'A unilateral and planned act of defiance': CFL drops hammer on Eskimos, Maas
Team fined $20,000, coach fined $15,000 for refusal to wear live mics in Monday's game
The Canadian Football League has levied heavy fines against the Edmonton Eskimos and head coach Jason Maas for refusing to wear live microphones during Monday's 40-20 win over the Montreal Alouettes.
The team has been fined $20,000 and Maas has been hit with a $15,000 penalty of his own, the league announced Wednesday in a statement that said the Eskimos' conduct was "totally unacceptable."
Eskimos president Len Rhodes apologized, saying the club "let our peers down across the league."
The live mic game had been promoted as a way for fans to hear interactions between coaches and quarterbacks.
Alouettes coach Jacques Chapdelaine and quarterback Rakeem Cato wore their microphones as directed by the league, but Maas and Reilly decided shortly before the game they wouldn't take part.
Reilly's failure to wear a live microphone "was a direct contravention of a directive from this league's board of governors, a motion that was supported by all nine clubs," CFL commissioner Jeffrey Orridge said in a statement.
"It was unfair to our fans, who had been promised a live mic game, to our broadcast partner, who had advertised a live mic game, and to the other clubs in the league who had abided by the Board's directive to participate in live mic games. It was totally unacceptable."
<a href="https://twitter.com/CFL">@CFL</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/EdmontonEsks">@EdmontonEsks</a> get those mics on the loudmouth receivers and linebackers not the boring qb and coaches if you want this to work
—@RyanYaremko<a href="https://twitter.com/garylawless">@garylawless</a> wearing a mic has zero to do with coaching. It should be optional. As wearing a mic is a silly gimmick. <a href="https://twitter.com/EdmontonEsks">@EdmontonEsks</a>
—@WhoeverDick'This cannot happen again'
In addition to the fine against the club, Orridge said it was also important that Maas "be held personally accountable" with a $15,000 penalty.
"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. I want to send a clear signal that this cannot happen again."
If Maas is directed to wear a live microphone in future and again refuses, "he will immediately be subjected to the maximum fine allowable and he will be suspended for his team's next game, even if that next game is a playoff or championship game," Orridge said.
In football, teams can often be cautious about what is shared with fans because they don't want to give away strategies and plays.
After Monday's game Maas and Reilly stuck to their decision and said they refused to wear microphones because it would be a distraction. But the Alouettes said the Eskimos' move had given the Edmonton club an unfair advantage in what turned out to be a blowout.
Orridge noted the team has apologized. "Still, it has a responsibility to ensure its 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," he said.
Eskimos issue apology
In his own statement, Rhodes acknowledged the Esks failed to honour a commitment it had made to the league.
"By failing to act on our commitment, we let our peers down across the league," he said. "For this, we are sorry and we sincerely apologize to our league, our broadcast partner TSN and to CFL fans from coast to coast.
"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."
The Eskimos are on a bye week. The team's next game is against the B.C Lions in Vancouver on Oct. 22.