COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE

1997 GREY CUP DINNER

NOVEMBER 14, 1997

PT: I think I need to start with a little disclaimer. Football is the greatest of team sports. Whatever has been accomplished was achieved because a lot of people deserve thanks for their hard work. It’s great to be part of an evening that involves a lot of pride.

I want to commend the people of Edmonton for their fabulous hospitality. I have heard so much about the Grey Cup and was anxious to come here and be part of this weekend. What it reminds me of most is the Hall of Fame weekend we celebrate every year at the birthplace of our own league in Canton, Ohio. There is a unique spirit, warmth and fondness for football and sportsmanship. I get the same feeling here tonight and it’s very rewarding to be with you.

Obviously, I want to congratulate both teams, the Rough Riders and Argonauts. I want to thank the mayor and Premier Klein and I was able to learn more about this providence and Western Canada from the premier than I could in almost any other way. The Grey Cup represents a history and tradition that we envy. We have a Super Bowl that has become an unofficial national holiday, but it still does not have length and tradition and the track record of the Grey Cup. Your league is the oldest professional football league in the world. The Grey Cup is part of that phenomenal league history.

You have a game that is unique and it reflects so many of the qualities of Canada and Canadians that are unique. We have had a tremendous relationship for many decades. I worked with Pete Rozelle for many years, and I can’t tell you how many times he talked about the Canadian Football League, and how they did things, and how much he admired the CFL. The late Jim Finks would talk about the CFL and it’s fans. When we talk about our traditions and roots we talk about the Green Bay Packers, and it seems to me that your entire league is similar to what is so precious to us about the Green Bay Packers. We need to continue to nurture and grow our relationship.

A few people on our staff tell me that our games go back as far as 1874, when students at McGill University played students at Harvard University. That’s almost 125 year ago, and part of the purpose of our alliance is to insure that there are another 125 years of cooperation and mutual support between the Canadian brand of football and American football.

Over the last nine months people would ask me ‘Why would the NFL develop an alliance with the CFL?’ I think the answer is very simple. We could not let temporary conditions wreak unintended havoc when that was totally unnecessary. Pat Bowlen and Hugh Campbell spoke to me and told me that temporary conditions had cause instability in some teams and in the league and we should do something about it. Hugh Campbell speaks persuasively and quietly, while Pat Bowlen speaks persuasively and speaks

directly and forcefully. The combination of those two different styles and approaches saying the exact same thing, that we need to do something to exist, is the reason that we are here.

Our perspective is that sport is many, many things. It goes way beyond the competition on the field. It is athletes struggling against adversity. It’s business. It’s entertainment and education. Coaching is teaching, and coaches are teachers. It’s culture and in some parts of the world, politics. So from that perspective, the prospect that your league would continue to struggle, and we would sit and do nothing was unacceptable.

This year alone I have been to Gaelic football events in Dublin, Australian Football events in Melbourne, developing ideas about football in Mexico. Being here is a culmination to a fabulous year. I had a conversation with the Prime Minister of Japan in May, and he told me what it meant to him to play American football in the years after World War II, when he was a youngster. We have all of these fabulous brands of football, and yours is right at the top of the list. We are very pleased and honored to be part of the Canadian Football League.

John Tory has said a lot in the last 36 hours about the positive accomplishments of the last year. He is far more eloquent on that than I could ever be. The league is on the right track. There are outstanding owners, coaches and players. The board of governors sees what it’s mission is and knows what it’s future will be. The most important part of course is you, the fans and the fans throughout Canada. All of the ingredients are in place and we are working hard on many fronts. Above all the golden rule of our relationship is that the CFL is Canadian and will remain Canadian and we will only be silent partners in the background.

The analogy in my mind is like that to college football in the United States. It’s an institution in America that was big before the NFL was anything. It rests on the shoulders of alumni and administrators and amateurism. It’s a brand of football that is unique and different from the NFL and yet we thrive together. We complement each other. I can see a relationship here in Canada which is analogous to that. We look forward to a long positive relationship and we thank you for your hospitality here this week.

/af