A few years ago, I decided that paying for cable TV just wasn’t worth it anymore.

The only thing I really thought I would miss was live sports. I used to watch quite a bit of sports, cricket, baseball, basketball, Olympics, even an occasional hockey game, if the Senators were playing.

As it turned out, though, after a while, I didn’t really didn’t miss it all that much, with the one exception of CFL football. I have been a diehard Saskatchewan Roughriders fan for as long as I can remember.

I inherited that from my maternal grandfather, who was a season ticket holder for decades.

For the past few years, I have been subscribing to TSN in the fall, just so I can watch the Riders for a couple of months leading up to the Grey Cup.

But a recent announcement by the league has me rethinking all of that.

While Canadian football has a lot in common with American football, it is a distinct game.

In my opinion, it is a superior game. You can argue until you’re blue in the face, that the NFL has a larger talent pool, superior athletes, more polished production values, yada yada, but I have no interest in the NFL.

I like our game.

But next year, the Americanization of Canadian football is set to begin.  

The new CFL commissioner, Stewart Johnston started in a measured way, by modifying the rouge rule and instituting a 35-second play clock for 2026.

I don’t think those two changes dramatically alter the game, but it’s 2027 that puts us on the path to NFL-lite.

In year two, the field and end zones will be shortened and the goalposts moved to the back of the end zone (someone finally found a way to literally move the goalposts).

They say these changes are going to make the game better, but I’m skeptical. If I wanted to watch American football, I’d watch the NFL, or (more likely) the college game.

I want to keep an open mind, though, because I do want the league and my Riders to survive. 

Maybe it will be good.

When they change it to four downs, though, I am 100 per cent out. 

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