No one is happier that the Hamilton Tiger-Cats season has started, than team owner Bob Young.
On CHML’s Bill Kelly Show, Young pointed out, as was the case for all businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a lot of financial problems for CFL teams.
“We had to continue to function as a league. We had to stay in the public eye, we had to retain our front office staff, we had to figure out how to compensate our players at least as well as we can. There was a lot of expense that went into the last season and a half without any revenue.”
Young says all the teams found the capital to continue operating either through debt or additional equity to sustain the financial hit, which he pegged at tens of millions across the league.
The big issue this season for the Tiger-Cats, as well as the Toronto Argonauts and Ottawa Redblacks, is how to get fans in the stands, safely.
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Right now, the province of Ontario does not require residents to carry vaccination passports, but just to the west, Manitoba has made vaccination a requirement for football fans.
Last week, when the Tiger-Cats played their season opener in Winnipeg, fans that went to IG Field, had to show proof of vaccination in order to be able to attend the game.
Young says the province of Ontario needs to come up with something similar.
“I am a big fan of vaccine passports. If we all just agreed that in a pandemic a vaccine passport makes sense. Once the pandemic is over, we can rip them up and go back to our usual tasks.”
Tiger-Cats play this Saturday in Regina.
CHML’s pregame show begins 9 p.m., kickoff is at 10 p.m. The Fifth Quarter follows right after the game.
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