TORONTO (Sep. 22) — From such an old Canadian Football League fogie as myself, I’m impressed by the fundamental alterations announced today. CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston showed iron balls in venturing where none of his recent predecessors would. Everything in life has its time and the 110–yard CFL field; the end zones (which were 25 yards deep until the 1980’s) and the absurd awarding of a point for failure (on missed field goals) had gone the way of the dodo bird. There simply wasn’t enough reason for the CFL to stagnate as to amend and freshen up its appearance. All that stood in the way? Tradition, of course. And, tradition wasn’t paying the bills.

Toronto and Vancouver are essential markets to the CFL and each has long–become blasé. The Argonauts were certain that moving their home (in 2015) from the cavernous Rogers Centre to the more–intimate BMO Field would boost lagging ticket sales. Last Friday, on an absolutely perfect, late–summer night, less than 14,000 people bothered to show for a game against Montreal with considerable playoff implication. The sparse audience would have left 6,000 seats empty inside Scotiabank Arena, where the Maple Leafs sell out exhibition games.

For all but a select few (myself and my son, Shane, included), residents of the Greater Toronto Area have lost interest in the Argos. They may watch the club play on TSN, but will not make an effort to fill, on most nights, even half of BMO Field. A number of the best seats in the stadium (between the goallines in the upper deck on the east side) aren’t even for sale. With entrances at the north end of the facility closed for World Cup renovations, crowds are hoarded to the south gates, providing for long line–ups and frayed nerves. The public–address announcer has to scream into his microphone like a mad man to rouse the football toadies. It just isn’t a professional environment anymore — the Canadian National Exhibition an outlying relic with poor accessibility. I love the Argonauts; have since 1969, but I cannot stand the pain in the ass of getting to BMO Field… then having my brain rattled by the P.A. guy repeatedly yelling “MAAAKE NOIIIISE!!”  If that fellow, who I’m told is a wonderful chap, would incur chronic laryngitis, I’d pay double for my season tickets. So, yeah, I’m all for some change with the Double Blue.

 

THIS PAST SATURDAY MARKED 56 YEARS SINCE ATTENDING MY FIRST CFL GAME (ABOVE) — A 34–27 VICTORY BY RUSS JACKSON (12) AND THE OTTAWA ROUGH RIDERS OVER TOM WILKINSON (19) AND THE TORONTO ARGONAUTS (THE GAME SHOWN ON CBC). AT OLD CNE STADIUM. EVEN A CFL TRADITIONALIST LIKE ME UNDERSTANDS THE REQUIREMENT FOR FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE.

After the 2010 Winter Olympics, the province of British Columbia spent a gazillion dollars renovating B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver. Gone was the air–supported dome (replaced by a fixed and luminescent roof) and the two levels of seating were refurbished. But, football crowds seemed largely indifferent to the project. In no time at all, the B.C. Lions had draped off the upper deck and the club still cannot sell out the lower bowl. The CFL lagging in Toronto and Vancouver is akin to the National Football League losing New York and Los Angeles (where four of its clubs reside). As a result of TV money, the NFL would easily survive. The CFL, by comparison, is a shadow of itself with prevailing apathy in the country’s top financial markets. And, what’s going on in Saskatchewan, the purported heartland of Canadian football? Watch a game on TV from Regina’s Mosaic Stadium — considered the Taj Mahal of the CFL — and there are full sections of unoccupied green seats for the league’s best club this season.

Calgary doesn’t sell more than two–thirds of tickets at ancient McMahon Stadium. Edmonton painted the chairs at Commonwealth Stadium irregular colors and patterns to provide the illusion of a large crowd. In reality, the Elks have been drawing flies for years. Winnipeg, Hamilton, Montreal and (to a lesser extent) Ottawa often attract near–capacity audiences. But, that isn’t enough, with the CFL predominantly a gate–driven enterprise. Most agree that if not for TSN and its extensive, national TV coverage, the CFL would have long–ago ceased operation*.
*The league’s contract with TSN expires after the 2026 season.

Who, therefore, would know better than Johnston, the former president of our country’s first all–sports television network? The uniqueness of the 110–yard CFL playing surface may still carry weight for baby boomers of the 1950’s. Young people, sadly or otherwise, consider it minor league. They have grown up with the NFL as a global behemoth… its 100–yard field and smaller end zones with goalposts mounted on the touch (or end) line rather than the goalline. Why not just conform — “give in” to the demographic sorely needed to try and resurrect football interest in Toronto and Vancouver? It isn’t a complicated scheme hatched by Johnston and his CFL governors.

Initially, I was told the league would do away with three–down possessions and go to the traditional four downs of American football. But, that’s before being told the CFL field would retain its 65–yard width (compared to 53.3 yards down south). Playing four downs on a relatively square field would make for basketball scores; again, appearing freakish in the eyes of NFL enthusiasts. So, our game had to continue with three offensive chances.

I suspect the CFL will ultimately phase out three downs, but not before reducing the width of the field.

Then, the transformation will be complete. No later, likely, than 2029 or 2030.

As mentioned, CFL end zones in the 1960’s and 70’s were 25 yards in depth, nearly a quarter of the playing field. Then came stadium reconfigurations that necessitated sawed–off corners at the back of end zones. The original SkyDome here in Toronto could barely accommodate 20–yard scoring regions when the Argos played there from 1989 to 2014. The football end zones at BMO Field, a soccer–first facility, are dissimilar in size and shape. So, it’s clear why Johnston sought the congruence offered by a 100–yard field. All CFL end zones will now be 15 yards in depth — larger (by five yards) than the NFL, but nearly half the size of the scoring areas in the 60’s and 70’s.

I remember going to an Argos–B.C. exhibition game at CNE Stadium in 1971, the first year Dad and I had season tickets. With the match knotted, 17–17, rookie quarterback Joe Theismann engineered a late drive deep into Lions’ territory. Just when everyone expected Toronto coach Leo Cahill to send out the field goal unit, first–year kicker Zenon Andrusyshyn lined up in punt formation from the B.C. 30. Big Zee hoofed the ball into Lake Ontario, thereby providing his club an 18–17 triumph* (a “rouge” for punting past the dead–ball or end line). Under the modified rules, the ball must be fielded on a punt into the end zone, resulting in a player being tackled or conceding a single. No more game–deciding points on a ball that sails past the side or end lines of the scoring area.
*The B.C. Lions savored exhibition–game revenge four years later, during a torrential rainstorm at the newly expanded (for baseball) Exhibition Stadium. July 1975. You can look it up: B.C. 4, Toronto 0. Field goal and a missed field goal.

A number of CFL games have been won through the years on a missed field goal that either cleared the end zone, or resulted in a kick returner being tackled “in touch”. No point in any sport should be awarded for failure and the CFL was long overdue in eradicating the unwarranted “rouge.” Now, if you miss a three–pointer, you get bupkis.

THE CFL’S ENTERPRISING COMMISSIONER, STEWART JOHNSTON, EARLIER TODAY IN TORONTO.

We won’t know for a few years whether these rule changes help to generate football appeal in Toronto and/or Vancouver. But, status quo guaranteed that both markets would continue to tune out. Football today is all about the NFL monolith. Stewart Johnston not only recognized this (which is hardly a challenge) but coerced his governors into a level of change the Canadian version has never witnessed (a definite challenge).

It’s called leadership… which the former TSN Stew seems to have in abundance.

EMAIL: HOWARDLBERGER@GMAIL.COM