CFL reschedules its opening exhibition game to May 31
Move comes a day after deal reached to end short strike
The Canadian Football League has rescheduled its opening pre-season game.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders were to host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Monday night, but the two teams will now meet May 31.
The move comes a day after the league and its players’ association reached a tentative contract Wednesday night, ending the second strike in league history. The deal is pending ratification by both the league’s board of governors and the players’ association membership.
Players from seven teams who’d been on strike began reporting to their teams Thursday.
The CFL exhibition season will now open May 27, with the Ottawa Redblacks hosting the Toronto Argonauts and the Edmonton Elks visiting Winnipeg.
The following night, the Calgary Stampeders are home to the B.C. Lions while the Hamilton TigerCats entertain the Montreal Alouettes.
Contract talks between the league and union broke off Saturday, hours before the previous deal was set to run out. At 12:01 a.m. ET, players with the seven teams were in a legal strike position and didn’t report for the start of training camp later that day.
Players with the Elks and Stampeders both reported because they weren’t in a legal strike position, according to provincial labour laws. But they would have been eligible to join the work stoppage Thursday afternoon.
The first CFL players’ strike was in 1974 but was settled before the start of the regular season.
Two sources told The Canadian Press the new deal is for seven years.
In a memo to its membership, the players’ association said the strike is over.
“We will inform the league that we have approved a Memorandum of Agreement and that we have ended our strike,” the union said Wednesday night. “We believe the clubs will want to start training camp soon and players should expect to hear from them.
“This agreement is subject to membership ratification over the next few days where we will conduct meetings with each team to explain the bargaining package and answer questions.”
A source said one team, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, was scheduled to have a players’ meeting late Wednesday night to discuss the contract.
“Twitter be breaking news about your job before you even know or vote lol wild,” Hamilton receiver Bralon Addison tweeted.
Later, Ticats linebacker Simoni Lawrence posted a video of himself walking down a hallway, tweeting, “Me reporting back to camp at 11:11 (p.m. ET).”
One source said the agreement can be opened for renegotiation once the league signs a new broadcast deal. The CFL’s agreement with TSN reportedly expires in five years.
However, the source added the agreement gives the players’ association a share of all revenues and also includes minimum salary-cap increases annually. As well, veteran players will have the ability to negotiate guaranteed contracts, something the CFL had initially turned down earlier in negotiations.
Teams now will be able to start eight Canadians but one will be a naturalized Canadian, an American with at least five years of CFL experience or three with the same team. There were reports there will be 12 padded practices for teams this year but players will also receive more long-term health coverage (five years by the third year of the contract) in return.
And the new deal is set to expire at least 30 days prior to the start of training camp rather than the day before like the past agreement did.
CFL players have gone on strike once, in 1974, but the situation was settled before the start of the regular season.
The regular season kicks off June 9 with the Montreal Alouettes in Calgary to face the Stampeders.
The CFL exhibition season will now open May 27, with the Ottawa Redblacks hosting the Toronto Argonauts and the Edmonton Elks visiting Winnipeg