CFL announces changes for 2020

Commissioner Randy Ambrosie gave the CFL some much-needed breathing room Wednesday.

Ambrosie told CFL season-ticket holders during a video conference the earliest the league could start the 2020 regular season is September. And even if football does return, Ambrosie removed the guarantee that the Grey Cup game would be played in Regina.

But Ambrosie again reiterated a cancelled ’20 campaign remains a distinct possibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

By saying the season won’t start until September at earliest and leaving the door open to games without fans, Ambrosie buys the CFL some time to explore all options as the league continues to talk to all levels of government for assistance.

“It (an abbreviated season) is one of the scenarios we’re pursuing,” Ambrosie said. “But the truth is I think when we’re done, we’re going to be able to say more or less we exhausted all possibilities.

“What you have to do at the end is narrow it down to those that represent the best chance to play if we can and if not to make sure we’re ready to play in ’21 and beyond.”

And Ambrosie said that includes entertaining the possibility of teams playing inter-division games during a scaled-down regular season.

The prospect of the CFL season starting in September isn’t new. Ambrosie told The Canadian Press in April, “there’s a lot pointing to September as being a reasonable person’s view of when we might be able to resume.”

Last month, the CFL postponed the start of training camps — which were to open last week— and pushed back the June 11 start of the regular season to July, at earliest.

The CFL has also called upon the Canadian government for assistance. The league asked for $30 million immediately, additional monies if the ’20 season began late and up to $120 million for the worstcase scenario — the cancellation of the entire campaign.