The Canadian Football League and the National Football League are playing hardball.

And the guy carrying the big stick for the CFL is Mark Cohon, the tough-talking protectionist commissioner who could be facing an NFL tidal wave.

In an interview with the National Post, Cohon said negotiations between the CFL and the NFL on a new contract have ceased.

"We’ve communicated to the NFL that nothing’s been put on the table that is going to strengthen and grow our league to my satisfaction, or the satisfaction of our board of governors," Cohon said.

In previous months the CFL would have found a way to whitewash any form of conflict with the NFL by saying something to the effect: "We continue to have positive dialogues with the NFL and have every confidence a new deal will be reached that will satisfy both sides."

Cohon’s comments are militant and the message is clear: The goodwill relationship between the CFL and NFL is over. This sounds like the beginning of a war that has been brewing for a while. When the Hamilton Tiger-Cats decided earlier this year they wanted no part of the Buffalo Bills’ plans to play games in Toronto it was the first hint of philosophical dissension between the CFL and one of its member teams over the NFL invasion of Canadian turf.

It was 1997 when the CFL and the NFL entered into an agreement in which the monolithic American-based league played the role of benevolent big brother by providing a $3 million (U.S.) interest-free loan to its neighbour to the north. The CFL was on its financial knees at the time and needing some kind of handout and the NFL merely dipped into its petty cash. In return, the NFL received access to CFL players heading into their option year and the opportunity to market the NFL brand in Canada without restrictions.

At the time it was the equivalent of the settlers buying the island of Manna-hata from the Indians for some shiny beads.

The CFL needed the NFL in 1997, but now it is on firm financial footing and the teams’ governors have told Cohon to end the talks. Cohon can only do what he’s told, as all his predecessors found out, and this issue could prove to be his biggest challenge.

Who knows what will happen with future CFL expansion? Maybe there will be a team in Ottawa in a few years. Maybe one in the Maritimes, too. That can’t be answered with certainty. It is a dream. The NFL in Canada, if only on a limited basis, is reality, beginning with a pre-season game in August in Toronto at the Rogers Centre involving Buffalo and Pittsburgh. And when the Bills play host to Miami at the same venue in a regular-season game in December, the issue will only grow in significance.

The NFL and the Bills respected the CFL enough to schedule the regular-season game after the Grey Cup because all parties were working in good faith. In the absence of a new deal, will the NFL be as accommodating for the future games?

To be sure, because it no longer needs a handout, the CFL wanted financial value from the NFL in any new deal. Undoubtedly the CFL would have - or should have - asked for transfer fees from the NFL and/or its teams for signing contracted CFL players. You can speculate the CFL wanted a cut of NFL merchandise sold in Canada. And maybe it wanted some money from the games played in Toronto through ticket or merchandise sales.

However and whatever it wanted is irrelevant. All that matters is that the CFL has chosen not to take whatever scraps the NFL offered. The strategy is either negotiating from a position of strength or the equivalent of cutting off your nose to spite your face. The CFL has never been healthier, as Cohon is apt to point out when wearing his sales/marketing helmet, but if one franchise starts to suffer economically or an owner decides he no longer wants to ante up, stability will give way to chaos.

The absence of a new deal means the CFL could prevent its players from signing in the NFL while under contract. That will hurt the players. It will also hurt the CFL in recruiting free agents. That clause is a selling point. Agents and CFL teams use it to persuade U.S. college players to try the CFL for a year or two to hone their skills. If a player has a good year, he can use the two-month window prior to his option year to sign with an NFL team. But if the CFL closes that loophole, a young player may not want to commit to Canada.

So as the start of another CFL season nears, the owners have told their confident leader not to play ball with the NFL. And that little NFL ripple off in the distance will start to increase in volume and intensity.