Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 5/29/26

Episode Date: May 29, 2026

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they get a Canucks update from Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Here's Jackson Holiday, and he hits a ground ball to Guerrero. He'll take it to the bag and the Blue Jays will win it. Are we just to assume that they're negotiating a contract with Manny Mal Hulcher right now? I believe that's the case. Yes. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend.

Good morning, Vancouver 601 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody, sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford and his broth. It is sports net 650. We are coming live for the Kintech Studios in beautiful Mount Pleasant in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

Adaw, good morning to you. Good morning. Good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brow of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Are you drowning in tax debt? If you are, Sands and Associates can often reduce your debt by up to 80%

with no upfront fees. Visit them today at sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Pall Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Step Strong with Orthotics and Footwear from Kintech.

It's Ask Us Anything Friday on the Halford Rough Show. So we expect lots of texts into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650, 650. trusted by contractors and DIY champions across Metro Vancouver for generations, find them at three convenient locations, or visit Dunbar Lumber Online today. Time now for our morning guest list. It's the Duick Morning Drive, brought to you by the Duick Auto Group.

It begins at 6.30 this morning. Adam Gold is going to join us, host of appropriately, the Adam Gold Show on 99.9.9 the fan in Raleigh, North Carolina. Yes, the Carolina Hurricanes can advance to their first Stanley Cup final in 20 years tonight when they host the HABs in game five of the Easter conference final in Carolina. Adam's going to join us from Carolina at 630 to preview tonight's game. Also talk about what's been an absolutely dominant postseason from the Cains thus far. 7 o'clock, Teresa from AJ's pizza is going to join the program.

Changing it up on a Friday. A reminder, a $100 gift card to AJ's pizza goes today, as Jason mentioned. You just sick of talking to AJ or what? AJ is indisposed today. So they're bringing in the co-owner and co-proprietor. A $100 gift card to AJ's pizza is up for grabs. As Jason mentioned, for the best, ask us anything today. At 7.30, Gareth Wheeler's going to join the program.

He is the lead commentator for one soccer. Tonight, 4 o'clock, Canada's soccer will finally announce its 26-man roster for the World Cup. Who's in? Who's out? Will there be any big surprises? We'll ask Gareth about it at 7.30. Finally, at 8 o'clock, ooh, I've been waiting for. this one. Intrepid Connect's reporter from Donnie and Dolly on Check TV. Rick Dollywall is going to join

the program one day after getting repeatedly dunked on online for his takes about the Canadian Football League and its new streaming platform on DeZone. Dolly's going to join us and apparently he wants to lead with this. He wants to lead with the CFL streaming. Oh, boy. Okay. All right. Well, that's going to be interesting. Finally, not only are we giving away a $100 gift card to AJs today, We're also giving away the fifth of five. Our last $50 gift card to White Spot. We're giving it away at 8 o'clock this morning. Caller number 5, 604, 280, 0650.

Quality family time, guys, it isn't always easy to come by, but it isn't White Spot where BC goes for that family feeling. Caller number 5 at 8 a.m. this morning is going to get the $50 gift card to White Spot. That's what's happening on the program today. We've got a lot to get into. So without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Did you guys see the game last night?

No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened?

A noted change of tone this morning as we go from our intro to starting the program with some incredibly sad news that absolutely rocked the hockey world in the National Hockey League yesterday. As many of you know and have heard by now, Claude Lemieux, four-time Stanley Cup champion, consmithe winner in 1995 and recent topic of conversation on this very show, died after taking his own life, according to authorities yesterday.

Claude Lemieux was 60 years old. According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded just after 3 a.m. to the scene of an apparent suicide at the family's furniture store in Lake Park, Florida. The office said the victim was believed to be Lemieux, later confirmed, found in a warehouse by one of his sons. So absolutely tragic news,

all of which unfolded shortly, we got out of the air yesterday. And as many of you saw and heard and read, the outpouring of emotion and how upset people were, it flooded timelines and it really, really captured everyone that was affiliated with both Claude Lemieux and his family and hockey in general, given what a career he had and how many different teams he played an integral role for.

Yeah, and I think, you know, we don't know the story. you know, what was happening in Clothe the Mew's life when he decided to take his own life. But it's just another former athlete who's done so. And I know, you know, suicide is a problem that touches every parts of society. But I think in sports like football and hockey, we've become accustomed to answering some follow-up or, you know, having some follow-up questions after the fact. And, you know, we're not going to speculate on what happened with Claude Lemieux. But he did play a very rough sport.

And he was a cabotin in sport. But I think one thing that he'd want to be remembered for, I think. And one thing that he is being remembered for is that he was on a lot of teams that won. And he may not have been everyone's cup of tea on the ice. And he certainly crossed the line at times in his hockey career. But he won a lot. And his teammates in many of the kids.

of the many of the tributes that went out yesterday. They called him a winner. And I was reading an article by Jack Todd in the Montreal Gazette. And I kind of want to end with this. And Jack wrote that

Claude Lemieux knew better than most what it took to win. And that's belief. And he had a quote from Claude in there. And Claude said, I don't think it's magic. I think everything runs downhill. From the top down, if you have winners at the top, it starts to spread. Losing spreads through your locker room quickly, but so does winning.

Rest in peace to Claude Lemieux. And our thoughts go out to all his family and friends. We'll pivot now to everything else that happened yesterday, both locally, and across the world of sports. We do want to turn our attention, as difficult as it might be, to the Vancouver Canucks, as we continue to monitor the situation,

closely monitoring the situation, about the higher, pending higher, looming higher, Mani Malhotra as the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, to the point where we've got a 24-second audio clip from Elliot Friedman.

The biggest update that we've had thus far, Laddie told us this morning. I was like, okay, let's run. It's not even Freeman. It's the question, actually. Excellent. Even better. Let's go now to the utter.

This is from Fan 590, the hockey show yesterday with Maddie and Futa, talking to Alien Freedom of where things are at with Mani Malhotra and the Vancouver Canucks as it pertains to the still vacant head coaching job. Here's Frege from yesterday. It has been all quiet on the Western Front with the Vancouver Canucks. Are we just to assume that they're negotiating a contract with Mani Malholtra right now? I believe that's the case. Yes.

I believe they're in a conversation. And we'll see what happens. but at this point in time, I've been given no reason to assume that there's anything that would prevent it from happening. Everything can change, but that's where I am. Rick Dollywell is going to provide us a Mani Malhotra update as well after he talks about the CFL TV deal.

So that'll be interesting. Very few leaks out of the Canucks, at least compared to the GM search. remember all the leaks that we got out of the GM search and some of the information turned out to be false do you remember that day then it sounded like Evan Gold was hired like it was almost like a done deal do you remember the day where it sounded like Pierre Dorian was going to be the guy

yeah a lot of leaks weird huh and now not so many leaks I think that says something about the new people in charge of the Canucks and maybe it says something about the old people about the old people in charge in charge. Less fun though. I like leaks. Leaks for fun. Yeah.

We need leaks. A great Pierre Dorian scare was one of the most. There's a Wikipedia page about it actually. It's like it was a medical issue or something. Scaryon, we called it. It was one of the most entertaining days of the, frankly, of the Connucks of the season. Like that was, that was wild. How it unfolded.

But, you know, the Connucks don't want those days anymore. That's too bad. You know, they want to do this thing patiently with less chaos. And I've come to hate this word. I hate the word and how it's used just because I hear it all the time and I feel like it's a throwaway word. But noise. Noise. They want less noise.

Yeah, that's fair. Noise is distracting. It always just seems like the throwaway line for players who don't really want to say like things are a mess here. So they say like, yeah, there's a lot of noise. We just want to silence the noise. What a noise. A dog might have stumbled on a fairly decent talking point here somehow. Do I have a conucks need to hire a leaker? No.

That balance and that ying and yang and back and forth between from our perspective. And I'm not talking, this isn't just like a media, naval gazing thing because there's tons of fans of this team too who live and breathe and want every bit and morsel of information. Oh yeah, leaks are the best. They provide a lot of great fodder For a market where, let's be honest, sometimes the on-ice product doesn't give you a ton to talk about. So the off-ice stuff really becomes central to the fan experience. Again, I don't want to make this about, well, we need stuff to talk about from nine to three on $6.50.

We're going to start ripping the Siddines. Yeah. Like, these guys are so boring. You're doing too good a job of keeping it quiet. But nobody's trying to stab anyone in the back yet. And I mean, they've been on the job for a while now. but there should be issues. See, you're talking about something here

that you're doing it tongue in cheap, but there's also an element of other general managers and other president of hockey ops have used various media types and the power of the market to set things up ahead of time, provide a safe landing spot

in the event that something goes parachute. It happens, right? And it's made for some very interesting times. and as you mentioned, the day of Dorian, like that was one of those days where you really got to see what Vancouver was about as a market. Because, you know, you jokingly say it,

but I think there was some element to it. Like, Kinnock's Twitter. Totally what it was. Potentially, you know, blowing the winds of change as this thing goes along. Now, that being said, do you think, by the way, yeah, do you think the Siddines were approached

right after the great pier, Dorian scare. Because they said in that article with IMAQ. You got to add the of 26 at the end. The great peer Dorian scare. 26, yeah. Because they didn't suggest that it's been going on for a long time.

And then they kind of said like it all happened pretty quickly. Okay. Let's parse through this because we got the time to do it. I want to imagine every single bookmark of complaint is of Daxack-Aquilini bookmarking every single tweet and just showing his phone to everybody in the meetings. Like, see? See this reaction? This is all

bad. Is it fair to suggest? Is it fair to put out there? This is a very blanket statement, but someone from within the Kinnock's organization, put it out there that Doreon was in the mix to be hired as general manager, that it was put out there with intention. I don't think you can 100% conclude that, but I have thought about the possibility. Okay. Just to test the waters, right? Or to, or he knew what the waters whatever the case whatever the case you can never fully predict

you can guess and gauge so let's put it out there right that is and that would be pretty consistent with the previous regimes oft used tactics to put stuff out there

ahead of time just to see what the response is going to be or just to provide a little bit of heads up to the market now I'll say this while that entire delicate dance with the leaks

and everything is fun and entertaining and engaging it is without question better for the organization to run a tight ship if you want them to be competent in a straightforward moving motion and ultimately becoming a functional franchise not the dysfunctional one that we've known over the last decade

right that goes without saying leaks don't really benefit anyone internally because all it shows is that maybe you got a weak ship or that there's issues, especially when it comes from the top that when our communications are set forth, they're going to be straightforward and direct. And if someone in the media or someone has a question,

they will come ask us and we will answer them accordingly. Can I also add that leaks don't always occur from the organization? There's all sorts of ways that information gets out, whether it's agents or friends and family or whatever. but some organizations have a reputation of, and some general managers or presidents or whatever, have a way of even limiting those leaks because they will say,

if this gets out, this deal is done. Like, Lou Lamarillo is kind of famous for that, right? It's a great, great point. Lou loved it. And, you know, like if something would get leaked out, he'd find a way to, I don't want to say get revenge, but hold that leaker accountable. Yeah, it was almost a character test for Lou at a certain point. I was like, can I deal with this guy in the future?

Yes, can I trust this person? Now, on this subject, and what a great segue, we go now to the Bruce Cassidy situation, which took yet another turn yesterday. We're going to begin with Bruce Cassidy's appearance on the Spit and Chicklet's podcast, in which Cassidy was discussing how he was fired on March 29th from Vegas. And yet now, May 29th, two full months later, is still unable to find work.

And that's because the Vegas Golden Knights are preventing him from going out and finding another job. We will get the Vegas Golden Knights side of things in a second. But now I want to play. It's about a minute and a half of uninterrupted audio. Here's Bruce Cassidy talking about his situation, and importantly, his displeasure with his situation on the Spitting Chickens podcast.

Here's Bruce Cassidy. from yesterday. Take us through your thoughts in terms of not being allowed to talk to certain teams right now. Like, does that upset you or is that part of the business? Like, where are you at in terms of your next gig? No, it's upsetting. I'm going to be honest, because once you're fired, you know, your contract's basically terminated.

But the one thing people don't realize is all the deals that, you know, they've got the NHL bylaws, this and that. And I don't know everyone. But, you know, you have non-compete clauses. So I can't resign today. and go work for someone tomorrow. I'm still, I can't work until Vegas gives me permission until this contract's up,

which is at the end of next season. So, you know, if you resign, all I do is not get paid. So, I mean, you know, I got great interesting. You can't just forfeit that out? I did. I said, can't you just forfeit your salary and say, hey, like, I don't need your money. I want to go get the bag from somebody else.

So it's not right that they can let you, to me, it's not right. They can let you go and then still stop you from work. And that's where the bylaws are probably messed up a little bit. Yeah, and like I said, I'm not, those are in, I think everybody's contract, so that's what it is. But you can't do that. And I think they do that probably because they wouldn't want to coach in the middle of the year to resign on February 1st and go work up the street on February 3rd, right? Because they like a better situation. I'm sure that's kind of why some of these things are written in.

But in this case, yes, there was two teams that asked, it's public knowledge now. And I would like to talk to them. I want to go to work. I'm a hockey coach. As much as I love being around visit TNT, I want to get back to work. So when I heard the clip, I was like, Bruce Cassidy's remarks don't exactly align with what Vegas general manager Kelly McCriman said originally. Remember, when Kelly McCriman prior to the series against the abs, they had to take to the podium, him and John Tortorella, and they had to explain why they got fined $100,000 in Dr. Draft Pick. His torts didn't meet with the media after they got rid of Anaheim in the second round.

Then he had to explain the Bruce Cassidy situation. Now, he put it out there that he had talked to Cassidy and that Cassidy understood the situation, which I guess is technically true. Yeah, he is Bruce understands it. Yeah. I think what Kelly McCriman left out is Bruce understands the situation and is visibly pissed with the situation.

He did not put that point on now. Didn't McCriman at one point also say, or maybe it was reported that we're just so busy with the playoffs right now. We don't really have time to deal with this. But Kelly McCriman was not too busy. Yes or no. Not too busy, however, to appear on Overdrive. TSN 1050 yesterday with Odag and Hayes and noodles in the boys

to talk about the very situation that he said he was too busy as a general manager to deal with during the playoffs. This is the quote from Kelly McCriman on the situation because one of the overdrive hosts asked him, do you have anything to say in response to what Cassidy put out there? McCriman's answer. This is me doing Kelly McCriman right now. It's only news because Edmonton leaked it. This isn't something that came out of our organization.

There's that leak stuff I was talking about. What is that matter, by the way? I guess. It's only news because Edmonton leaked it. Edmonton's the team that wants to hire him. Do you want my takeaway? It's only news because Edmonton leaked it? My thinking there is that McCrimmon is pissed off

because he thinks there's an unspoken rule that this has been going on for forever and that other organizations have held other coaches away and it's never been made public, but Edmonton crossed the line by making a public. Maybe. That's what I think is going on right now. Because it was a bizarre answer. Yeah. Your first answer is for everyone to blame the team that wants to hire Cassidy?

Yeah. It's like it's only news because Edmonton leaked it. And you're like, uh-huh. Yeah. What else? Yeah. What else you got, Kelly? Well, this is what else he said.

Me doing Kelly McCrimmon again. I've talked to Bruce. as recently as yesterday. I know how he feels. I know he wants to coach. He's a hell of a coach, and he's anxious to get going. Coaches, by definition, aren't real patient people. So I understand what he wants and why he wants it. At the same time, I work for the Vegas Golden Knights. So my responsibilities are first and foremost to the organization. And that's as much as I'm going to say on it. Well, I mean, that's him admitting he doesn't want Cassidy to go. to Edmonton. Yes.

Because they're a division rival. He just doesn't want it. He doesn't want Cassidy to take. First of all, Cassidy is a pretty good coach, even though they fired him. And second of all, I don't know, maybe he's going to take some secrets there. I have no idea. But Pierre LeBron, in the

athletic, reported that the NHL's perspective is that Vegas is within its contractual rights to do what it's doing. And that it's in line with established league policy. What did you think when you read that? I thought that like on paper Vegas is within its rights to do that. And I think even though it might be an

unwritten rule that once you're fired by a team, you usually let that person go and talk to other teams, it's an unwritten rule. It's not a written rule. And the written rule is the contract and the contract says that Bruce Cassidy is under contract to Vegas and as long as Vegas is still paying him they can keep him from signing another contract to provide services for another NHL team which is exactly what our argument went what about the wrinkle that if even if he was to waive his salary it's just don't pay me anymore I want to go work somewhere else he's still under contract yeah he's not a lot you can't just like waive your salary if you're under contract to someone.

You're under contract to someone. Both sides in the NHL when there's a contract and a contract is voided, that's a both sides decision. Yeah. It's not like one person says, no, I want out of this contract.

It's both. But I think you can make the argument. When the team fires you and you relinquish your salary, both sides are agreeing that you don't work there anymore and they don't pay you anymore. You can make the argument. Yeah. You can make the argument, but it doesn't mean the argument's successful. I'm surprised. Okay, so it's funny that

you mentioned the unwritten rule part of it, because I think that's what Cassidy was, sorry, McCriman was alluding to here when he put it on Edmonton's shoulders. He's like, hey, this is there. This has been there for a while. This is nothing new. Edmonton just decided to make it an issue. They knew that this was

a longstanding NHL practice in line with established league policy, and they decided to make it an issue. Yeah. So that's an interesting wrinkle as well. My thing here is, look, to play devil's advocate to your devil's advocate, I get what you're saying. The contract rules are the contract rules. You can't just change them because you don't like them. They exist for a reason. Cassidy brought up an example of why they exist.

You signed a certain term. I wonder if this, and because this is bad optics for the National Hockey League, the fact that the way this is being framed, and especially, there's a reason spit and chicklets had Cassidy on. Of course. They're very player friendly, and in this instance, they're very, they're very coach-friendly. And they would not be, or this would not be the first instance where spit and chicklets lit the match that started.

Remember they started the Mike Babcock thing, and that ended with Mike Babcock getting fired his head coach in Columbus. So I will be very curious given, well, two things. One, Gary Bettman's penchant for not liking distractions, and especially during what the Stanley Cup final is going to start real soon, this is looming over, not just the Cup final,

but one of the teams that's in the Cup final. Yeah. And I don't see it going away. I like the idea that if Vegas wins the Stanley Cup final, they'll be in such a good mood that they'll let Bruce Cassidy go to Edmonton, which makes me wonder, what happens if they lose it? Like, we're not letting you work ever anywhere. Okay, throw them in the hole.

Yeah, seriously. All right. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Our next guest set the internet ablaze yesterday with his scorching hot take on. the CFL media rights development yesterday, including moving to a streaming platform on DeZone. Rick Dollywald joins us now in the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

What up, Ricky D. Halford, it's five after. What are you doing? I got to figure out what DeZone is. I, you know, I got to Google the zone and figure out what the zone is. And then you got to pay for it. Then you got to pay for it. But I know it's not about the money.

Brough, I saw the shot you took on me in Twitter. Now, let me get this out of the way. Okay. I've never heard of DeZone in my life, and I won't be watching CFL games on it. I'm already paying for cable that gets me TSN in sports. That's good enough for me. It's not about the money. You keep saying it.

It's the constant barrage of getting hit yearly with the additional cost. First the Canucks, then the white caps and now the Lions. Where's it all going? Let me ask you, where is this nonsense? four to six to ten years. Are we going to be paying $500 a month to see the local team someday? We got a choice. You don't have to watch.

Like people are getting fed up with extra costs. Inflation is sky high. I don't know if you guys have noticed that. Bag of groceries now is $60. But it's not about the money. It's not about the money. Remember. Oh, well, stop, stop. CFL fans gave their

fans a new choice. It's one I won't be buying. Do you know why the white caps don't announce their numbers for their Apple broadcast because you know why? They're horrible. They're horrible. The CFL will be the same. Why should I pay to watch Winnipeg play Ottawa on a Saturday night

when 95% of the other games are for free? It used to be simple watching sports. Now they're making it more and more difficult with 500 different outlets. That's not for me. And Brough, it's not about the money. It's the inconvenience.

It's the hassle. They make your work to watch sports. Watching sports should be the easiest thing in the world. It's not anymore. And people, and I have a ton of support. I see all the people saying Dolly Well as an idiot, but I had a lot of people and probably all over 50, 5560 that are saying, you know what, we're with you. We're tired of paying for 20. Not about the money though. No, it's not. It's the inconvenience. It's the hassle. It's saying to yourself, by the way, where's the game tonight? Where's the game tonight?

Oh, let me go check. And then you've got to find out where the game is. It's a hassle brough. Like, what part of that don't you get? Well, I totally understand it. But you keep saying it's not about the money, and then you talk about inflation and the money. Like, clearly part of it's about the money, right?

Clearly part of it is about the money? Yeah, okay, part of it is and part of it is not. But I can tell you right now, there was a time, a beautiful time, in a beautiful decade called the 80s, where we went to two or three channels, and that's it. And you didn't have to pay for anything. You just watched, and you didn't have to check listings to see where the Canucks game was

because you knew it was on BCTV, and it was only a game of the week, but we were happy with that. You knew you got your football on CBC, right? Dolly, can I make an observation? You are stuck in the 80s, buddy. Like, you... There's no question. But, but, like, but why?

Like, why? you constantly talk about the industry and how good it was back in, you know, back in the day and how easy everything was. But we're not, but that, but why? So it's nostalgia and it's useless because the world changes. I'm not, I'm not, I don't actually disagree with you about the hassle of the dezone thing. I don't know what's going to work. But I also look at it from the CFL's perspective where,

they're desperate for money and they had a platform come up to them, a platform that is looking for content that is in this aggressive content phase and gave them a lot of money for it. And I don't know if the CFL was in a position to say, no, we're going to turn that away. Because, you know, you're always talking about how important the CFL is. And you've got to go out and support it. And, you know, but then.

Just not in this instance. But then you're like, yeah, but I'm not going to, I'm not going to like download an app and spend money to watch it. What I was laughing at yesterday was you patting yourself on the back for saying nobody's a bigger supporter of the CFL than I am. And then being like, actually, I'm not going to download this app and pay for it, though. I'm not that big a supporter. And I sometimes wonder, I sometimes wonder, Rick, if you've lost touch a little bit with what the fans. goes through today. I'm going to ask you, when was the last

time you paid to go to a game in Vancouver? It's been a while. It's been a while. Right? I'm not going to lie to you. Listen, Donnie and I, we got season tickets to the Lions. We go. Okay, I go to Giants

Games. I go to South Surrey Eagles games. When I want to go, I'll go to games. But then you've got to get up, get out of your house, and go and pay. I don't have an issue with that. But to make you pay while you're sitting in your living room, I got an issue with that. Here's another thing I want to say to you. Everybody says the zone is to get young viewers. That's great. But make sure you realize the buying power for CFL advertisers is not a 25-year-old. It's a guy over 50.

Get those young people watching so they can become fans for decades. So let me get into this. Why does All Sports Radio target men 2554? Get the young listeners so when they're older, they got the buying power to buy what you're selling. Last year at the Great Cup, this MGM guy was singing. I get it. But did the CFL get 20,000 new season ticket holders at age 25 because of this guy? No. The buying power remains with the men until they retire.

That's the reality in sports. The CFL is no different. I get why they're doing it, but I don't have to like it, and I don't have to purchase the games, and I'm not going to. But the buying power remains with men over. 50, I believe, till 65. And that thing about all sports radio should be 25 to 65, not 25

to 54, because those are the guys that go out and buy what the advertisers are selling the CFL sponsors. So I want to get that out of the way, too. But the bottom line is, we have a choice. We don't have to do it. There's a lot of people that are getting fed up. Do you want

20 subscriptions for 20 different feeds per month? Are you okay with that? But I'm not going to buy this. But I don't I don't sit there and call myself the biggest supporter of the CFL in the market. We are. Donnie and I are. Can you dispute that?

The Donny and I, we went to the park. Yeah. Yeah, I can't actually dispute it because some people in this market are going to pay to the zone. Because you won't play a bloody dollar a day to watch. See again. Rick, give your head a shake,

man. Like, I love you. I love you to pieces, but this is easily the dumbest thing that you've ever platform. No, it's not. No, it's not. It is for sure.

It is. I'm getting stupter listening to it by the second. I am, honestly. No, no. My brain is oozing out the side of my ear. Yeah. Mike. Yeah.

Mike, Donnie and I went to have, hold it a second. Donnie and I went to the 70s and 80s. Warren Moon, Hugh Campbell. Who cares? Okay. But hold on a second. I'm telling you why we are the biggest supporters of this team in this market. You guys can't deny that.

But just because I'm not going to pay for these days, hold it. Just because I'm not going to pay to watch the CFL games doesn't mean that I'm not going to still support the team. Of course, we are. are. It feels like you're not. No, no, no. So, so you, you want me to pay to watch Winnipeg and I don't want a Saturday? You love the league. You love it. You love it. You think it's, it's the best. Rick, that's exactly what I'm saying. You know what, Halford, Alford. If you care about the, just let me finish, if you care about the league, then you will not have to be that out of pocket for what amounts to a dollar a day to support the C of Hollywood. I made the joke yesterday. For the

price of a cup of coffee a day, you can save one of the rough riders. Like, it's not that big a deal. You love the league. You think it's the best. league, it's amazing, and it's amazing entertainment. Yeah. The CFL needs this. You love Champions League. You love, how many soccer subscriptions do you have? Because you love it.

You love watching the game. So you pay for it. I don't like soccer as much as Halford. So I don't pay for it. That's my decision. But to put yourself out, here's the problem, Dolly. You put yourself out there, this, is this massive supporter of the CFL and say, you know, you like, you kind of come on our show sometimes and you, and you wag your finger

at us and you say you guys are always taking shots at the CFL, but you won't support it. You won't. You won't put your money where your mouth is. 95% of these games on this new deal are on TSN. I'm watching those games on TSN. I'm not sitting there going away from it, but I'm not going to pay for a subscription.

When you already got other subscriptions you're paying for, why should I pay anything above TSN in Sportsnet, which I pay 60? Apparently I grilled the wife last night, asking her what the hell we're paying monthly. Anyways, 60 bucks for TSN and Sportsnet. So I'm doing my due diligence right there, Mike. I'm paying for it right there. Why should I pay above that? Because the league made a decision to sell its rights to disown in an effort to get the money to keep it alive. How many times have you come on our program, Rick, and talked about

you're worried about the future of the CFL and you're worried that it might not survive. So they find this totally viable way to generate more revenue. And they ask their fan base and subscriber base to pay more to get out what is now a common practice amongst sports leagues is splitting up the rights and sharing it among equal platforms. It's not like they're reinventing the wheel or innovating anything here. They're doing what every other league, including the NFL, is done. And you're saying that this is the bridge too far to save a league that is in peril, I will remind you, and has major financial issues across the board.

So the guy goes out and gets a lifeline with his own. To be quite honest, Rick, the story, for me is that DeZone bought this product because I'm like, where's the upside for them? That's the story for me. Like, how are they going to get people to convert on their investment? I'm talking to a guy who is a quote unquote major proponent

of the league who is also quote unquote not going to spend a dime on DeZone's product. So I'm wondering like, is DeZone cognizant of this? Do they know that this is what they're running into? That's the real story here. Hey, I had a ton of people yesterday say we're not going to buy as well. They're getting tired, Mike

and Jason, a 500 subscriptions to streaming companies per month. It adds up. It adds up. What part of that don't you guys understand? It's an inconvenience. The Canucks did it, the White Caps, the White Caps, I cannot believe, did it as many games as it did. The CFL's not doing that many games.

But the White CPS went out and said, okay, 90% of our games are not watchable to the lower mainland or the people in British Columbia. That's not good. That's not good. Look, the reality is it's another inconvenience. we live in a very expensive city, Mike. Go ask a family of four who's got kids in sports or kids in university. Go ask them how it is these days.

It's pretty tough time at meeting ends. And you know what? At the end of the day, I got minor hockey parents that are asking their grandparents for money so they can put their kids through hockey. It's an expensive city. So if I don't want to pay for it, for whatever reason, I think there's a lot of people in that boat. I think we covered some good ground here. Yeah.

I mean, Rick, I think it was more the way you framed your argument. Oh, we're good. We got other stuff we got to get into you. You want to do a manny update now or you want to save it? No, let's go right now. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it.

Oh, my God. You guys, look, I don't even take blood pressure pills, but I think I'm going to after this hit. All right. Let's go. I hope they aren't expensive. You get them through the zone. Sorry, Do I'm going to spend the whole day for trying to figure out what the zone is. I have no idea.

Anyways, let's go. Let's go. So the Canucks are working towards a coaching hire soon with the addition of a new assistant GM. So before I get into Manny, let me tell you this. Lots of the agents for free agents in Vancouver and Abbotsford have not been contacted yet. And there's a reason for that. Canucks are busy with hires in Vancouver and Abbisperd. So I do believe that either maybe on the weekend or early next week,

they're working towards hiring a coach and keep an eye on the addition of a new assistant GM. Now, the Siddine Twins and Ryan Johnson were working on this all week with Manny. They're definitely taking their time. Some negotiations are short, some are long. This shouldn't be that hard of a negotiation if you think about it. Minor league coach moves up to take the head coaching job of the NHL team. I will say this. If I was Mohaltrow, I'd be asking for four or five years.

why signed with a team that just fired a coach one year into a three-year deal? Why sign with a team that's looking for their fifth head coach in five years? I also wouldn't want to be the lowest paid coach in the NHL. Now, we do know the Canucks didn't offer much for their GM job. Thanks to paying Rutherford-Alveen of foot next year, not to work for them. I don't imagine they're in the mood to pay for a new head coach big bucks. But, man, he's got leverage. He doesn't have to take a bad deal.

He knows there's interest around the NHL for him. he can go back to Abbotspur and then become a free agent in 12 months and then pick and choose where he wants to go. Not hearing any major red flags in the Mahalter talks. Most people still think it'll work out for him, but we should, I believe, guys get clarity soon. Travis Green is a guy that a lot of rookie coaches in the NHL should learn from. When hired by the Canucks, Green didn't make a lot of money. His last contract in Vancouver is $3.5 million a year. He got that big raise because, remember the bubble?

he got his contract was up right after the bubble then he goes to Ottawa didn't get a ton to start with now he's made the playoffs back-to-back years he's in line for a big race Travis Green is evidence and proof you can take less in your first year do a good job and climb the salary ladder so look they're working on it it's all I've been told let's see where it goes what else you got for us Rick I want to say I won't be surprised if the Canucks look for character guys to help change that culture in the dressing room. They got choices in summer, okay?

You can go, and before you shoot this down, you can go and check into Brennan Gallagher. Definitely, definitely. Wasn't an everyday player down the stretch, but he's a guy who can help establish an identity of hard work, great practice habits, good pro. Troy Stetcher's a UFA, his agent is talking to the Maple Leafs right now, another great teammate. Ryan Johnson mentioned the importance of good teammates. Stetcher is exactly that. Those guys matter in the dressing room.

Luke Shen's a UFA, another culture guy. You can get Shen cheap on a one-year deal, right? You know, and here's the thing about Shen. I would sign Shen, and then if he retires, I'd put that guy into the development staff to help the young kids understand what it takes to be a good pro. I think Shen's going to have a long career after his playing day if he wants to, if he wants to.

He loves Vancouver, too. doesn't he? Oh, big time. We had him on the show. He was just raving about, just raving about his time in Vancouver. Absolutely raved about Vancouver. Now, there was a rumor going around that Kevin Bexa was not on Hockey Night in Canada last week because he was in Vancouver talking to the Sadeen twins about a job. That's not true. He had some time coming off to him and that was that. Now, I imagine everybody who played with the twins, Biazza, Burroughs, Luongo, they've all reached out and talked to the twins, but that doesn't mean everybody was offered a job. Now, I want to say this. I don't know how far in management Burroughs wants to go, but that's one guy I'm hearing, people around the league, really impressed with,

does really good work in Montreal. I wonder someday down the road, if he wants to leave his home province, if he would return to Vancouver in a role that's Taylor made for him. I would straight up offer Burroughs the coaching job in Abbotsford. That's a guy who can teach young players

how to make the NHL. They did it the hard way. There's value in that. He's a class. act, he's climbing that ladder. Like, people are recognizing and noticing his work in Montreal. That guy's a sharp dude. So all these guys that the Siddins know over the years, you know,

there's some people there that down the road, I wouldn't be surprised if they end up in Vancouver. What about Bluger? When I checked in that they have not contacted early this week, or was it late last week, I checked in they had not contacted his agent. They're so busy right now with the coach, the new assistant GM, there's possibilities aren't a new coach in Abbottes for lots on the plate right now. One team told me today, it's really quiet,

but it's going to pick up next week at the combine. Because in the combine, there's going to be a ton of agents. And a combine is really where a lot of stuff gets planted for not only the draft, but July 1st and trade. Would Ryan Johnson go to that? Do the GMs always go to the combine? Oh, yeah. That's a big one for them because they got to watch the prospects work out. They interview these guys. Oh, yeah, that's, I don't know if the twins are going,

but that would be an absolute must for Ryan Johnson. You learn a lot about these prospects in those interviews at the combine, and Ryan Johnson absolutely would be in there. And so that combine next week, I think you're going to start picking up. But one team told me it's pretty quiet out there right now, and they said they expected to pick it up in, in Buffalo next week of the combine. Dolly, it was a pleasure

having that calm debate about sports with you. We're still the three best friends that anyone can have, Rick. But Harper, you attack me. I like you a little bit more than Brock, but today you went at me hard. I'll remember that.

I'll remember that. Anybody could have. Yeah. Rick, I still love you, buddy. I love you guys. You guys are the best, the best show on that station by a country mile. I keep doing what you're doing.

Adios, buddy. Adios. I think he hung up. Rick Dollywall here in the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. The amount of people texting in right now. It's surprisingly divided. It's not surprisingly divided. A lot of people are stupid. No, okay.

Don't say that. Well, it's too late. It's been said. The problem with Dollywall is sometimes he argues against himself, right? But he makes good points about the subscriptions. When I first saw that, I said, that's a good deal for the CFL because they need money. But I also wonder, and I think this is probably the best way to go about this. Why does DeZone think this can work?

No. Because you are asking, okay, CFL hardcore fans, right? Okay. They're skewing a little older. Yeah. Right? Uh-huh. And I don't know of any.

And people say, well, this is about getting the young people. No. How are the young people? Like, we got a bunch of texts like this. I'm a big CFL supporter. I've been a lion season ticket holder for 20 years. I go on a road trip with my buddy to the Grey Cup every year for the past 20 years.

I pay for TSN and SportsNet subscription, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, and YouTube premium. I must admit, having to pay for DeZone to watch one game a week is a bridge too far for me. And I think that most CFL supporters, will be in that camp. Big guy? Let me address the big guy here. Make a decision. Cut something else and buy the CFL package

or keep something and don't buy the CFL package. But you know what? If you want to go on a road trip to keep seeing the Grey Cup, then you need deals like this. Because if this deal doesn't come through and they don't get the money, then there's no Grey Cup because the League isn't going to survive. I can't believe this is a conversation we have to have with people. Yeah, but the League shouldn't.

You're acting like the league as a charity then. Like, I don't really want to buy this, but I'll buy it to support the league. I think we are in a world where if you want something and you want the content or the service that it provides, sometimes you need to pay for it. Yeah. Okay? I do agree that there are way too many subscription services. That's fine.

But that's not the CFL's fault. No, of that's trying to survive. And they're trying to cater to younger audiences too. But ignore all that. But how's that? How's putting it on the zone going to cater? Is that just because the younger viewers are already on the zone? Yeah, it's very similar.

Already on the zone. They're not going to be like... But more, like younger audiences stream more than they watch trust rule. Like, it's just, that's just... As you move... Most don't even have trust. As you move generationally, more kids lean towards technology. But do, does everyone...

Am I taking crazy pills here? Does ever not see how counterintuitive it is to say, I'm a huge fan of the CFL? I wanted to survive forever. Of course. But I will not support this product, which is a financial... Yeah, that's how this whole thing started. That's all I'm saying.

Yeah. It's so cut and dry. There's no argument against it. Are there too many streaming services? Yes. Guess what? You have to make choices. You're a big boy and you're an adult.

And some things you're going to be able to afford and some things you're not. Just cut that cornucat TV subscription. Right. If you can't, if you don't want to or can't afford the CFL, so be it. But you need to, if you want the CFL to survive, you need to support it in this new fashion. That's how I would look at it. It's a new way of supporting your league. If you want it to stick around, right?

Where's the money going to come from? They've already established it they've pretty much capped out at league growth in terms of how many tickets they can sell, how many franchises they're going to have. This was the next logical conclusion was to split up the media rights

and expand them across platforms and get the money in. It's an age-old tradition now. Every league does it. Yeah. Going to multiple outlets including some streamers is the way things are going. It doesn't mean people have to like it though. I'm not asking anyone to like it.

If you don't want to do it, don't do it. But don't give me this absolute bag of bull crap that you're the most ardent supporter of the CFL. Yes. But that's ridiculous behavior. Right? I have one guy arguing with me. He's like, stop saying it's a dollar a day. He's like, it's $40 a month.

I'm like, do the math, Einstein. $40 a month divided by 30 days is a little over a dollar a day. You can cancel the subscription the moment the season ends. And pick it back up. I'm sure the CFL is also thinking like, hey, there's millions that are how many kids, subscribe to the zone for NFL and maybe they're watching an NFL game and then there's like, hey, look, there's another league

CFL game on. Maybe this kid will and I wouldn't have otherwise watched the CFL. I think what the CFL was thinking is like, these guys are willing to give us money. We'll take a lot of money. And we'll take the money. And I think before you went on that tangent where you're insulting everyone, you made a

good point about perhaps the most interesting thing is why does Zone thinks they can make this work? Why they, Why they, because for DeZone to make this profitable for them, they are going to have to work really hard to get people to pay for this subscription. And how are they going to do it? How are they going to justify their investment in the rights on CFL games?

That is going to be the fascinating thing for me. Like we've all gone through, like everyone can text in and like, Dolly's right. There are too many subscriptions, right? okay but like that's the way it is but i think we're all wondering in some cases like are these subscription services a bit of a bubble like if you go in and read up about de zone they ain't making money and a lot of the way these um you know if you if you look at how these tech companies either survive or die you know they lose a lot of lot of money to start.

It's the Netflix model. They've got investors and DeZone has a bunch of investors and their job, including by the way, Saudi Arabia is invested in DeZone. The PIF has like a billion dollars into Zone. So what they do is they go out there

and they buy up content. They buy up properties. You know, it's the same as things like Uber. Right? They're just like, okay, we're not going to make, we're not going to make a profit for the first few years, but hopefully it gets to the point where we have such a hold on the market that we will become profitable. And some of them just, they just go away. They die these companies.

Yeah. Because they, they don't ultimately. I'm very curious from a, from a business story, the story about DeZone and why they decided the CFL was worth the investment. Have you seen some of the programming on DeZone? They've got everything. European handball. Yeah. Lower level. I think they're just throwing money around. And for the CFL, they were probably like,

hey, let's get us some of that money. I mean, how many times have we kind of joked like, we need some Saudi Arabian money? Like, can the Piff invest in us? They seem to be just hocking money around. I mean, that's what they tried to do with Liv. Right? They're just like, we're just going to throw money at this

and hope we get enough of a hold on the market that we're sustainable. Well, ultimately what happened with LiveGolf is they threw the money around and nobody cared about the golf. So they pulled back. DeZone should be more of a story in this than just like, I don't want to pay for another subscription, which is actually part of the story.

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