Brendon LaBatte in action last season against the Calgary Stampeders.

The CFL preseason schedule opened on Monday night in Winnipeg with the Toronto Argonauts picking up a 24-22 win over the Blue Bombers.  

While the preseason got underway, the same might not be said about the regular season, despite the CFL and CFL Players Association reaching a tentative agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement on Saturday.

Many players across the league, including in the Riders’ locker room, quickly jumped into the opposition of the new deal, which included a number of concessions on the players part.

“There’s a lot of guys that are upset about it and that are saying that they won’t ratify the deal,” said Riders offensive lineman Brendon LaBatte, also the team’s union rep.  “We’ve got to try and get guys to see the positives and vote for it or they’re going to be set in their ways and shoot it down.

“Where it goes from there, I couldn't really tell you.”

There have been two sides shown from the players since the deal was struck late Saturday night.  One has players threatening to vote down the deal and continue the labour battle, while the other side wants the deal signed and the focus to be on football.

“The owners know what they’re doing, they’re more business minded and we play football,” said Brandon Isaac, a five-year CFL vet.  “Unfortunately it didn't work out the way we really wanted it to work, but I’m just happy that we’ve been able to go to work and move forward through this.”

Isaac said if he was presented with a ratification vote on Monday, he’d be voting for the deal and wanting to play.

“You’ve got to, it doesn’t look like it’s going to get no better, so you just might as well strap it up and play ball,” said Isaac.

The big worry for the players in voting down the deal is that the offer from the owners could get even lower after the current one is rejected.  That could lead to a prolonged fight with the season just over two weeks away.

“I don’t think that guys are really too scared of that,” said LaBatte.  “Where guys have a real sticking point on the deal is the back end and only raising the cap $50,000 a year moving forward, and that’s the huge sticking point and that’s why I’ve received a lot of feedback from guys that they’re not in favour of it.”

In LaBatte’s estimates, if a ratification vote was held on Monday in the Riders’ locker room, he doesn’t believe the deal would pass.

“There’s a lot of feedback that wasn’t in favour of ratifying the deal, so if I was to say right now, I don’t believe that we would be in favour of ratifying the deal across the room,” he said.  

The CFLPA had initially wanted a $6.24-million cap before lowering its demand to $5.2 million. Last year, the CFL salary cap was $4.4 million.

“Looking from where we started to where we came down and then ultimately on the financials, we didn’t even get to meet in the middle on anything,” said LaBatte.  “There’s a few good things for the players, but when you’re looking just at the financials, like a lot of these guys are, there’s just not enough in there to satisfy them.”

There’s no deadline for a ratification vote, but the deal has to pass through the players and the league’ board of governors. 

The Riders open the preseason on Saturday with the Ottawa Redblacks at Mosaic Stadium.