Now, the WFU had a specific system for making decisions that affected the league. For typical, year-to-year changes, like rules and regulations, 3 of the 5 owners had to agree to the move. However, bigger decisions that could impact the league as a whole, like expansion, relocation, and of course a major deal with another entity, required 4 of the 5 owners to vote. Based on the voting procedure, those sides started to form in a typical political way.
Headlining the side for partnering with the NAAF was Vancouver Wolves owner, Mark Livingston. As an owner and leader in the WFU, Livingston was highly respected as being smart and ambitious, which had been a good thing for the WFU in bringing in and maintaining talent. The other owners respected his point of view even if they sometimes got frustrated when he would lure talent away from their teams with his deep pockets. For a while now, Livingston had been looking at options for the future of the league and even more so his own team. While Livingston had his love for Canadian Football and the WFU, he had ambitions of growing his brand and competing at a higher level. The fact that Vancouver had won the last 3 Mackenzie Cups, only strengthens the argument for the Wolves to seek stronger competition. Livingston saw the NAAF opportunity as one where he could find his Wolves in a league with teams from other major markets like Toronto, Montreal, Boston, and Minneapolis. Another impact is likely the opportunity to finally get some national tv coverage which Livingston has been trying for over the last few seasons.
Also on Livingston’s side was Calgary Tigers owner, Tyler McNeil. McNeil only recently took over the team after the team’s original owner, Hank Barker, passed away and left the team to his son. His son elected to sell the team to McNeil instead of continuing as the owner. McNeil is a pretty nice guy, and is very open to new ideas, after all, he comes in with a completely new view of the sports world. He also doesn’t have a strong attachment to the team’s history, which may be concerning for some of the longtime fans, but McNeil has shown restraint so far. Either way, with the new opportunity to partner with the NAAF, McNeil is certainly interested and feels like passing up on this opportunity would be a big regret for the WFU.
On the other side was Edmonton Rangers’ owner, Norman Mackenzie. Mackenzie is the oldest of the 5 WFU owners and is the most traditional. Norm’s father, Greg, was a very important figure in Western Canadian Football, helping to form the WFU and get it off the ground. Hence, the championship trophy is named in his honour. Norm has lots of respect for what his father did and is the first defender of what he built. From Norm’s perspective seeing the WFU potentially merge with the NAAF would be a tough pill to swallow. He believes in Canadian Football and knows that the sport would be gone if the WFU makes this move. While Mackenzie isn’t unreasonable, he certainly has been playing devil’s advocate and challenging the other members throughout this process with the other side of the conversation.
Regina Wheat Kings’ owner, Bill Kingsley, who never had too much to say, seemed to lean towards voting against the agreement. Kingsley took over the team around a decade ago once his agribusiness took off and he bought the team. He often had more focus on the business side of the team and his own company so he often remained pretty quiet when it came to league matters. Kingsley was mostly noncommittal when asked questions that related to football, but when it came to business, he had some concerns about his market not being able to hold up in the bigger league. His concerns were likely fueled by the fact that the team had the least potential when it came to growth due to being in the smallest of the 5 markets, despite a pretty strong fan base.
While the other four owners appeared to be taking strong sides, caught in the middle was Ed Morrissette of the Winnipeg Falcons. It wasn’t a huge surprise as Morrissette has often found himself in this position. Some would say that Morrissette is the glue in the WFU that keeps the owners on the same page. He has especially strong relationships with both Livingston (VAN) and Mackenzie (EDM), who often were at odds with each other, and Morrissette managed to help them see eye-to-eye more often than not. In this situation, Morrissette was leaning in favour of voting for accepting the deal. In his heart, he just felt that it was the best decision for the league’s future and that he trusted they would be in good hands with Ryan Jameson and the NAAF.
At this point, the votes would count as 3 for yes to accept the deal, and 2 for no. The group continued to debate, but they knew that a decision would have to be made. Livingston, McNeil, and Morrissette were making good arguments in favour of the deal. Despite Mackenzie’s attempts to argue against the decision, he started to wear and knew that the arguments in favour were stronger. However, he kept up the fight and appeared to become desperate. Eventually, Mackenzie would break. The oldest of the owners would get upset. The fear of allowing his father’s creation and the game he grew up falling in love with to slip away, had gotten to him. He let out some yelling statement filled with frustration and emotion, before sitting back and sobbing. Morrissette came over to console him and the group took a break. Morrissette stayed with Mackenzie and the two had a separate conversation.
Morrissette did his best to reassure Mackenzie. He had always understood what the league meant to Mackenzie, so he was able to get through to the passionate man. He slowly went over the details and the situation that the WFU was in. Unfortunately, they were stuck. There was nowhere to go for the WFU. There weren’t really any other markets for the league to expand to, and despite the efforts of Livingston, some of the top talents in the league were considering looking for new opportunities. Livingston had conversations with the Pacific Football League along the West Coast, but they were very strict on maintaining that they play American rules. Even the most ambitious of the WFU owners couldn’t bring himself to further the conversations. However, with the NAAF, the WFU had a chance to still keep its Canadian Football roots with the Hybrid game being much closer to their classic game, plus the NAAF had a great foundation of people who Morrissette felt they could trust. Mackenzie remained quiet but calmed down. At that point, Morrissette figured that there had been enough talking and it was time to vote.
The owners convened and sat in a circle. Morrissette took the lead, “Alright, we will commence the vote of whether or not to accept the agreement with the NAAF. To continue forward, we must have 4 of 5 owners vote yes. Is that clear?” The other owners nodded in agreement. “Okay, all those in favour of accepting the deal, raise your hand.” Mark Livingston, Tyler McNeil, and Ed Morrissette all raised their hands. Bill Kingsley kept his arms crossed. The group turned to Norman Mackenzie. Mackenzie took a deep breath and raised his hand.
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