When the 2025 season begins, the Canadian Football League will have a new commissioner.
Sources tell Sportsnet that Randy Ambrosie is out from the top job, and on Saturday afternoon was writing confidants and partners with memos of thanks. It’s expected that the league will make an announcement Saturday evening to make Ambrosie’s departure official.
Ambrosie likely will preside over Grey Cup week in November in Vancouver and then move on. The Grey Cup Game is slated for Nov. 17 at BC Place Stadium.
Those with knowledge of the situation say a vote was recently held at the Board of Governors level on a contract extension for Ambrosie, and that a no-vote came in by a slim margin. Ambrosie presumably had the support of the new leadership in the league, from owners in B.C., Edmonton and Montreal, but that many of the longstanding governors were quite interested in moving on.
Many league governors over the past couple of years have openly and pointedly shared their displeasure with how Ambrosie has operated as commissioner, and the decisions that have been made at the CFL office.
Ambrosie had been in the league’s top chair since 2017 and presided over the decision in 2020 to be one of the only professional sports leagues in North America to not play during the COVID pandemic. Two years later, under Ambrosie’s watch, the CFL Players’ Association charged that the league walked away from the negotiation table during bargaining talks, which led to a work stoppage.
Ambrosie had vowed that on his watch the league would expand to Atlantic Canada and have a 10th team, which has not happened. Nor did the CFL even play their customary game there this year. Basic procedures, such as a functional stats system or proper voting mechanisms to tabulate all-star balloting, were major challenges during the Ambrosie regime.
While Saturday’s announcement may be couched as “stepping down” or a “retirement” of sorts, in reality it is no such thing. At Grey Cup last year, Ambrosie declared the league was on the “right track” and that he still as “a lot of energy and passion.”
“I plan on staying in the job as long as the governors want me to be in it,” Ambrosie said in November of 2023.