After the CFL announced Wednesday that an arbitrator upheld Shawn Lemon’s indefinite suspension for gambling on games, some people took to social media to question why the Montreal Alouettes’ star defensive end got a stiffer penalty than Chad Kelly.
The Toronto Argonauts’ star quarterback was recently reinstated after serving a nine-game suspension for violating the league’s gender-based violence policy.
Sexual harassment allegations against Kelly were raised by a former Argos strength-and-conditioning coach before a lawsuit was settled through mediation in June.
The CFL had suspended Lemon indefinitely on April 24 for allegedly betting on games, including one he played in, while with the Calgary Stampeders in 2021. The league said at the time no evidence indicated games were impacted by Lemon’s wagering and that Stampeders coaches, teammates and team personnel were all unaware of his actions.
CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie was asked during a telephone interview with Sportsnet on Wednesday how he would respond to those who say it looks like the league is treating gambling as a more serious violation than Kelly’s situation.
“I’d start by saying we look at every situation through its own independent lens,” Ambrosie said. “We look at every situation through our policies. We look at every situation through precedent.
“One of the things I can say about the Chad Kelly situation is it reinforced the need for us to lean on expert advice, and we did. The adviser we use for the league is a world-class gender-based (violence) expert. We got a lot of advice and guidance. Shortly after the original suspension, I had an opportunity because of our adviser … to sit with a group of gender-based violence specialists, experts in the field. I got to listen to them, and I got to hear their points of view on how to think about it.”
Ambrosie said those discussions played a huge role in making the decision he did on Kelly, reinstating the league’s reigning most outstanding player with a last-chance agreement. Although the details of the agreement have not been made public, it by all accounts seems to be a provision that could give Kelly a bigger penalty if he violates the gender-based violence policy or any others.
“I would say, in the end, my decision was largely guided by experts’ points of view,” Ambrosie said. “This is never done well if it’s done in isolation. I wanted to reach out, I wanted to listen to experts, and I did. I have to hold myself accountable. Did I do the work, did I listen to people who know what they’re talking about? We had an assessment by a certified doctor who gave us a report, we talked to (Kelly’s) counsellor, we did all the work and, in the end, the decision we believe is the right decision.
“It wasn’t just two guys sitting in a room. It was done on the street with a lot of expert guidance. In the end, you have to do what you think is right. I think we felt in this case we did handle this situation correctly, given all those factors I just described.
“And then you have to be prepared to listen to other people’s points of views. That’s the world we live in. I’ll never disrespect those points of view. I hear them and I know there’s people that would have wanted it to be handled differently. I know we did the right work, I know we listened to the right people. At a minimum, we can say we made all the effort we could have made to make the right decision.”
While Ambrosie did not specify his precedents in this decision, there are multiple examples of other professional sports leagues handing out bigger penalties for gambling violations than domestic or sexual abuse or harassment allegations or violations.
In the NBA, for example, former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter recently was banned for life for gambling violations (though his were far more significant than Lemon’s), while Charlotte Hornets star Miles Bridges was given a 30-game suspension for a domestic violence incident.
In the NFL, Cleveland Browns star quarterback Deshaun Watson was given an 11-game suspension for allegations of sexual misconduct from more than two dozen women, whereas five other players were banned for the entire 2023 season for gambling violations.
In the NHL, Ottawa Senators forward Shane Pinto got a 41-game ban last year, five years after then-Nashville Predators forward Austin Watson got a 27-game suspension for a domestic violence incident. The latter punishment was reduced to 18 games on appeal.
Speaking specifically on the arbitrator’s decision on Lemon, Ambrosie said: “Right now, we’re very pleased with the arbitrator’s ruling. We obviously think it’s a really important message about the integrity of the game. Clearly that was a big part of the arbitrator’s ruling, making sure we don’t compromise the integrity of the game.”
— With files from the Canadian Press