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Riders fined $60,000 for "compromising the reputation of the CFL"

andrew bucholtz
Riders fined $60,000 for "compromising the reputation of the CFL"

It looks like the Saskatchewan Roughriders are changing their ways in response to the controversy that emerged publicly Wednesday from Calgary QB Bo Levi Mitchell's accusations and subsequent media reports, but they've also been fined by the CFL for those actions. Those reports had the team utilizing "as many as 95 players," and allegedly paying, housing and regularly meeting with some of those players not under contract, who were dubbed a "pre-practice squad." After keeping silent on this for days, the CFL released a statement Thursday at 7 p.m. Eastern announcing a $60,000 fine for the Roughriders and a $26,000 salary-cap charge:

The CFL today levied a $60,000 fine against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, as well as a deduction in excess of $26,000 off the Roughriders’ 2016 salary cap.

This decision was made after Commissioner Jeffrey L. Orridge and the CFL completed a thorough investigation, spanning several weeks, of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ alleged roster violations. The investigation included CFL officials visiting team practices in Regina. After a review of the findings, it has been determined that the Saskatchewan Roughriders were in violation of policies which prohibit practicing with ineligible players, players participating in practice who are on the 6-Game Injured List and having free agents practice with players who are under contact.

Each of these actions constitute a violation of CFL bylaws.

“As Commissioner, I am compelled to make decisions consistent with protecting the competitive balance within our League, the spirit of our rules and the integrity of our game. The recent conduct, behaviour and activities of the Saskatchewan Roughriders have compromised the reputation of the CFL.”

- CFL Commissioner, Jeffrey L. Orridge

That is some strong language from Orridge, and it shows how seriously the league seems to take this matter. That's also one of the biggest fines in CFL history. However, it's interesting that the penalty was strictly financial and didn't involve suspensions or lost draft picks. (There is a cap charge, but it's half the league-minimum salary of $52,000, so that's not even one player.)  If any CFL team can afford to pay $60,000, the Roughriders can.

The unwinding of the "pre-practice squad" began even ahead of the official announcement of the fine, according to Justin Dunk of 3 Down Nation. Here's what he wrote Thursday afternoon:

Saskatchewan has initiated the process of sending all the “extra” players staying in Regina home, per CFL sources.

3DownNation’s Darrell Davis reported that the Riders regularly had up to 95 players in its stable, but that’s not the case anymore. League officials visited Regina last week and they’ve stepped in to force Chris Jones and Co. to get rid of non-roster athletes.

That certainly would appear to be a sign that the Riders' plan didn't go over well with the league and that they're moving away from it. CJME's Jamie Nye also tweeted about this Thursday:

Meanwhile, Riders' head coach and general manager Chris Jones insisted the practice was legal Wednesday, but refused to talk about it Thursday. Here's what he said Wednesday, via Rod Pedersen:

"We are able by CFL rules to have tryout people at practice every single day," Jones said Wednesday. "And we've brought a lot of people in because we're never going to quit searching for talent. The day that you quit searching for good players - I mean you oughta know - because of how many injuries we've had. We've had more injuries than anybody in the CFL. It's no secret.

"If they wanna cry about how many people we have on the 6-game (Injured List), all those are legitimate injuries. We've gotta make sure we know who the next person is that's gonna step in and play because that next game is gonna come. They don't change the schedule because our kicker gets hurt Day 3, or Xavier Fulton gets hurt Day 2. The games are coming and so that's what they pay me to do; so that I know who the next person is to step in and play."

And what he said Thursday, via Nye:

Saskatchewan has also taken a beating on social media over this:

Meanwhile, the Riders are also now checking IDs of fans who want to watch practice. Here's a clip of Chris Jones talking about that from CTV Regina's Lee Jones (no relation), which gets to that point around 2:45:

"Well, unfortunately, we had some information that was leaked to Ottawa a few weeks ago, and we talked to our fans about it," Jones said. "Somehow, they knew who we were throwing the football to on particular plays. So we've got a process in place now to at least try to find out who's present at practice. I spoke to a couple of our players, three of our players, and they spoke specifically to who they were going to throw the football to on some fakes, on a punt and on a field goal. So we came up with a policy where we've got to know who's here."

That sounds rather paranoid, but it may not be; there have been some cases of teams trying to spy through practices over the years, including Winnipeg sending a scout to Hamilton's practice in 2009. Checking fans' IDs seems a little extreme, but it's also something that's presumably within Saskatchewan's rights to do; they don't have to make their practices open to fans at all. However, the pre-practice squad activities were determined to be much more problematic, which is why the CFL came down on them hard here.

Meanwhile, the 1-5 Riders will get their chance to take out their frustrations on Mitchell when they host the Stampeders Saturday night. Get your popcorn ready for that game. This rivalry was already fiery, but Mitchell's comments this week and the subsequent controversy they've stirred up have added even more fuel. It could be an explosive one.