major announcement - big changes to cfl playoff and season start

[Tecno]

But the league will not appreciably change with or without the 55yd line, and if that's something they held in their pocket to give back and dull the ire of the diehards, kudos to them for the plan.

And if they are going to give back the 55, that would be a great media blast as well.  I'm sure it wont assuage the fury of the ultra die hards, but as a meaningful concession to the fans who love the uniqueness, I think it would be a great PR move.

Has the word gone out to float the idea of "giving us back the 55YL"?  First I've heard of it.  Frankly, I don't think Johnston is savvy enough to pull an "Art of the Deal": starting with an insane position so when you finally meet in the middle the other side feels like they've "won".  If it turns out that's exactly what he did, then kudos to him for the 4D chess.

And Aards, we've moved past talking about each individual change.  Stop mentioning the same-side-benches and all-fields-the-same (etc.) because absolutely no one cares about those changes.  They aren't a point of contention, and anyone who brings them up now is straw-manning.

In fact, I'm not sure anyone's arguing any of the individual changes anymore.  We've moved on to the meta-changes: the reasons behind the changes, the effect of the gestalt, the way things are being handled, the transparency of the process.

But if Johnston magically backtracks on the 55YL, in perpetuity, then I, for one would be happy; and be fine with testing out all the other changes.  It's my top #1 Canadianism (other than 3 downs).  (GP move being a close 2nd, but easier to undo later.)

That said, not gonna happen.  Johnston will ride all these changes until he's fired.

[blue_gold_84]

Maybe I'll hate them? I don't completely know I won't. But I'm willing to look for reason, be optimistic, and generally speaking, trust that the people in charge (collectively) know what they're doing.

That's your choice and your prerogative.

Others see things differently, however, expressing their skepticism with all the changes, and questioning the rationale and motivation for them as they relate to not only the current state of the league, but its future in a changing sports ecosystem.

And that's their choice and their prerogative.

[TBURGESS]

[bomber beetle]

Has the word gone out to float the idea of "giving us back the 55YL"?  First I've heard of it.  Frankly, I don't think Johnston is savvy enough to pull an "Art of the Deal": starting with an insane position so when you finally meet in the middle the other side feels like they've "won".  If it turns out that's exactly what he did, then kudos to him for the 4D chess.

And Aards, we've moved past talking about each individual change.  Stop mentioning the same-side-benches and all-fields-the-same (etc.) because absolutely no one cares about those changes.  They aren't a point of contention, and anyone who brings them up now is straw-manning.

In fact, I'm not sure anyone's arguing any of the individual changes anymore.  We've moved on to the meta-changes: the reasons behind the changes, the effect of the gestalt, the way things are being handled, the transparency of the process.

But if Johnston magically backtracks on the 55YL, in perpetuity, then I, for one would be happy; and be fine with testing out all the other changes.  It's my top #1 Canadianism (other than 3 downs).  (GP move being a close 2nd, but easier to undo later.)

That said, not gonna happen.  Johnston will ride all these changes until he's fired.

Would you be good with a 110 yard field along with 10 yard endzones?
I doubt there will be a deviation from the proposed overall length of 130 yards.

[theaardvark]

Would you be good with a 110 yard field along with 10 yard endzones?
I doubt there will be a deviation from the proposed overall length of 130 yards.

Nope.  We have to have deeper EZ.  Too many players to have an NFL postage stamp EZ.

Going from 150 to 140 should fit the fields into all the stadia, and even make the soccer crossover easier, talking the goalpost further out of the way.

[bomber beetle]

Nope.  We have to have deeper EZ.  Too many players to have an NFL postage stamp EZ.

Going from 150 to 140 should fit the fields into all the stadia, and even make the soccer crossover easier, talking the goalpost further out of the way.

The League stated that they want to harmonize the fields across the league. 130 is the maximum within current stadiums.

[gobombersgo]

Has the word gone out to float the idea of "giving us back the 55YL"?  First I've heard of it.  Frankly, I don't think Johnston is savvy enough to pull an "Art of the Deal": starting with an insane position so when you finally meet in the middle the other side feels like they've "won".  If it turns out that's exactly what he did, then kudos to him for the 4D chess.

Just this:

https://montrealgazette.com/sports/football/montreal-alouettes/zurkowsky-cfl-steps-out-of-bounds-with-ludicrous-playoff-overhaul/

While we believe the revamped playoff system is carved in stone, we've already heard rumblings that some of Johnston's other 2027 bold moves — shortening the field to 100 from 110 yards, 15-yard end zones and goalposts being moved back — could be scrapped after severe public criticism.

[jets4life]

Just this:

https://montrealgazette.com/sports/football/montreal-alouettes/zurkowsky-cfl-steps-out-of-bounds-with-ludicrous-playoff-overhaul/

While we believe the revamped playoff system is carved in stone, we've already heard rumblings that some of Johnston's other 2027 bold moves — shortening the field to 100 from 110 yards, 15-yard end zones and goalposts being moved back — could be scrapped after severe public criticism.

Well that is a start. The new playoff format may hurt season ticket sales, considering only one team makes the playoffs, and it devalues the regular season.

[Tecno]

Would you be good with a 110 yard field along with 10 yard endzones?
I doubt there will be a deviation from the proposed overall length of 130 yards.

In short.  Yes.  110Y with 10YEZs, if that's the only compromise available, would be preferable to 100+15YEZs.  Why?  Because on my prior-to-Johnston list of "what's iconic about CFL football?" my list would have started like this (as would everyone else's if they were being truly honest with themselves):

1. 3 down
2. 55YL

When we had cheesehead family visiting us back when that NFL pre-season game was here, those are the first things I pointed out as the epitome of CFL.  Who doesn't like the look on USA fans' faces when you show them a 55YL?!

20YEZs would have been like #6 on my list.  Not because I don't like the big EZs, but because no one really gave EZ as much thought before it was threatened -- not like they did to the 55 anyways.

So ya, I'd sacrifice the EZs for the 55 if I had to.

The League stated that they want to harmonize the fields across the league. 130 is the maximum within current stadiums.

It's not.  I was just at Molson for the ESF and spying things out & taking pics.  Molson is the hardest "fit" in the league.  TOR is easier to solve.  Here's my previous post on it:

2025-12-11 13:58:09
If "must fit Molson" is the biggest reason for shortening the field, and having "no cut corners" is non-negotiable, then they could set the EZ to 14Y.  That would 100% fit Molson.  Problem solved, with no need to lose the 55YL.  And there's zero argument one could make for 15Y EZs being fine but not 14.  Talk about an imperceptible difference.
=============

So we could fit every stadium with 110+14+14 = 138Y fields (vs 150Y now).  Keep the 110.  Fix the corner issue in Molson and the "10Y less" TOR problem.

Yes, weird non-"multiple of 5" numbers would seem odd, perhaps, but since there aren't really many lines in the EZ, I doubt anyone would care or notice -- not like they care about the 55Y.  Heck, most people never noticed TOR has one EZ shaved off!

So keep the 110 and shave the EZ to the most-maximal size to make everything standardized, even in TOR/MTL.

[Tecno]

While we believe the revamped playoff system is carved in stone, we've already heard rumblings that some of Johnston's other 2027 bold moves — shortening the field to 100 from 110 yards, 15-yard end zones and goalposts being moved back — could be scrapped after severe public criticism.

Awesome!  Thanks.  Shows that all the forum comments, and call-in show griping, and letter-writing does move the needle.  Of course, the pundit could be just making all this up, or his sources are just fans or other pundits, with no insight into the BoG or league employees... But it does give us hope.

Do not be silenced by the "you're just being emotional/visceral" shills!

[Tecno]

I didn't read the post and if no one has told you yet, it's not normal to compare a rule change in a football league to you moving your family to Guam. Whatever you think, I can promise you it's not "akin" to that.

That explains a lot.  Then you're not debating in good faith and I wash my hands of you on this topic.  Interjecting 2 sentences here and there regarding complicated topics and arguments that you aren't even reading doesn't help anyone.