After 81 regular season games and two rounds of playoffs, the Canadian Football League is set to crown another champion in Sunday’s 113th Grey Cup game in Calgary.
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League → set → Calgary
The Montreal Alouettes and Edmonton Elks will meet for all the marbles.
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Alouettes → meet → marbles
Ultimately, it’s the responsibility of the CFL’s commissioner to make sure everything goes off without a hitch.
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goes → ’ → hitch
Since his appointment in April 2025, Stewart Johnston has presided over perhaps the most dramatic changes in the league since the forward pass was introduced in 1929.
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pass → preside → 1929
We talked about that, and how to keep this uniquely Canadian institution thriving as much as possible.
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We → talk → institution
This is obviously the most important week of the year for the CFL, leading up to the big game on Sunday, and I wonder what a commissioner worries about at this point in the process.
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commissioner → lead → process
This is the biggest annual sporting event in Canada every year, and it brings this country together in a way that I think not many other sporting events or even cultural events can.
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I → bring → way
So, we want to make sure we deliver a great game, and that starts with all the pre-game ceremony and right through to the play on the field, our halftime show, and then ultimately awarding that Grey Cup to the winner.
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that → want → winner
The festival is also so important, and we want to have fans, who travel from across the country wearing different team colours, to have a fabulous time.
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who → want → time
What was, in your view, the biggest, most important issue that you had to deal with during the course of the regular season?
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you → have → season
We introduced a few changes to our game play that we wanted to make sure were executed flawlessly.
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we → introduce → that
We had a lot of preparation for that, working with our officials.
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We → have → officials
We went to a 35-second play clock.
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We → go → clock
We moved our benches to opposite sides in those stadiums where they were on the same side.
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they → move → side
We had a new playoff format come in into place, and we wanted to make sure that all of that was understood well by officials and coaches and players, and executed well, and thankfully, it was a great success.
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it → have → officials
We’ve had tremendous results.
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We → have → results
I presume you do polling or focus groups to determine what level of acceptance you got from the fans for the new rule changes?
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you → presume → changes
Can you share anything about that?
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you → share → that
We have our own research that we do at the league office.
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we → have → office
Our clubs do research after each game.
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clubs → do → game
And then there’s simply when I walk down the street, I often get recognized, or at the airport, and have conversations.
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I → ’ → conversations
The overwhelming feedback I get is positive.
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I → get → ?
What I overwhelmingly hear from fans is, please keep going.
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hear → hear → fans
They want to feel that this league believes in itself, and we’ve had some success this year with a new media deal announcement, and some new digital products that we’ve modernized, and they can see the direction we’re heading in.
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we → want → direction
2027 is going to be a transformational year for the CFL.
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2027 → go → CFL
We’re going to start our season earlier on, and make a new tradition of starting our season on Victoria Day weekend.
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We → go → weekend
We are going to have a new playoff format, which is going to bring more teams and more meaningful games towards the end of the season.
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which → go → season
And we’re going to be continuing to modernize our gameplay.
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we → go → gameplay
One of the most controversial things you’re going to do is get rid of the 55-yard line, one of the things that makes the game uniquely Canadian.
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game → go → things
Is that still happening?
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that → happen → ?
But it’s also something that we should build on.
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we → ’ → that
It’s an outstanding foundation, but it’s not our ceiling.
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it → ’ → ?
We are modernizing our game, but this is going to be the same great Canadian football that fans have enjoyed for the last 100-plus years.
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fans → modernize → years
It’s three downs, it’s 12 players, it’s unlimited motion, it’s going to be a huge field.
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it → ’ → ?
And I think everyone, when they see it, is going to say, hey, this is the same game, but just modernized.
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this → think → it
You’re moving the goalposts to the back of the end zone, which means those exciting plays when a missed field goal gets returned for a touchdown will never happen again.
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goal → move → touchdown
The way I see it is that the missed field goal return for a touchdown happens one every 4,500 plays.
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return → see → touchdown
And I think that’s a tradeoff we are all willing to make to open up our end zone, to remove an obstacle for both the defence when it’s a goal-line stand, the offence when it’s passing, the punting game when you’re deep in your own end zone
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you → think → zone
, I think all those benefits are well worth that tradeoff.
And
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benefits → think → ?
for the people who say, we are going through a kind of historically bad time with the United States right now, and the last thing we should be doing is making our game a little more like theirs, and taking away things that are uniquely Canadian about ours, what’s the response to that?
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response → say → that
…and 33 more, not listed.
The Aporia
