'On the right track': CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie embracing role leading league

CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie isn't going anywhere.

The 60-year-old Winnipeg native has held the job since 2017 and said Tuesday he has no immediate plans to step away.

"I feel like we're on the right track, there's a lot of reasons to be thrilled about the results we've had," Ambrosie told reporters during his annual state of the league address. "I also think those results can be built upon and I still have a lot of energy and passion.

Ambrosie succeeded Jeffrey Orridge in July 2017 and is the fourth-longest serving commissioner behind Jake Gaudaur (1968-84), Sydney Halter (1958-66), and Mark Cohon (2007-15). Conventional thinking suggests Ambrosie would look to stay on the job at least through the '26 season when the league's broadcast deals with TSN and the CBS Sports Network expire.

Should Ambrosie successfully secure a CFL expansion franchise in the Maritimes, a 10-team circuit could make the league much more enticing moving forward. It would certainly present a much more positive outlook than what Ambrosie faced in '21 when the league resumed play after the global pandemic forced the cancellation of the previous season.

"I felt like at the beginning of 2022 my own personal level of energy was just really back," Ambrosie said. "Not only to where I was when I started the job in 2017 but I almost felt like it was higher because my level of confidence in where we were going was that much higher.

"At some point it will be time to pass the baton to somebody else. But for now, I'm honoured to be in the position."

A proponent of CFL expansion into the Maritimes, Ambrosie said the time is fast approaching for that to happen but hasn't offered a deadline.

"We've been in a conversation with a highly engaged, highly