CFL 2025 Season Thread

[MissTeeks]

Rourke is ticked off.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1970224412059377680

[Johnny Makarov]

hmmm not sure about moving to a 35 second game clock. End of games will not be as exciting and will be more NFL run out the clock crap.

[dash_pinched]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

hmmm not sure about moving to a 35 second game clock. End of games will not be as exciting and will be more NFL run out the clock crap.

I think they're taking this out of the officials hands and it will be an automatic 35 second play clock instead of being inconsistent with the ref having to signal time in for each play (it does vary quite a bit). The having teams on different sidelines will also help as you won't have to see big linemen running upwards of 70 yards as far as making substitutions are concerned.

[dash_pinched]

Imagine this scenario - You're at the opponents 40 yard line and it's 3rd and 4. With the way the CFL game currently is, you're lining up to kick a 47 yard FG. By moving the goalposts to the back of the endzone, it's now a 62 yard FG. You're not going to punt the ball because the field position you'll gain unless it's a perfectly placed punt is going to be negligible.

I think this will lead to coaches being more aggressive and going for it more on 3rd down which is a good thing in my book.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by dash_pinched

The one downside to moving the goalposts to the back of the endzone is unless a FG is short (which obviously could still happen), the missed FG return is a very exciting play in the CFL that will likely not be seen nearly as often.

I don’t think it’s nearly as exciting as people make it out to be. How many missed field goal returns for touchdowns are there? It removes a little bit of the strategy because sometimes the returner needs to evaluate whether or not it’s worth it to run it out out of the end zone and now they don’t have to worry about giving up that rouge. But even that doesn’t happen all that frequently. Most of the time it just went out the back of the end zone and team got a free point for nothing.

If anything I hope this means that the CFL will invest more in kickers. We need better quality kickers.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

There’s definitely a trade-off with moving the goal post to the back of the end zone but I like the idea of having more room to maneuver in the end zone and having more throws across the middle in the end zone. Even if it means fewer field goals.

Like I said above I think it’ll really reward teams with good kickers. We are so far behind the NFL in terms of kicking accuracy and kicking distance.

[dash_pinched]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

If anything I hope this means that the CFL will invest more in kickers. We need better quality kickers.

That's code for I'm a Riders fan without saying I'm a Riders fan

[Plett25]

I am not happy with these changes.

15 yard end zone? Ok, didn't it used to be 25 before BC Place?

Uprights to the back? Why? But maybe.
100 yards? Why? Get that junk out of here.

Getting rid of the Rouge?

NO ####ING WAY.

1 POINT FOR KICKING OVER THE GOAL LINE.
3 POINTS FOR THROUGH THE UPRIGHTS ON THE GOAL LINE.
6 POINTS FOR RUNNING IT OVER THE GOAL LINE.

DON'T CHANGE THE RULE BECAUSE GENERATIONS OF ANNOUNCERS DIDN'T DESCRIBE IT CORRECTLY.

Rouge for life.

Might as well go to 4 downs and fill American rules. I'm probably not watching after this season anyway.

They're betting they gain more viewers than they lose. Good luck with that.

You're losing me after this season.

[dash_pinched]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

There’s definitely a trade-off with moving the goal post to the back of the end zone but I like the idea of having more room to maneuver in the end zone and having more throws across the middle in the end zone. Even if it means fewer field goals.

Like I said above I think it’ll really reward teams with good kickers. We are so far behind the NFL in terms of kicking accuracy and kicking distance.

Yeah, the more I think about it, there is certainly more positives than negatives to moving the goalposts to the back of the endzone. It will be interesting to see how this impacts amateur and grassroots football in Canada, I would assume for the most part that they will adopt these changes as well.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

The only rule that doesn’t make any sense to me is making the field smaller. It just doesn’t really help anything. I guess maybe it’ll help with scoring because then you don’t have to travel as far and since they’re already making field goals harder they don’t want teams to have to march as long to be able to get into field goal range.

I definitely don’t see the Americanization of our game. This just seems like fairly logical changes to the game.

Making changes to the rouge makes sense to me.

Making team benches be on the opposite side of the field is a no-brainer.

The 35 second play clock that starts automatically will hurt the end of games a little bit depending on how clock stoppages work because you’ll be able to kill more time but it will tremendously help with fairness and time wasting during the rest of the game.

Moving the goal posts and shrinking the end zone has some positive and some negatives but it’s at least worth a shot. I think the positives might outweigh the negatives.

Baseball is made some huge changes and their game is better than it has been in 25 years because of it. The NHL made changes because they were on the verge of collapse because the game was unwatchable. The NFL has constantly been evolving in the sport is better than ever.

I think for a sport to survive it needs to evolve. Unless all the purists want to go back to the days before the forward pass existed because that’s the pure form of football.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by MissTeeks

Rourke is ticked off.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1970224412059377680

He realizes the owner of his team and every other owner in the league voted for this right?

Does the CEO of Microsoft go talk to each of their coders and developers before they make company changes?

How does he know that nobody was consulted? Just because he wasn’t?

I don’t know how many football people were involved in this decision but I’m assuming the owners consulted with their football people. Just because no one thought to consult their starting quarterback doesn’t mean that people who are intimately familiar with the game didn’t have a hand in these decisions.

[Nadal Fan]

As a season ticket holder for the Stampeders for about a decade these rules suck. There are better ways to build the game in Canada to younger generations of fans than this.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

He realizes the owner of his team and every other owner in the league voted for this right?

Does the CEO of Microsoft go talk to each of their coders and developers before they make company changes?

How does he know that nobody was consulted? Just because he wasn’t?

I don’t know how many football people were involved in this decision but I’m assuming the owners consulted with their football people. Just because no one thought to consult their starting quarterback doesn’t mean that people who are intimately familiar with the game didn’t have a hand in these decisions.

He is right though. How can you not consult the player or the coaches? CFL owners... do they even attend their team's games?

[lambeburger]

The field changes would get rid of the cut off corners (from the running track) in the end zones in Montreal. There's a whole section on the SW side where you can't see the closest end zone due to a building in the way, this change would likely remedy that.

Spoiler!

[Mathgod]

I like the consistent amount of time after each play. It's a much needed change that should have been made long ago. I'll never forget the 2013 West Final when the officials allowed a crazy amount of time to roll off each play in the 4th quarter.

Moving the goalposts... ok. Eliminating the 1 point for missed FG and punt through the endzone... ok. No issues there.

But changing the length of the field? No thank you! The 110 yard field is one of the unique things that makes our game what it is.

[browna]

I agree with Rourke. Good on him for calling out the rules and the “Commissioner”.

Garbage. Answers to questions nobody asked except a former TSN executive pushing what probably is a network objective. Or maybe the US TV contract is coming up and they need to make these changes before that occcurs? All sorts of questions as to why, and why now announce it midseason, why this season.

Rouge is a rule. Goalposts at the goal line have always been there. Rouge does not reward failure, it’s a strategy. Don’t be tied if you want to win a game but the opponent has the ball in kicking range, We have seen games end with punts intentionally kicked out of the end zone wide. And will be a lot less FG returns now, as are the crazy punting out of the end zone to break a tie (or defenders punting the ball back out) is also done.

Making the field shorter begs questions too. It seems that they are almost blaming the rouge to allow them to do that. Because if it was just to eliminate the rouge they wouldn’t have gotten rid of the 55 too?

Does Toronto want end zone seats and when the WC leaves they can keep those as permanent end seats? Montreal also wants more space since their ancient stadium doesn’t currently conform? Or maybe all teams want end zone seats but wasn’t ideal with goal posts 20 yards away. There is a reason all teams signed off on this, it’s making the league money someway somehow, it’s just not clear and obviously yet as to how.

But there is something going on and that is the main reason for these changes, the rouge being eliminated is a product of this, not the reason.

[Flickered Flame]

Originally Posted by dash_pinched

VA at practice, but did not participate in any drills...

https://twitter.com/user/status/1970205968781975679

Love took all the first team reps at practice today.

Sent from my SM-S911W using Tapatalk

[M*A*S*H 4077]

From what I understand USports and CJFL were blindsided by this

[browna]

Originally Posted by M*A*S*H 4077

From what I understand USports and CJFL were blindsided by this

Really is odd timing. Mid season. Out of the seeming blue. Seems rushed, but for what purpose was there to have this made public now?

I know TSN controls the CFL communication so leaks aren’t likely but with coaches and other stakeholders like USports having no idea this was happening, there’s more to the story ($ - but in what form) behind the scenes to have this rammed through by the TV executive who was deemed commissioner by higher ups at TSN.

So the Dinos have to change FG posts overnight. Do they now have to change field markings? High school kids less likely to play at McMahon now, or do they change the rules if they play there.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

You know commissioners don’t make decisions unilaterally right? All of the teams knew about this and voted in favour of it or it wouldn’t have happened. The commissioner is just a representative for the owners. He does not control the league like a dictator.

This wasn’t a conspiracy theory, it was a business decision made by the league. Whether or not it turns out to be a good decision remains to be seen. And whether or not they should’ve consulted with other leagues is up for debate.