CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie has made his impending retirement known, intending to step down from the role in 2025 once a replacement is found.
Ambrosie, who took over the job in 2017, is the fourth-longest-serving commissioner in league history at over seven years. According to reports, his departure comes after a vote by the board of governors demonstrated there was not unanimous support for renewing his contract.
Following the official announcement, Ambrosie joined Justin Dunk for an extensive interview on 620 CKRM’s Rider Radio. It’s presented in question and answer format.
Justin Dunk: How did this come about?
Randy Ambrosie: Scott Banda, he’s been the board chair for about three years. Scott and I talk a lot, and we’ve been talking a lot about what’s on the other side in the foreseeable future. There’s the media rights, then there’s ultimately going to be another CBA. We were talking about where I wanted to position myself against those activities.
Good conversation with the board of governors and I feel so good about what has happened over the last seven-plus years. I’m very proud of where the league is. I remember sitting in this room at a time early on when people would say, ‘Randy, you’ve got to start marketing’ and ‘What’s going to happen to our major markets?’ I feel so good about all of those things.
It’s a good time for me; and I love this league. The fans are the best part of the Canadian Football League.
I’ll be the commissioner for many mornings to come until they find my successor. I want to hand off to the next commissioner. Wish that person well, maybe give them a hug, some free advice and then I’m going to be a giant CFL fan.
Wes Cates: Randy, when this was announced, it made me think about my last season with the Riders. We had a tough year to miss the playoffs, but it was a good core so I felt like I wanted to stay and contribute. I felt like I had some unfinished business and then that team did turn it around in a couple of years and win a Grey Cup, went on to achieve some great things. Do you feel like you have some unfinished business at this point or how are you feeling about it?
Ambrosie: There’s always going to be something. Through that argument, you always need to stay because there’s another Grey Cup on the horizon.
I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished. I think the league — look at the ownership — has never been better than it is now. The game is in a really good place. The Canadian talent is as good now as it’s ever been. I literally think it’s the best generation of Canadian talent. We’ve got Global players that are shooting the lights out.
I’ve asked my family to give me a lot of time to do this job the way I love to do it, which is to be with all of you. But I’m looking forward to spending some time with Barb and the girls and enjoying my family. If the next commissioner comes and does something super spectacular, I’m going to take credit for it anyway.
Dunk: If you would look at your tenure, are there some things that you wish you could have gotten done? You know how interested they are in a 10th team. Would that be one of those things?
Ambrosie: 100 percent. I look at where we were in 2019. The momentum was building in Atlantic Canada, it was building in Halifax, and I thought, ‘Okay, this may be it.’ Then COVID knocked us down and took all the wind out of our sails.
It’s always going to be and I think it needs to continue to be a priority for the league. I believe that a 10th team really is the game-changer for the CFL. I didn’t get it done. Maybe in some ways, we set the foundation for the future, but I just believe it has to happen. It didn’t get done under my watch. I’m going to be rooting like heck for the next person to get it done.
Dunk: Is there anything that we might not know about that you were working on and wanted to get out there or wanted to have as an initiative that you wished happened?
Ambrosie: I think it’s a great question, Justin, but I might reposition it to say this. I wish we could have done more of what we are working on. I wish we could have pedalled faster and got more momentum, but we have a lot of momentum.
One of the things that definitely hurt us was the 2020 pandemic. Losing that season, I think it’s an undeniable truth that was a setback for us but we’ve got a lot of momentum now. We’ve got fan growth in our big markets. Our social media platforms are exploding with success.
I think we got a lot of foundation and I would have loved to have done more. I don’t know exactly know what that means, but I wish we could have done more.
Dunk: In terms of the ownership situation, I think you could make an argument that it’s in the best place it’s ever been in league history. Do you need that first before get a 10th team?
Ambrosie: One of the things that I wanted to get us off was the treadmill of having to worry about the next crisis. Because that’s an energy sucker when you’re worried about what you’re going to do with a team that’s in a bit of trouble, that’s a problem.
Larry Thompson, who as you all know bought the Edmonton Elks, is an exceptional man. I woke up the day after we made the announcement feeling so much different about Edmonton, because I don’t have to worry but I know what Larry’s going to do in Edmonton. I look across the board, we have got strong, committed owners. That part, once you get that in place, then you can start looking onto the horizon. When you’re in those moment-to-moment, almost a crisis, you’re not so much looking out, you’re just trying to get to tomorrow.
I think it’s a different environment. It’s going to bode well for the next leadership of this league and I think the next leader is going to take this league to fantastic new heights.
Dunk: When you look over your time, anybody new in any role might make I guess we’ll call it mistakes at the start and then learn from it and be better. Is there anything that sticks out for you being in that chair? A lot of people think it’s easy. You’re the CFL commissioner, you wave a wand and you do this, you wave a wand and you do that.’
Ambrosie: I can tell you, if there’s a magic wand that came with the commissioner’s office, nobody showed me where it was.
It’s an insightful question because it’s not a job that comes with a magic wand. You don’t have command and control. I come from businesses; when I was the chief
executive, I had a lot of control over the day-to-day operations of the business. In this one, you have to manage by influence. You’re trying to get at least the majority, you’re trying to get everybody on side and all the markets are different. The businesses are in different places.
This is a job where you have to exercise patience. You’ve got to really be committed to communication because you don’t get to be a unilateral decision-maker. If I could have better understood that early on, I may have been more effective earlier but I definitely worked at my craft — I tried to learn from it. I did learn you can’t aspire to want nine teams to be on board for everything all the time — it doesn’t happen. You have to start by wanting to get a majority and then you build and add on after you get to the majority.
It’s a great job. It’s a challenging job. It’s been the greatest honour of my lifetime
to be the Canadian Football League commissioner. I wouldn’t do a lot differently, I wish I could have done more.
Dunk: Will you have influence on who is the next commissioner?
Ambrosie: I don’t think so. I think the governors know if they ask me for help, they’ll get it. If they ask me, I will respond in the most positive way. I think this is a group of governors — a very strong group, a very confident group. I think they’ll figure out what they want and then they’ll go to the marketplace. I hope whoever they find is going to take whatever I’ve been able to do and build on it. I’m confident they will.
Dunk: What’s next for Randy Ambrosie?
Ambrosie: My wife asked that very same question. I said to Scott Banda: ‘I want to do every day until my successor starts. I want to do every day with excellence. I want to make sure nobody thinks that I’m doing anything but giving this thing my fullest effort.’ After that, I think I’m probably going to take a little time to enjoy life and spend some time with Barb and the girls and slow down a little bit.
There’s something out there. I feel there’s something out there on the other side of this. I don’t know what it is, but I’m super proud of my relationship with this league, with all of these great fans. I’m going to enjoy the moment. I’m going to enjoy a Grey Cup in Vancouver and I’m enjoying these amazing football games.
The post ‘I wish I could have done more’: CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie addresses departure appeared first on 3DownNation.
