Whinerpeg figures out Mo Price, Mo Problems as training camp begins
A couple of years ago the Saskatchewan Roughriders signed receiver Mo Price as a free agent who then got a signing bonus and then promptly retired, providing the province of Manitoba with hours of chuckles.
While the question came up of whether Price should return the bonus, he never did since it wasn’t against the rules and I wonder if Darian Durant filed that in the back of his mind for future reference.
In the CFL teams cut players all the time, especially before they get bonuses and teams think they can get a cheaper alternative to a player who taking a chunk of their salary cap. Player contracts in the CFL are not guaranteed so this is a nifty way for teams to stickhandle their way through the salary cap. Coaches and general managers have their contracts guaranteed which explains when teams fire their coaches, they are on the hook for the duration of the contract until it ends or the coach gets hired elsewhere.
So when Durant announced his retirement prior to training camp, and after depositing his bonus, the wailing and gashing of teeth from Whinerpeg made it clear the Bombers and their media regarded this as a personal betrayal and one that had to be satisfied only by Durant returning the bonus. Well, welcome to the world of what the players call the Cash Flow Low (CFL) Collective Bargaining Agreement. A toothless or preoccupied union wanted one year contracts and players relying on bonuses to get through the six months of offseason with no cash flow had to grin and bear it as teams cut them seemingly on financial whims.