Published Nov 14, 2025 \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 4 minute read<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n You can save this article by registering for free here<\/a>. Or sign-in<\/a> if you have an account.<\/p>\n CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston did a lot of talking in Winnipeg on Friday. How much he listened is another story.<\/p>\n Advertisement 2<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY<\/p>\n Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.<\/p>\n Exclusive columns by Ryan Stelter, Paul Friesen, Ted Wyman, Scott Billeck, Lorrie Goldstein, Warren Kinsella and others. 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Plus newsletters: Gimme Stelter for your beat on the city, The Exit Row for all your Jets news and On the Rocks for curling.Unlimited online access to Winnipeg Sun and 15 news sites with one account.Winnipeg Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.<\/p>\n REGISTER \/ SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES<\/p>\n Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.<\/p>\n Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.<\/p>\n THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.<\/p>\n Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.<\/p>\n Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an Account<\/p>\n or<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n The first-year league boss held the annual state-of-the-CFL address, a media Q & A that always starts with the commish gushing about how well things are going.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n The former TV exec says scoring is soaring, games are going down to the wire and quarterbacks are on fire.<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t sound like a league that needs controversial rule changes that cut at the heart of what makes it Canadian.<\/p>\n Yet Johnston is plowing ahead with what he announced in September without consulting coaches, GMs, players or fans, including the shrinking of the field to 100 yards, the moving of the goal posts to the back of end zones, and the shortening of end zones to 15 yards.<\/p>\n I reminded him what some smart and patriotic people said about it back then.<\/p>\n The Winnipeg Sun’s Daily Headline News<\/p>\n Thanks for signing up!<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Advertisement 3<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n You know, how Blue Bombers coach Mike O\u2019Shea, a Canadian Hall of Famer, said he could never support the changes.<\/p>\n Or how Bombers special-teams coach Mike Miller, who\u2019s from New Brunswick and played for 11 seasons, said he felt sick to his stomach watching the commish announce them.<\/p>\n Then there was B.C. Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke, the top player in the game this year and a Canadian to boot, who called the new rules \u201cgarbage.\u201d<\/p>\n How could those comments not give Johnston pause, I wondered aloud.<\/p>\n His response was to gush over how great Rourke is.<\/p>\n And then this: \u201cThe two starting quarterbacks in this year\u2019s Grey Cup game have come out very supportive of the changes. The large majority of players, agents, and coaches I\u2019ve talked to have all been supportive.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement 4<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n I suspect it\u2019s more a case of the commish filtering out things he doesn\u2019t want to hear.<\/p>\n O\u2019Shea has more than 30 years experience as a CFL player and coach. The game means everything to him.<\/p>\n Yet the new league boss takes office, pulls a pair of scissors from his desk drawer and begins trimming pieces of the Maple Leaf from this country\u2019s football fabric after being on the job for a few months.<\/p>\n Make that make sense.<\/p>\n Johnston couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Instead he blathered on about the 300 years of combined football experience his \u201cteam\u201d on this file had and the \u201cincredible consultation with some great minds.\u201d<\/p>\n Then he went downtown to a meet-and-greet with fans and did more of the same, spouting his sales pitch like a used-car salesman trying to unload a rust-bucket with an oil leak, not even giving potential buyers a chance to ask questions.<\/p>\n Advertisement 5<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n \u201cWe started talking about it and he was quick to defend it,\u201d Rick Prychun told me. \u201cWe wanted to know why. That\u2019s my only question. Why are we doing this? But in 30 seconds \u2026 you know the deal.\u201d<\/p>\n Prychun lives in Alberta but has family ties in Manitoba. He holds four season-tickets for both the Elks and Blue Bombers, family members and friends using the Winnipeg tickets when he can\u2019t get here.<\/p>\n He was actually under the impression the rule changes weren\u2019t a sure thing, yet. I told him they are.<\/p>\n \u201cNo s\u2014,\u201d Prychun said. \u201cThey they can buy my season tickets if that\u2019s how they feel.\u201d<\/p>\n Prychun\u2019s sister Ronda plans to keep going to games, at least if her brother keeps his seats.<\/p>\n \u201cWe made it through that American s\u2014,\u201d she said of the CFL\u2019s U.S. expansion in the 1990s. \u201cIf we can make it through that, I can make it through this.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement 6<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Their friend Bruce Tremblay, in from Vancouver, wasn\u2019t as sure.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had this game for what, 112 years?\u201d Tremblay began. \u201cAnd it survived. They\u2019re trying to turn our game more into the American game. It\u2019s not an American game. It\u2019s a much more exciting game. When\u2019s the last time we changed the field size or moved the goal posts?<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely crap.\u201d<\/p>\n The man who produced it didn\u2019t give him a chance to say that, though, filling their meet-and-greet with small talk.<\/p>\n \u201cHe asked all the questions,\u201d Tremblay said of Johnston.<\/p>\n Not one person I asked in that restaurant\/bar liked the changes.<\/p>\n A few tables over from Tremblay and the Prychun siblings, three fans in from Montreal \u2013 Kevin Walker and sons Matheson and Griffin \u2013 had similar reactions.<\/p>\n Advertisement 7<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n \u201cIt lessens the product,\u201d Matheson said, wondering what\u2019s fuelling the commissioner\u2019s moves. \u201cWhere\u2019s all this data that he keeps talking about? He never told us where it comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n Matheson lamented how missed field goal returns will all but disappear.<\/p>\n The Walkers don\u2019t plan on cancelling their tickets, but they feel their loyalty is being misused.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just so fun to go,\u201d Matheson said. \u201cThat\u2019s what kills me. I think he knows that, when he\u2019s making these changes. He knows that so many people love it so much that they\u2019re still going to go. They\u2019re going to put up with it.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I\u2019m mad. They\u2019re bad changes.\u201d<\/p>\n To tear away strips of Canadiana at this particular time in history baffles them. Now is the time to market the league\u2019s identity, not chip away at it.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the Canadian pride and everything\u2026 it\u2019s the wrong call to make it more American,\u201d brother Griffin said. \u201cIt\u2019s baffling.\u201d<\/p>\n As baffling as the commissioner\u2019s selective hearing.<\/p>\n paul.friesen@kleinmedia.ca<\/p>\n X: @friesensunmedia<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Share this article in your social network<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Breadcrumb Trail Links SportsFootballCFL Get the latest from Paul Friesen straight to your inbox Sign Up Published Nov…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-283721","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\/283721","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=283721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"CFL](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1115johnstonwpg-e1763169210685.jpg\")
CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston addresses media as he gives his 2025 CFL State of the League presentation in Winnipeg on Nov. 14, 2025 Photo by John Woods \/The Canadian PressArticle content<\/p>\n![\"Winnipeg](\"https:\/\/dcs-static.gprod.postmedia.digital\/19.9.2\/websites\/images\/identity\/logo-identity-wsun-new.svg\"){kind=logo}
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