Twenty-six years after being released by the Calgary Stampers, Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson is looking at re-establishing his CFL ties.
Both the CFL and XFL revealed Wednesday they’re poised to begin serious discussions about a potential partnership. Neither side would say who initiated talks first, only that they’ve agreed to collaborating on ways to grow football.
Johnson, an actor and former pro wrestler, is a co-owner of the American-based XFL.
“It’s an exciting moment for us to really start talking about how do we collaborate,” CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said. “That’s a great word and it’s at the heart of this.
“Where that leads we don’t know, but it’s going to be exciting. Sometimes we over-use the phrase world class but they are world-class people.”
Bigger challenge ahead
In a statement Wednesday, the XFL put its plans to return in the spring of 2022 on hold, “pending the outcome of our conversations with the CFL.”
The timing of the talks is curious, given the CFL has a bigger, more immediate challenge before it — resuming play in 2021 after being forced to cancel the ’20 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Look, we’re full speed ahead on our return-to-play plan for the 2021 CFL season,” Ambrosie said. “All of this is about what will happen in the future.
“So 2021 is our absolute focus and then you use this conversation we’re kicking off to talk about the future beyond 2021.”
It’s a fact not lost upon Hamilton Tiger-Cats owner Bob Young, whose city is scheduled to host this years Grey Cup.
“While there was some interesting news [Wednesday] from the Canadian Football League office, rest assured that our singular focus now is getting back on the field in 2021 and putting on the best Grey Cup in CFL history,” he said in a statement. “Our commitment to our fans is that we will accomplish both.”
Bringing the two together
Johnson purchased the XFL last year with business partner Dany Garcia and RedBird Capital for $15 million US. The expectation was it would resume play in the spring of 2022.
Johnson played football collegiately at Miami. The former defensive lineman aspired to play in the NFL but upon graduation in 1995 joined the Calgary Stampeders before being released from the practice roster.
Afterward, Johnson followed in the footsteps of his late Canadian-born father, Rocky and entered professional wrestling. He joined WWE in 1996, becoming The Rock, before embarking on a successful acting career.
Johnson was unavailable for comment Wednesday. But Garcia, Johnson’s ex-wife, said the CFL and XFL share similar values on and off the field.
“The wonderful thing [is] Dwayne’s personal experience is symptomatic of what lives in the CFL and we already seek those things out,” said Garcia, the XFL’s chairwoman. “I’d say everything aligned beautifully.
“If you’re looking at Dwayne and myself and the career we’ve built, it always has a global reach, community reach, an expansive entertainment media reach. This collaboration, this dialogue, fits right into that approach.”
On her Instagram account Wednesday, Garcia posted a picture of herself holding a cup of coffee beside a bookshelf that featured a CFL book and XFL football. Below, it said: “The perfect cup of coffee when you’re about to shake things up.”
Ambrosie, Garcia and XFL president/CEO Jeffrey Pollack were emphatic that nothing has been decided and all options will be examined. They also agreed that any talk of a merger involving the two leagues was very premature.
Like Ambrosie, Pollack said these talks are aimed at the future.
“This is about possibility and potential in a wonderful form,’ Pollack said. “That’s a nice place to start a conversation from.
“There’s still a lot to discuss and explore and learn about each other but we’re excited to be in these conversations and excited to see where it goes.”
Ambrosie said he planned to bring the CFL Players’ Association up to speed on the talks Wednesday.
“We want to make sure they know we’re just at the beginning of the beginning,” Ambrosie said. “But we do want the players to know that this discussion is happening and that it’s about growth.
“It’s about opportunity and it’s about entertainment and those things can benefit everybody.”
If the CFL and XFL look at how to play games together or against each other, there’ll be no shortage of challenges to overcome, given the many differences between the Canadian and American games. And there’d also be the question of if or how the CFL ratio (at least 21 Canadians on a roster, including a minimum of seven starters) would apply.
The CFL expanded into the U.S. between 1993-95, adding franchises in Baltimore, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Calif., Shreveport, La., Birmingham, Ala. and Memphis, Tenn. But the experiment — which included American clubs not requiring to have Canadians on their rosters — ended after the ’95 season with the Grey Cup-champion Baltimore Stallions relocating to Montreal.
Creating intrigue
Aligning with a huge star like Johnson would undoubtedly interest the CFL and its quest to appeal to a younger demographic. The last time it had such star power was in 1991 when Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall, actor John Candy and hockey great Wayne Gretzky purchased the Toronto Argonauts, then signed Raghib (Rocket) Ismail en route to winning the Grey Cup that year.
But three years later, McNall, Gretzky and Candy’s estate sold the Argos to TSN and Labatt Breweries for $4.7 million.
“It’s less about why is this the time and more about where we both were at as we’re looking to grow and expand our league,” Garcia said. “Take advantage of entertainment properties, which communities, create an advantages for athletes and players in the game of gridiron football.
“It was a like-minded process of two leagues coming together to discuss.”
Not all CFL supporters shared that sentiment Wednesday. Many took to social media to voice their displeasure.
“I’m going to bet on optimism, I’m going to bet on all of those fans who we love that want to see us grow our game,” Ambrosie said. “They know that in our biggest markets we need to re-energize.
“I’m going to bet on the idea they’re going to see the passion Dany, Jeffrey and Dwayne and their partners at RedBird have for the CFL and what we represent. I’m just going to bet that the best of our fans is going to surface here and they’re going to say, ‘Great. The CFL is talking to these world-class operators who can help us realize the full potential of football in Canada.”‘
XFL history
The XFL has enjoyed a brief, troubled history.
It was first introduced in February 2000 by wrestling executive Vince McMahon and Dick Ebersol, then the chairman of NBC Sports, as a fun alternative to the NFL. But the league lasted only one year (2001).
McMahon resurrected the XFL in 2020 with eight teams. But it ceased operations after just five weeks of play due to the COVID-19 pandemic and filed for bankruptcy April 13.
The league has always had a CFL flavour to it. In 2001, longtime CFL head coach/GM Jim Barker was the offensive co-ordinator of the champion L.A. Xtreme, its roster featuring quarterback Scott Milanovich — who would become a head coach in the CFL with Toronto and Edmonton — and longtime punter Noel Prefontaine.
And in 2020, it had two former CFL head coaches with Tampa Bay’s Marc Trestman (Grey Cup champion head coach with Montreal and Toronto) and Houston’s June Jones (Hamilton).
NAPA, Calif. (AP) — David Lipsky shot a 7-under 65 on Thursday at Silverado Country Club to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Procore Championship.
Winless in 104 events since joining the PGA Tour in 2022, Lipsky went out with the early groups and had eight birdies with one bogey to kick off the FedEx Cup Fall series at the picturesque course in the heart of Napa Valley wine country.
After missing the cut in his three previous tournaments, Lipsky flew from Las Vegas to Arizona to reunite with his college coach at Northwestern to get his focus back. He also spent time playing with some of the Northwestern players, which helped him relax.
“Just being around those guys and seeing how carefree they are, not knowing what’s coming for them yet, it’s sort of nice to see that,” Lipsky said. “I was almost energized by their youthfulness.”
Patton Kizzire and Mark Hubbard were a stroke back. Kizzire started on the back nine and made a late run with three consecutive birdies to move into a tie for first. A bogey on No. 8 dropped him back.
“There was a lot of good stuff out there today,” Kizzire said. “I stayed patient and just went through my routines and played well, one shot at a time. I’ve really bee working hard on my mental game and I think that allowed me to rinse and repeat and reset and keep playing.”
Mark Hubbard was at 67. He had nine birdies but fell off the pace with a bogey and triple bogey on back-to-back holes.
Kevin Dougherty also was in the group at 67. He had two eagles and ended his afternoon by holing out from 41 yards on the 383-yard, par-4 18th.
Defending champion Sahith Theegala had to scramble for much of his round of 69.
Wyndham Clark, who won the U.S. Open in 2023 and the AT&T at Pebble Beach in February, had a 70.
Max Homa shot 71. The two-time tournament champion and a captain’s pick for the President’s Cup in two weeks had two birdies and overcame a bogey on the par-4 first.
Stewart Cink, the 2020 winner, also opened with a 71. He won The Ally Challenge last month for his first PGA Tour Champions title.
Three players from the Presidents Cup International team had mix results. Min Woo Lee shot 68, Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., 69 and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., 73. International team captain Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., also had a 69.
Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., had a 68, Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., shot 70 and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., had a 71.
Lipsky was a little shaky off the tee for much of the afternoon but made up for it with steady iron play that left him in great shape on the greens. He had one-putts on 11 holes and was in position for a bigger day but left five putts short.
Lipsky’s only real problem came on the par-4 ninth when his approach sailed into a bunker just shy of the green. He bounced back nicely with five birdies on his back nine. After missing a 19-foot putt for birdie on No. 17, Lipsky ended his day with a 12-foot par putt.
That was a big change from last year when Lipsky tied for 30th at Silverado when he drove the ball well but had uneven success on the greens.
“Sometimes you have to realize golf can be fun, and I think I sort of forgot that along the way as I’m grinding it out,” Lipsky said. “You’ve got to put things in perspective, take a step back. Sort of did that and it seems like it’s working out.”
Laird stayed close after beginning his day with a bogey on the par-4 10th. The Scot got out of the sand nicely but pushed his par putt past the hole.
Homa continued to have issues off the tee and missed birdie putts on his final four holes.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic is moving on to the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open.
The Mississauga, Ont., native defeated the tournament top seed, Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) in the round of 16 on Thursday.
Stakusic faced a 0-4 deficit in the third and final set before marching back into the match.
The 19-year-old won five of the next six games to even it up before exchanging games to force a tiebreaker, where Stakusic took complete control to win the match.
Stakusic had five aces with 17 double faults in the three-hour, four-minute match.
However, she converted eight of her 18 break-point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
PARIS (AP) — French judicial authorities are investigating the disappearance of two Paralympic athletes from Congo who recently competed in the Paris Games, the prosecutor’s office in the Paris suburb of Bobigny confirmed on Thursday.
Prosecutors opened the investigation on Sept. 7, after members of the athletes’ delegation warned authorities of their disappearance two days before.
Le Parisien newspaper reported that shot putter Mireille Nganga and Emmanuel Grace Mouambako, a visually impaired sprinter who was accompanied by a guide, went missing on Sept. 5, along with a third person.
The athletes’ suitcases were also gone but their passports remained with the Congolese delegation, according to an official with knowledge of the investigation, who asked to remain anonymous as they were not allowed to speak publicly about the case.
The Paralympic Committee of the Democratic Republic of Congo did not respond to requests for information from The Associated Press.
Nganga — who recorded no mark in the seated javelin and shot put competitions — and Mouambako were Congo’s flag bearers at the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, organizers said.
