Michael Lysko is the former commissioner of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

. Hailing from

Aylmer, Ontario Aylmer is a town in Elgin County in southern Ontario, Canada, just north of Lake Erie, on Catfish Creek. It is south of Highway 401. Aylmer is surrounded by Malahide Township. History In October 1817, John Van Patter, an immigrant from New ...

and a graduate from the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

, Lysko served as vice president of The Gem Group for three years until November 1, 2000, in which he signed a three-year contract worth $750,000, replacing Jeff Giles. Among the goals Lysko had was to bring an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, which had not seen a CFL franchise since the

Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine ...

folded in 1996. On October 21, 2001, the

Ottawa Renegades The Ottawa Renegades were a Canadian Football League franchise based in Ottawa, Ontario founded in 2002, six years after the storied Ottawa Rough Riders folded. After four seasons, the Renegades franchise was suspended indefinitely by the league ...

was formed, but instability in the franchise led to its folding in 2006. However, on March 20, 2002, Lysko was fired as commissioner after he made comments towards the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

regarding their hiring of

Garth Drabinsky Garth Drabinsky (born 1949)Charlebois, Gaetan, and Anne NothofDrabinsky, Garth Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia. Athabasca University. Anne Nothof, ed. "Ontario-based entrepreneur, born in Toronto in 1949." is a Canadian film and theatrical producer a ...

as a consultant; the deal with Drabinsky, who had been under investigation for alleged fraud, was regarded by Lysko as a "deal with the devil." Argonauts owner

Sherwood Schwarz Sherwood Schwarz (born November, 1930) is an American businessman and founder of ''Carnegie Associates Ltd'' and was the owner of the Toronto Argonauts from 1999 to 2003. Biography Schwarz was born in 1930 on the Lower East Side of New York City, ...

called for Lysko's firing, and he was unanimously voted to be fired by the board of governors. Lysko had spent only 15 months as commissioner, and is the only commissioner in league history to be fired by the board. After his firing, Lysko became the director of athletics at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

, which included the renovations of

TD Waterhouse Stadium Western Alumni Stadium (formerly TD Stadium) is an 8,000-seat Canadian football stadium located on the campus of the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. It is home to the Western Mustangs football team and is one of the largest stad ...

, Alumni Hall and Thames Hall. However, Lysko left the position on July 20, 2007, citing his intentions to move close to his wife Kathryn's parents as among the reasons for his departure.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lysko, Michael Living people University of Waterloo alumni Canadian Football League commissioners Academic staff of the University of Western Ontario Year of birth missing (living people)

See also

References