Delay of game
Start to CFL season pushed back until at least July 1
The Canadian Football League’s 2020 regular season, if there is one, will not start as scheduled on June 11.
Commissioner Randy Ambrosie on Tuesday announced a postponement until at least July 1.
It was a decision provoked by the fact Calgary and Toronto had previously declared bans on public events through June, as part of their efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The Calgary ban prohibited Stampeders home games at McMahon Stadium, while the Toronto ban did not address Argonauts home games at BMO Field. On Tuesday afternoon, Montreal announced a ban on public events through July 2, while it’s believed Edmonton will render a decision within two weeks.
The CFL schedule called for 11 of the regular season’s 81 games to be played between June 11 and June 30. While Ambrosie said the league was still hoping to play a full 18-game schedule, it now seems virtually impossible.
“We’re just doing a bunch of modelling. The problem is it’s just impossible to predict when we are going to be able to start,” he said in a Tuesday afternoon interview with Postmedia.
“We want to play as many games as we can; that’s the foundation on which we’re resting today. Everything else is just a game of speculation and there is probably no upside in that for us. We are talking about all the scenarios; the kinds of training camps we could have, how quickly could we get the players ready to play safely to entertain our fans. For now this was the right decision to make.”
The CFL had already postponed training camps indefinitely, but the regular season’s original kickoff date had been unchanged until Tuesday’s move. A CFL source recently said the league is prepared to drop as low as eight games per team, while Ambrosie has said previously that a full regular season doesn’t have to be 18 games in order to be a legitimate campaign worthy of playoffs and a Grey Cup finale.
He acknowledged again on Tuesday that while it is the league’s hope to play a full season, public health and safety is the most important priority and the league is willingly taking guidance from health officials and government.
“Our hearts go out to the families who have lost loved ones. We salute the heroic efforts of those on the front lines of our health care system and our supply chain. And we are grateful for the leadership being shown by all levels of government. We respect the decisions being made by the federal government, provinces and municipalities on behalf of our safety and we will continue to follow their directives. These include indications from Canadian cities that they will not allow sporting events to take place before the end of June.”
So the start date obviously remains fluid, but for now the season-capping Grey Cup is still set for Nov. 22 in Regina, and the league doesn’t want to entertain moving it into December, or out of Saskatchewan for a covered venue like BC Place in Vancouver.
“There is something special about the idea of being in Regina to celebrate being back on our feet together, but for now we’re not making any decisions (on the Grey Cup game),” Ambrosie said in the interview.
“We’re just focused on frankly playing on Team Canada
right now, which is about doing all the right things and being good Canadians.”
He did say the league isn’t interested in holding games without fans, a scenario being considered by other professional sports leagues hoping to play games and limit the spread of COVID-19.
“It’s not something we are considering,” Ambrosie said.
“I think the theme of the day is, let’s play as many games as we can with our great fans in the stands. That’s what we’re thinking about today; not really thinking of playing without our fans, no.”