Edmonton Elks’ new CEO vows to curb turnover of players and staff
Global News
Chris Morris played each and every snap of his 14-year CFL career wearing Edmonton's green and gold. He won three Grey Cups, and described the team as a family.
Chris Morris played each and every snap of his 14-year CFL career wearing Edmonton’s green and gold. He won three Grey Cups, and described the team as a family.
As the new president of the Edmonton Elks, Morris pledged that those family values will return to the franchise. As an alumnus and a member of the Ring of Honour, he’s watched the team go through the 2020s and miss the playoffs, season after season.
He’s seen players come in, players go out. There have been quarterback controversies and quarterback carousels.
He said the culture of signing and cutting players, and re-making the team year after year, has to come to an end.
“The first thing we need to build here is a championship-level football team.” Morris said Thursday during a media conference held in the Elks’ locker room a day after he was confirmed as the team’s new president and chief executive officer. “This city was about nothing but championships for decades and decades. We need to be a championship-level team that competes for Grey Cups every single year. There’s been people before, there’s been five presidents in the last eight years, who have sat up here and said the exact same thing.
“But what I will tell you is this. We are going to build a culture in order to achieve our goal of building this team. Our culture here will be one that values everyone, from the player on the field to the person in the front office to the people selling our tickets.”
The former offensive tackle has been a principal in an Edmonton inner city school, and spent the last 12 years rebuilding the University of Alberta Golden Bears’ football program, which had been doormats in Canada West. He said that, this past year, the University of Alberta’s camp program raised more than $800,000 that went towards scholarships. When he got to the U of A, that program raised $30,000 a season.
His press conference felt more like a halftime team-talk from the coach, and alumni in attendance even cheered some of his talking points, especially when he said “I promise you, the revolving door is over” when it came to players and staff.
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