The Toronto Argonauts have a Chad Kelly problem, in more ways than one
The rise and fall of the Argos' star quarterback, and the general lack of interest in either, is a grim reminder of the team's place in the market
As the last Canadian Football League season was about to get underway, the Toronto Argonauts had a media event near the lakefront. Michael Clemons, the team’s general manager, was asked about Chad Kelly, the new full-time starter at quarterback.
Clemons referenced how Kelly had come off the bench in the Grey Cup the previous fall, leading the Argos to 10 points in a quarter and a shocking win over Winnipeg. “All we are asking him to do is score 10 points a quarter and he will be just fine,” Clemons said, his impossibly large smile gleaming.
Haha. Good one, Pinball. As it turned out, he wasn’t far off. Kelly led the Argos to almost 33 points per game, a 16-2 record, and the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player award. The team flopped in the East final, losing to Montreal, but Kelly had still produced one of those only-in-the-CFL arcs. The nephew of Buffalo Bills legend Jim Kelly and a college star who won the Sugar Bowl at Ole Miss, he made it to the NFL but was mostly known for off-field screwups. He told The Athletic in 2022, upon arriving in Toronto in try to resurrect his career, that he “never gave himself a chance to have a chance,” which sounds pretty self-aware. When opportunity finally came in Toronto after the incumbent starter fled for the USFL, Kelly seized it and then some.
And then, it appears, he threw it all away again. Kelly, 30, was suspended for a minimum of nine games on Tuesday for violations of the CFL’s gender-based violence policy. In February, a former strength and conditioning coach with the Argos filed a statement of claim in an Ontario court that alleged, according to The Canadian Press, “a pattern of harassment by Kelly, beginning with unwanted romantic advances and escalating into instances of threatening language.” The claims have not been tested in court, and Kelly has denied the allegations and filed a defence.
The CFL launched a third-party investigation and, according to the statement from commissioner Randy Ambrosie, that process “found that Mr. Kelly unequivocally violated the CFL’s gender-based violence policy.”
“Mr. Kelly’s suspension is the direct result of his behaviour,” the statement says.
Kelly may appeal. But, two things jump out: while the CFL statement does not say what its investigators found, almost certainly because it wants to avoid influencing the civil claim, it is hard to imagine the scenario in which Kelly’s behaviour was improper enough to warrant a half-season suspension, but also not so bad that he couldn’t resume his career after some counselling sessions. The Argos open their season on June 6 and play their ninth game on Aug. 9, meaning Kelly’s ban, in terms of games that count, could amount to a suspension of just over two months. For alleged behaviour that sure sounds like it would have been a firing offence in a lot of workplaces. (But, again, the CFL’s decision and punishment has no bearing on the accuracy of the allegations in the statement of claim.)
It is worth noting that the Argos are owned by MLSE, which is partly owned by telcom giants Bell and Rogers, which, presumably, have long and detailed policies on workplace harassment. It is also worth noting that Gregg Zaun, the former Toronto Blue Jays analyst, was fired in 2017 over “allegations of inappropriate behaviour.”
There’s been speculation already that the CFL landed on a relatively soft punishment because Kelly is an important part of a team in the league’s biggest market. Which brings up the other notable part of this story: Nobody gives a damn. I don’t mean that literally, obviously, but in a general sense the accusations against the star quarterback of Toronto’s football team resulted in very little attention when they were first made, very little followup as the CFL conducted its investigation, and very little coverage of the subsequent punishment. The Globe and Mail ran wire copy on the suspension. Columnists at the Toronto Sun and Star weighed in, but none of it was anything like front-page news. That was about it. On the Sportsnet The Fan 590 morning show on Wednesday, it didn’t even merit a segment. (TSN, the CFL’s rights-holder, did do a bit on its Toronto morning-radio show.) Mitch Marner garnered far more attention for a clunky line about how Leafs players are considered gods in the Toronto market.
It’s reminiscent of a previous controversy that didn’t get much attention, when Argos front-office executive John Murphy was fired after an altercation with Hamilton fans after the 2021 East final. Videos posted to social appeared to show Murphy making homophobic remarks, and he later acknowledged using “unacceptable language,” and that was about the end of the furore. Again, imagine if Brad Treliving or Ross Atkins did something like this. (Yes, I know, many fans would be desperate for either of them to commit such a firing offence.) Murphy returned to the Argos in the same front-office role last year, a decision that caused barely a media ripple.
It’s a grim way for the CFL and the Argos to be reminded that the team doesn’t move the needle in Toronto. Like, even a little. If this story had been about a team leader on one of the other teams in town it would have massive news in the initial revelations, the kind that blows up front pages, and then been a non-stop content generator for weeks. It would have been the kind of sports news that crossed over into the mainstream, leading television and radio newscasts, running on the news channels in dentist’s offices, debated to great length online. But it wasn’t about a player on any of the big teams, and it didn’t do any of that. And so, in the end, the Argos, at least for now, still have their star quarterback and reigning MVP. But, for what?