Tradition Meets Innovation: CFL announces major changes to the game

I only got McNuggets and they were out of hot mustard sauce. My season tickets are now cancelled

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Ivor Wynne had striped black and gold goal posts for some time as well. Or my childhood memory is playing games with me.

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Does any body remember this??
(Funny how it is the BC Lions QB that went ballistic over the upcoming field changes that will apparently destroy the League)

Fun Fact

The 73rd Grey Cup in 1985, which was the final championship played with the traditional 25-yard endzones before the league adopted 20-yard endzones the following season. The BC Lions won that game and their home stadium, BC Place, was a catalyst for the change, having already introduced 20-yard endzones in 1983 due to its construction.

  • Final 25-yard endzone: The 1985 Grey Cup was the last time a CFL game was played with 25-yard endzones.
  • Rule change: The league officially adopted 20-yard endzones for the 1986 season, making the shorter end zone the new standard.
  • BC Place’s role: BC Place had been using 20-yard endzones since 1983 because the stadium’s design was not wide enough to accommodate a full 150-yard field with 25-yard endzones.

Thanks to @ToppsCFL

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1986 must have seen a mass exodus of fans.

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Yes because …
Suspense Anticipation GIF

“THEY WERE NOT CONSULTED!”

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I wonder to what extent the boycotts and season ticket cancellations will manifest themselves.

The thought crossed my mind that had the CFL been low-key about these changes and just introduced them for the preseason of 2027 without any major announcements, what would fans actually notice once they filed into their seats or clicked on their devices/TVs?

For me I think the obvious thing would be the goal posts. But beyond that, most customers (even life-long fans) didn’t understand the clock to begin with. It probably would take into the 3rd quarter before they noticed the 55 yard line was missing. They would never notice benches having been rearranged and the endzones at 15 yards likely wouldn’t register especially in Toronto going down from 17 yards.

There would be a whistle, a kickoff, a return, the respective offense and defense would take to the field. The huddle would break, the QB would twirl their hand and wave-in the waggle and a perfectly normal CFL play would ensue. Drives would go up and down the field to the tune of 3 downs. Punts, returns, no-yards, kicks dead in goal, accompanied by the occasional single would still play into special teams. There would be runs and a big 3-foot neutral zone and 12 players and passes and at some point, a TD and convert all more or less looking as they always have.

The breeze will feel the same. The smell of cotton candy and beer and hotdogs will be the same. The noise-makers, anthem, flybys will be the same. Family and friends will be in the stands enjoying summer and early autumn all the same.

As upset as some are at a bit of field geometry changing, are we really going to feel that differently about the CFL and everything around it when it comes time to kickoff in 2027?

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As was a fine point made early on in this thread, when I too was baffled at the timing, we are in vastly different times in media than even say about 2012.

The CFL acted early to get ahead of the inevitable rumour machine via social media via leaks.

It’s a ton of extra work these days to not only debunk all the rumours,
and you can imagine with all these dramatic apocalyptic reactionaries like a few in this thread and especially all those sudden fly-by pooping commenters,
but then you get a vast narrative from the same sniping lot such as “SEE! I knew it! They backed down because …” and then all work to make corrections of the spreading misinformation, beyond all the work promoting the real changes made.

The CFL has been wise to avoid that additional storm and fuss,
as based on rumours and conspiracy theories at hand,
and simply to just act and deal with the inevitable fuss based on the ACTUAL changes.

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Well summed up! Yes there’s a difference between reading about these changes and being in the new normal once they come. The experience at the game will not change.

I’m even thinking of either season ticket groups or just seeing regulars at the games. Many of those will either be good with the changes or willing to live them. Are some people really going to alienate those connections just to be on a crusade against something they had no control over?

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More is at hand here to debunk this “nobody in Saudi Arabia” nonsense of late, in light of unprecedented investments made by Saudi Arabia in line with their acquisition of LIV golf and Saudi Vision 2030 and UFC partnership and so on and so on…

I would not put limits now on potential Saudi investment in any given direction of sports and entertainment, including in Canada.

Buried in this article, mostly a puff piece for Fox and for Tom Brady’s production company, is this line that had one read it back in about 2020, one would have thought such a report to be misinformation.

Yes folks, the Saudis, in collaboration here with this venture by Fox and Tom Brady and others, are launching interest in football as we know it in North America as well, with vast investment and Saudi interest in the other football as the world knows it and with a Top 10 league in the world too in Saudi Arabia.

Other tentpole productions include the recently announced Fanatics Flag Football Classic , a groundbreaking, celebrity flag football event at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, produced by Shadow Lion, OBB Media, and Fanatics.

Of course this effort is also in the run-up to flag football at the Olympics in 2028, which I see as a gimmick, but hey, I’m not the audience for such new Olympic sports.

Ah Fanatics is involved too, in which the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and MLS are all investors.

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Not sure if flag football is a gimmick though, I certainly always thought of beach volleyball as a gimmick but I was wrong on that as I understand elite beach volleyball players can earn over $1 million annually.

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It’s about time they have darts in the Olympics. Lol

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Uh, please no, along with the likes of lawn tractor racing, snowmobile racing, billiards and poker and other generally stationary and sedentary sports for the participants involved!

But I digress, for there are many Olympic sports with actual athletic participation that don’t belong either, much as we saw at those stupid Olympics in Paris in general.

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It’ll be interesting when or if pickleball will be included as an Olympic sport but not played in enough countries yet I don’t think even though it’s very popular here in Canada, I think U.S. as well.

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Funny don’t recall anyone leaving the league over that at the time. Don’t suspect many more will leave over 15 yard endzones

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I would really like to see the end of half the distance penalties. I propose that if the offense gets a penalty that can not be totally applied, they give the Defending team the choice of either putting them back to their own 1 yard line, or tack the penalty yards onto the yards to get first down.

For Defense, 5 and 10 yard penalties moves it back to 1 yard line. Fifteen plus moves it back to the one and gives the offense another down to score.

No one could say that is americanizing the rules, although I would suggest the same for the NFL

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So nobody wants to discuss their govt’s issues with human rights and illegal practices? The Saudi Prince gives money away like it’s candy but nobody questions his controversial choices he’s made and done ..

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Funny how the league wants to reduce Field goals and have more TDs yet, the better league the NFL has a lot of field goals all the time! Don’t hear anyone complaining about that?..

NFL averages 3.4 field goals a game.

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Oh I think many do, but that’s usually in the political thread, for in somewhat sad respects, that ship sailed after about 2014, along similar lines, after that World Cup in Qatar was announced.
:confused:

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As stated previously, the NFL will have its own reckoning with the kicking game, including field goals. There is already an NFL rules thread for those discussions:

The focus of the CFL should be on what the CFL does and not what the NFL does for the sake of rules on the field.

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I can compare in one thread.. why would I go to the NFL thread when i’m making a comparison for the CFL?