The Canadian Football League’s winter meetings open today in Calgary. Presidents, general managers, and coaches from all nine teams will meet face-to-face to discuss everything from rule changes to rosters and even the playoff format.
TSN and CFL analyst Glen Suitor told the SportsCage what he will be watching for.
“Is the rules committee going to be there? If not, do they have a separate meeting with the board and general managers during the final three minutes of the half regarding the rule change? The change in the timing and how that will affect the final three minutes has got to, in my mind, be brought up in these meetings and ironed out so that you can be sure as a coach player that you’re dealing with the same three.”
“Mark Trestman said it took him two and a half years to figure out how to manage the final three minutes of a CFL game. He said that’s how different and unique it is. He described it as the second coming in sports. It was as if this was the best part of the game, and he loved it. But it took him two and a half years. A great coach with a huge football IQ. And he took two years. It’s a very important aspect that needs to be resolved. If there’s going to be any tweaking or changing to it, that has got to come out of these winter meetings so they can get their head around it.”
That’s not all that has Suitor’s attention.
“One thing that’s very intriguing is a commissioner who, in his opening statement, said that when he was applying for the job or talking to the board about the job, he said, ‘If you want the same, you got the wrong guy.’ When I hear that and then see these rule changes, I’m sort of all ears and eyes and listening. Like, what is he going to bring up in mid-January in the winter meetings not to be the same old, same old.”
Follow along with the latest from the winter meetings on the SportsCage.
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