The Edmonton Eskimos and head coach Jason Maas have been fined by the Canadian Football League after Maas failed to wear a live microphone during Monday’s game against the Montreal Alouettes.
The Eskimos organization was fined $20,000 and Maas $15,000 for what CFL commissioner Jeffrey Orridge called a “totally unacceptable” move.
“The fact that coach Maas has expressed no remorse whatsoever for what appears to be a unilateral and planned act of defiance is particularly disappointing,” Orridge said in a statement Wednesday.
“I want to send a clear signal that this cannot happen again.”
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The CFL said all nine football clubs supported a directive from the league’s board of governors to participate in live mic games. Prior to Monday’s game, the Edmonton Eskimos promoted the live mic game on their website saying both Maas and quarterback Mike Reilly would wear microphones during their tilt against the Alouettes.
Orridge said Maas’ failure to wear a live mic was unfair to the fans who were promised a live mic game, unfair to CFL’s broadcast partner and unfair to the other teams who participated in live mic games.
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The Eskimos have since apologized. Eskimos president and CEO Len Rhodes released the following statement Wednesday afternoon.
“Last Monday, our football club failed to honour the commitment we had previously made to the league to follow through on the live mic broadcast. By failing to act on our commitment, we let our peers down across the league. For this, we are sorry and we sincerely apologize to our league, our broadcast partner TSN and to CFL fans from coast-to-coast,” Rhodes said.
“Today, the commissioner has levied significant fines against our football club and our head coach. We respect and fully support this decision. The long-term interests of our league as a whole must always supersede the interests of any individual or any one team.”
Maas and Reilly said after Monday’s game they elected not to be mic’d up because it made them uncomfortable and they didn’t want any distractions during a game they needed to win to help improve their playoff position. Both said they were prepared to live with any league discipline it incurred.
“They can’t hold a gun to your head to make you do it so we just decided not to do it,” Maas said after the game. “It’s what’s right for our football club, not what’s right for the other people, that’s the bottom line.
“We just decided between Mike and I not to do it and we’ll live with the consequences.”
Reilly said he was told by the CFL Players Association it was his choice whether to wear a mic or not.
“We played the game, we got the win and that’s all I care about,” said Reilly.
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The Eskimos would not comment further on the matter Wednesday.
Despite the apology, Orridge said the Eskimos have a responsibility to ensure their employees “do not see themselves as above the league and what its governors deem to be in the best long-term interests of the league.”
“It is also important that coach Maas be held personally accountable.”
Orridge said should a scenario arise again where Maas is directed to wear a mic and he again refuses, he will be fined again and suspended for the team’s next game, even if it’s a playoff or championship game.
With files from The Canadian Press.
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