Jamie Nye: CFL draft day gives us some food for thought

The Canadian Football League draft happens on Tuesday.

I have thought about this draft a lot lately. Is there a chance this is the last one? What will the future of this draft be if some of the XFL-CFL merger rumours are true and Canadian teams give up the Canadian ratio that mandates roughly half the roster and a handful of starters meet the status of a “national”?

The problem with the XFL-CFL merger, some would tell you, is it would hurt the grassroots. I’m not so sure. If there are still teams in Calgary, Saskatchewan, Hamilton, Winnipeg etc., I don’t think kids will stop playing football thinking of the ratio.

Kids fall in the love with the game and couldn’t care less about who is Canadian and who is American. I don’t think the four young Canadians drafted by the NFL gave you-know-what about the ratio.

So, is the ratio vital to the survival of football in Canada? No. But it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be fighting to keep a good number of Canadians on the field in the CFL.