The B.C. Lions may have started a trend this year by grossly exceeding the salary cap in an attempt to qualify for a home Grey Cup.
Winnipeg is set to host the CFL’s championship game for the first time in a decade next year, giving the club a chance to win the Grey Cup on home soil for the first time in franchise history. The team has qualified for the last five Grey Cups and won two, raising the already sky-high expectations from fans in Bomberland.
Kyle Walters, the Blue Bombers’ longtime general manager, thinks his colleagues would be willing to thwart the salary cap in pursuit of a home championship in 2025, though he’s skeptical that’s the right choice, suggesting the team should already be doing everything in its power to win the Grey Cup regardless of where it’s hosted.
“(President and CEO) Wade (Miller) and (head coach) Mike (O’Shea) are very supportive — they would probably be all for it (if we decided to go over the salary cap next year), but for now, we haven’t talked about that,” said Walters on Tuesday. “If we wanted to win (the Grey Cup) then we should be talking about going over the salary cap every year.”
“Organizations shouldn’t say, ‘Because we’re hosting, we’re really going to give it our all this year’ because the response from the players and coaches would be, ‘Well, why wouldn’t we do that every year?’”
Neil McEvoy, who recently became B.C.’s vice president of football operations after serving as co-general manager and director of football operations this past season, confirmed that his team will be over the salary cap this year. The admission hardly came as a surprise as the midseason additions of Nathan Rourke and Mathieu Betts, both of whom returned to the team following stints in the NFL, added two big salaries to an already expensive roster.
The CFL has traditionally announced salary cap violations in April, so an official announcement isn’t expected anytime soon. However, the Lions are expected to become the first team since 2007 to be stripped of a draft pick for their overspending. In addition to a fine, teams lose a first-round pick for violating the salary cap by $100,000 and further draft capital for doing so by $300,000.
The irony with the buzz that’s accompanied B.C.’s overspending strategy is that it was woefully unsuccessful. The Lions went 4-6 after signing Rourke, including the playoffs, and were outclassed by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the West Semi-Final, losing 28-19. By contrast, the team hosted and won the West Semi-Final when it abided by the salary cap in 2022 and again in 2023 when it went over by $85,979, which, while not an insignificant amount, didn’t cost the team any draft picks.
Winnipeg exceeded the salary cap by $25,947 in 2023, which Walters blamed on the team’s decision to rest so many players for their final regular season game. Stanley Bryant, Jackson Jeffcoat, Willie Jefferson, Ricky Walker, Adam Bighill, Kyrie Wilson, and Winston Rose were all healthy scratches for the matchup against Calgary, which had no bearing on the standings.
Walters believes his team will be under the salary cap for 2024 and plans to use any remaining room as signing bonuses for next year, which could provide some relief for 2025.
That may not matter, however, if the team decides to throw caution to the wind and spend like drunken sailors in an attempt to ensure they reach a sixth-straight Grey Cup — and a first in their home stadium.
The post Kyle Walters: Blue Bombers haven’t discussed but would ‘probably be all for’ violating salary cap in Grey Cup host year appeared first on 3DownNation.
