I was employed by the CFL for four years, worked for the B.C. Lions for one and hosted a Canadian football show for five. I\u2019ve also written and hosted betting content for Sports Interaction, Sports Betting Dime and the World Sports Network.<\/p>\n
The biggest gripe CFL traditionalists appear to have about the new rule changes are that it somehow makes the league less Canadian \u2014 that it steers the game towards becoming a lighter version of the NFL. <\/p>\n
Read more:<\/p>\n
Fans are upset and have expressed a lot of negative opinions on social media about the changes.<\/p>\n
To this, I\u2019d like to raise a very important question: How can you call yourself a fan or a loyalist of the league, if you\u2019re willing to watch it bleed out and die?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what happening to the CFL.<\/p>\n
Seven of nine teams did not make money last year. Clearly, change is needed one way or another. Name a business that\u2019s been resurrected with a \u201cbleed to succeed\u201d strategy.<\/p>\n
Not easy, is it?<\/p>\n
We can all agree the negatives of the changes are that it\u2019s not tradition.<\/p>\n
Fair point.<\/p>\n
The overriding tradition of the last decade has led to a league that\u2019s running on fumes and going into the red.<\/p>\n
Should we keep moving forward with the same model? What\u2019s that definition of insanity again?<\/p>\n
If the league doesn\u2019t pivot now, it likely goes under, or begs for a bailout from the government.<\/p>\n
Now, let\u2019s talk changes for 2026, which includes:<\/p>\n
Modifying the Rouge.\u00a0A single point will no longer be awarded for a punt or kick out of the end zone. We laugh with the international media every time a kicker shanks one and the team wins the game. This rule, flat out, emphasizes higher accuracy and skill at the position. That\u2019s a good thing.
\nIntroducing the 35-second play clock.\u00a0This rule puts an emphasis on speeding up the game for the viewer while also impacting play calling and strategy.Yes, having three or four possessions in the final two minutes of a game may now be a thing of the past, but scoring as much as possible when you have the ball will now be paramount.Yes, it was before, but when you could potentially get the ball back three or four times in the dying minutes of a game, it takes away at least some added motivation during prior possessions because you know you\u2019ll have multiple chances to come.This change is the most viewer-friendly update hands down. Look at baseball. They added a pitch clock and while it faced backlash initially. It has worked wonders for the game and the viewer.
\nModifying Bench Locations.\u00a0In speaking with former Saskatchewan Roughrider and 2013 Grey Cup Champion Sam Hurl, this is his favourite change because it\u2019s certainly the most player friendly. Now rather than sprinting 50 to 60 yards and getting winded, players have a much easier transition when substituting.<\/p>\n
Changes for 2027 include:<\/p>\n
All in all, it still separates us from the American game and still provides more real estate for more scoring chances than the game down south.<\/p>\n
If you truly care about football in Canada, you understand that the league\u2019s current model is no longer sustainable. You don\u2019t make major impact changes when everything is running smoothly.<\/p>\n
The Canadian Football League was facing a no-win situation. Either bleed out or upset many of its loyal patrons. The latter of the two give the league a fighting chance at a brighter future.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Ryan \u201cSully\u201d Sullivan is an on-air host on our sister station Rock 102 in Saskatoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I was employed by the CFL for four years, worked for the B.C. Lions for one and hosted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-164747","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}