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It will 100% lower scoring. Thats what i cant figure out about all this. You cant attract fans so youre going to make the games lower scoring and less exciting?? Shorter endzones = less TD's. Uprights at the back of the endzone = less field goals/more punts, so longer fields for the offenses to travel/way less if any exciting missed field goal returns. I dont understand. Like WTF is this??

Did they specify if the change would apply inside 3:00 as well? If it does that’s monumentally stupid. The clock stopping after the 3min warning is one of the best features of our league.

Longer play clock is stupid as well. Using American rules is going to piss off diehards like us while doing nothing to attract new fans. Of course, the new Commish is a long time Bell employee, so stupidity is to be expected.

MOS hates these changes? MOS is in my good books again. Mike, if you want to roster 30 DBs, go for it.

I don't mourn the loss of the 55 yard line. I mourn the loss of wide FG return like we saw on saturday. Those returnds will never happen once the rules & field changes occur. The ST play we enjoy will be gone.

Agreed, for a team to be able to kill the clock with 1:40 left in the game, it will ruin some of the most exciting finishes in the CFL. When the team that is up by less than a score has to punt the ball away with 30 seconds left, it keeps fans engaged right until the clock hits 0:00 and is one of the best parts of the CFL as far as I'm concerned.

Regardless of whether the changes become successful or not, NOT consulting the players and coaches is comically bad.

Nobody disagrees with the league that the attendance numbers in the larger markets are unsustainable and something needs to change. I think very few of us think these changes will make a dent in that.

The more I think about this the more I suspect this will actually decrease scoring, and the league knows it. The solution? Add another down and take a player off the field.

Yeah this is just going to make more punts to pin a team deep. Will be a slog. You basically will need to hit the 35 yard like for a long field goal try. Going to make games less exciting.

I really don't see the case for increased scoring. As someone who has made the decisions to go for it on 3rd down or not, the new rules incentivize field position more than the current ones. Nobody is trying to score a Rouge unless it's the last play in a tied or 1 point game.

This. SO much this. The NCAA provides hundreds of players every spring for the NFL to pick through every year. The NFL does not give two shits about having the CFL as a feeder league. The amount of players who leave the CFL for the NFL on a yearly basis should be more than enough to indicate this.

I agree on the finances picture but this is not going to improve attendance or fan engagement. Marketing campaigns and being involved in grassroots football like Winnipeg and Saskatchewan will improve both. A video game would help. Better use of Tik Tok and other social media will.

My thoughs after 24 hours; I'm ok with the changes if they were the only major changes the league is going to make. Sadly, I feel that this is just the beginning and the CFL will be playing 4 downs by 2030. Because of the shorter field, I hope they move the line of scrimmage from the 40 to 35 or 30. Need to preserve the last 3 minutes of the half. I'd be more accepting of the changes if they were a last resort. Where's the new marketing ideas and grassroots initiatives from the league and money losing teams?

Definitely need Zach back.. and good timing for Sterns.. now let's ******* protect the QB and give him time to cook.

Don’t be ridiculous….. 17 DBs and 13 LBs.

The vast majority of the calls were people screaming blue murder and Osh told them they should let the team and the league know exactly how they feel. Yes, he is on the rules committee... Which were not consulted at all.... And that's a huge part of why he's pissed, I'd bet.

Someone on reddit dug up the numbers when the NFL moved the goalposts back and apparently it resulted in more punting, more missed field goals, and no increase in TDs.

That's gotta be it, but man at this point let's just fold Toronto to save the league.

On top of that, if the CFL did switch fully to NFL rules, they would be giving even less incentive for people to watch because you'd be watching the same game with less talented players. It makes absolutely no sense to go to NFL type rules, getting rid of what makes the CFL exciting. Better marketing in the markets that struggle should be the bigger priority. Educating prospective fans on what makes our game exciting should be #1. I'm fine with removing the rouge for kicks that got out the back of the end zone, but moving the uprights to the back of the end zone and taking away the opportunity to run the ball out on a miss (which is one of the most exciting plays in football as far as I'm concerned) is a mistake in my mind.

Also, with more punts deep to pin an opponent you probably get less scoring as well since it becomes a game of kicking unreturnable balls back and forth to each other. It's just pants on head ******** logic.

A good employer would 100% consult with their employees, managers and stake holders before large changes to the identity, branding and product of said company. edit: Doesn't mean that the employer needs to heed all or any of the suggestions- it's just good business sense to consult those mentioned above.

Dude, A.C. Slater was the QB.

Yeah with the special teams aspect the only way to change it would be to do something to force teams to not kick. Like if you only get so many punts per half or something....which would also be stupid. Coaches are going to be conservative and play the long game. Kickers and punters are also crazy accurate these days so would you rather go for it 3rd and 5 from the 40 or pin the other team inside their 5 and take the chance they go 2 and out or turn it over? Any benefit they get from no posts (consider the posts act both ways in terms of offense being able to use them for a pick) is negated by losing the yards in the endzone that D has to defend. Think of how many TD's are scored in the back corner of the endzone. There's no way for them to definitively say these rule changes create scoring.

Not surprised. Dude still can't comprehend the designated nationalized American rule, and is reviewing Streveler game film from 2019.

The league estimates that the changes will result in 60 more touchdowns a year. I would like to see their math on that.

Marketing to newcomers to Canada is an important step. The Raptors when they started did this, as well as trying to get more woman going to the games and they've built a great fanbase.

The thing is the casual fan would be hardly aware of the rules in any depth. It's such a weird thing to focus on in the context of the business issues surrounding the league and franchises. Almost like they are in denial of what the problems actually are. They've totally ****** up the schedule. They end up competing against the NHL playoffs now to kick off the season. Everyone has drained their bank accounts in many CFL markets on NHL just as CFL is starting, not to mention the complete lack of media around the CFL.

Gone is the excitement of a late comeback where a team gets about midfield and tries the long walk off field goal to win. Now you need to advance to the 35 yard line for that same field goal chance. Assuming the playclock starts ticking from 35 inside 3 minutes anyway odds are you don't have time to come back anyhow. At least sheahan will finally be useful to have with all the short punts that will be happening. Louder for those in the back (or league office) Shouldn't cost what it does to take my family to a game in calgarys shitty stadium.

There’s no quick fix, but every franchise needs to start building new fan bases if they want the league to survive. 1. Marketing the party atmosphere like Winnipeg and Sask have. This might be tougher for Toronto and Montreal, BC has had varying success. Every team should have their own version of our Rum Hut dynamic. The games need to come across like they’re more fun than watching at home. Let Montreal have their horns. Market the old Arrrgoooos chant hard. More themed games. The Stampede Bowl thing in Calgary did really well. Have more fixed scheduled games every year. Toronto and Ottawa rivalry needs to be built more, they could have “The Capitol Clash” on thanksgiving or something every year. Aside from Argos/Ticats, there’s no real rivalries out east like we have on the prairies. 2. Build the fanbase from the ground up. Investing in amateur football at all levels is paramount. Get players and mascots to do elementary school appearances, start kids CFL flag leagues. Anything to get younger fans growing up loving the game. Run promotions where kids tickets are free/discounted. Get merch out to schools to run “Win a jersey” contests. Work with newcomers associations and community groups to provide merch/promo tickets/whatever. Lower the bloody ticket prices in certain sections. How many of us grew up going to games in the Safeway Endzone or whatever it was called before that? There’s nothing like that here anymore, I’m not sure about the rest of the cities. We probably lost an entire generation or more of fans. The league needs a new younger fanbase, and imo the way to build that is to make the league/players accessible, and going to games affordable. It’s the only thing the CFL can offer from a marketing perspective that the NFL can’t.

Killed any enthusiasm i had for what should be the best time in a CFL season.

This is some bullsh!t by the CFL. They’re swapping out the Hip for Nickelback… easy does it and next thing you know we’re all stuck with an elevator jingle version of Beyonce.

A recipe for a slow death to the CFL by a thousand cuts. I would like to know who TF asked for this, because it looks fully hatched.

Honestly I want Osh's take, about half way through a bottle of Crown...

Bet he could have gone better than 3 of 8 for 54 yards as QB of Bayside.

bob tweeted paraphrasing from mos, I guess coaches show was last night? And apparently mos hates all the rule changes.

It was kind of an odd time to announce these changes. I can't think of a reason why they couldn't have waited to the off season. "I know some of the most exciting CFL ball is about to be played, instead of ramping up that excitement, lets do our best to kill most of the joy our fans are feeling!"

The league has two wildly successful franchises, two or three that are struggling to attract and keep fans (one of those in the biggest market) and the rest somewhere in the middle but likely not turning a profit. The business can't sustain itself with status quo. So yes, I would agree there is desperation here.

Basically need to be at 35 in even to hit long range FG's. So take all those FG's teams are trying from the 30-50, turn many of those into punts. Doesn't seem like a better game. IMO...they need QB's who can play no matter what rules they make. That's why the games are hard to watch especially for casuals.

To be fair with Strev 8 passes is a bit much.

Rourke for MOP, MOC and CFL Commish.

I heard one of the other rule changes they were thinking of was to do away with the coin toss and either play rock paper scissors or guess a number between 1 and 10 but the vote was 50/50 so they didn't do it.

Had to laugh at Wade's comments. Coaches are going to have to be more aggressive eh? It's very ironic coming off an 8 pass game and running a team that routinely trots out their kicker for long range FG's. Like he does he watch the Bombers?

Good on rourke, agree with him. Madanis article is putrid. https://3downnation.com/2025/09/22/opinion-the-cfl-finally-delivers-big-with-changes-that-will-make-the-game-pop/ Wade supporting it isn’t a surprise but still a disappointment. But it sounds like they didn’t consult usports at all which is criminal. https://3downnation.com/2025/09/22/blue-bombers-president-wade-miller-calls-cfl-changes-positive-step-insists-they-will-not-impact-bisons/ This is what we get for having a tsn cronie run the league.

Taking a Quick Look at the first 3 weeks of the NFL 44 times a team failed to score more than 20pts. I’d say that’s pretty low scoring. In contrast all season in the CFL 31 times a team failed to score more than 20.

Things to improve the game/viewership: Remove or increase Coaching cap Invest heavily in amatuer sport/family engagment/youth participation etc etc I can't wait for all those people who don't watch the CFL because it's boring/has a 100yrd field/has the rouge to come pouring in next year!!

Scarves at half mast for the CFL.