Perry Lefko

Perry Lefko keeps you connected to all the news in the CFL on Sportsnet.ca.

Former Argonauts' president and CEO, Keith Pelley and his son Jason sing the national anthem in 2007.

Is it any coincidence that when Keith Pelley left the Argos, the club began to slide?

It is interesting that as the Toronto Argonauts go forward with new ownership, an integral part of the previous regime will see the glory of his work unfold on a global stage.

Keith Pelley, hired away from a sports network to become president of the Argos late in 2003, will soon realize an incredible dream when the 2010 Winter Olympics start on Friday in Vancouver. Pelley assembled the CTV/Rogers Olympic broadcast consortium, a project that required skill sets, some of which he developed in his four years with the Argos.

Hired by new owners David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski, Pelley brought an enthusiasm and love for football and the Argos that permeated throughout the organization. He helped to resuscitate a franchise that had fallen on hard times, and became the glue that bonded the football and business sides of the organization.

The team did well on the field and worked its way back toward respectability as a sports brand.

Is it any coincidence that when Pelley left to return to broadcasting and undertake the most dramatic job of his life, the Argos began to systematically slide? In 2008, the Argos failed to make the playoffs for the first time under the Cynamon-Sokolowski banner. The next year, the team hit rock bottom, finishing last in the league.

Some decisions that were made defied logic, notably the hiring last year of a head coach, Bart Andrus, who lacked experience in the Canadian Football League but clearly talked a good game. That translated to a record of 3-15 last year, sinking the Boatmen to last in the league.

Was it the owners who made the call to hire someone with an NFL pedigree to emulate what the Montreal Alouettes had done or was it the football operations people? There have been conflicting stories, but the reality is the ownership approved the hiring and clearly voiced its endorsement at a media conference when Andrus was formally introduced.

And what of the decision the year before to fire a head coach, Rich Stubler, after only 10 games and with a record of 4-6 and sitting in second place in the East, and replacing him with Don Matthews, the CFL's top-winning head coach at the time. He had left coaching almost three years before under mysterious circumstances, which were ultimately revealed on the first day of his surprising hire, but Matthews couldn't win in eight games and resigned.

And what of the acquisition in 2008 of quarterback Kerry Joseph, who had won the CFL's Most Outstanding Player honours the year before and announcing the deal on the same day the team revealed its incumbent starter, Michael Bishop, had signed an extension? Is it any wonder the two quarterbacks didn't get along and Stubler had a difficult time deciding who to play or how to tell them about it?

And what of promoting Pinball Clemons from head coach to Chief Operating Officer and watching and seeing him struggle and ultimately become trashed during the season in some media outlets? His halo had been removed and he later was put into a different role better suited for his marketing appeal.

Maybe it's placing too much importance on one individual, suggesting the success of the Argos in four years was due to Pelley's involvement and his absence the reason for the dramatic failure.

Then again, look where Pelley is now: head of a consortium that is about to launch the most dramatic endeavour in the history of Canadian broadcasting. It says something about his ability, and why his hiring by Cynamon and Sokolowski may have been their best move of all. Look who Sherwood Schwarz appointed as his chief lieutenant upon buying the Argos in 1999? J.I. Albrecht. The Argos' crumbled under Albrecht's antiquated ways and Schwarz later confessed hiring him was a mistake.

Pelley was unavailable for comment when contacted on Tuesday for an interview. His executive secretary, whom he brought with him from the Argos, said Pelley is not receiving emails until the Games are over and that he is currently completely absorbed in production. She said they haven't had a chance to hear any of the news involving the Argos, specifically the ownership change from Cynamon/Sokolowski to B.C. Lions' owner David Braley. The board of governors of the CFL didn't buy into the old ownership's ideas to keep the team going with a plan that included revenue sharing among other things, hence the switch to Braley, who had been financing the Argos since Cynamon and Sokolowski bought the team.

The optics aren't great having two teams in the eight-team league owned by one person. The Argos and Lions are heretofore known as The Braley Bunch. Every time they play, the games will be called The Braley Bowl. If they meet in the Grey Cup, well...

But that's a story for another day.

It's a new era for the Argos, while the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics is only two days away. Hours and hours of broadcast coverage will be seen and heard on various multi-media platforms, co-ordinated by the same person who once presided over the Argos through their most recent glorious years.