Jamie Nye: ‘The Elks Way’ appears to be a lot different than its predecessor

The dynamic of being the rights holder of a professional franchise and how much honesty you allow your people to have was exposed on Wednesday in Edmonton.

Analyst Eddie Steele, who also used to play for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, had some strong and pointed words about the leadership or lack there of from Elks general manager Brock Sunderland.

A few days later, Steele was told he was no longer welcome on the Elks’ broadcast team.

If you think the radio station made the decision without input from the team, you’re kidding yourself. I’ve seen teams take issue with comments made from a broadcaster, but fired, without at least a warning first? I’ve never seen that.

What that tells me is president Chris Presson and/or Sunderland put tremendous pressure on the radio station. It also tells me the Elks are nowhere near the organization I had the pleasure of dealing with during my days in Edmonton.

Clearly the name change isn’t the only thing different in Edmonton because the Elks used to have leaders who could take the heat that comes with holding such positions of power.