonable shape. Dramatic stadium renovations have happened in B.C., Calgary, Edmonton, and Montreal, Winnipeg and Hamilton are working on new stadiums, and Saskatchewan's prospects for one also appear solid. Toronto has looming potential stadium problems (and plenty of other issues), of course, but the Argonauts are on much firmer ownership ground with Braley than they have been in a decade. The financials that have come out look promising as well: the Saskatchewan Roughriders were reasonably solid in the early part of the decade, but they gained an incredible boost from winning the 2007 Grey Cup and have arguably become the league's economic engine, and even statements showing losses (such as the Eskimos' 2011 one) have been largely attributable to one-time capital improvement costs rather than long-running issues. Merchandising revenues have shot through the roof, the television move to TSN has generally worked very well (and drawn great audiences, putting the CFL in solid shape heading into its next TV negotiations), the league's subdued stance on the NFL seems to have paid off (as that league moving to Toronto seems as far away as ever, despite certain councillors' efforts).

Perhaps most importantly, contraction or relocation isn't a significant issue at the moment (in spite of some threats from Hamilton during the stadium negotiations), and expansion is. Ottawa's set to get a team in the next couple of years, an Atlantic team may follow, and there have even been discussions around other areas such as Quebec City or Saskatoon. Despite how flawed some of these proposals are, it's notable that we're talking about adding teams to the CFL, not subtracting or moving them. If you want an indication that the league's in reasonable shape by historic standards, that's a pretty good one.

Cohon certainly hasn't been directly responsible for everything that's gone right, just as he hasn't been directly responsible for some of the issues that have cropped up, but by and large, the CFL has done extremely well under his leadership. He's shown business savvy in negotiating with sponsors and rightsholders, he's done a solid job of promoting the game to the media, and perhaps most importantly, he's connected with fans in a way many league executives in any sport have never managed. Whether through discussions on CFL.ca., Tweetups at the Grey Cup and even Fans' State of the League addresses, Cohon has demonstrated that he understands where his league's support comes from, and he has done an excellent job of dealing with concerns raised by fans and media.

Perhaps one of the best examples comes from the Canadian content issue, which Cohon dealt with in 2009 during his state of the league address: there were rumours that CFL GMs would push to lower the required ratio of Canadian starters in the new CBA, Cohon kept repeating that he understood the importance of Canadians to the CFL, and he wound up bringing in a CBA that kept the existing conditions in place. That showed not only that Cohon understands what makes the CFL work, but that he's also able to keep an often-divided group of GMs and owners in line when necessary.

Cohon has also demonstrated a remarkable ability to survive, which isn't easy in this league. From Jake Gaudaur's departure in 1984 to early 2007 before Cohon took over, the CFL had seven different full-time commissioners and three interim ones, and none of them lasted longer than five years. Longevity isn't often found in the CFL commissioner's job, and all by itself, it suggests the man's doing something right. When you combine that with his tangible accomplishments, the case for keeping Cohon is quite strong.