February 18, 2009

CFL Invites Canadians to Provide input to Our Rules Committee

Our fast-paced, wide-open, three-down game is a great game, and that was never clearer than last season, when scoring was up, games were close, and exciting finishes were the order of the day.

But everything can be improved.

That’s the spirit in which our rules committee gathers each year during CFL Congress.

A collection of team presidents, general managers, coaches and officials, along with a representative of the players’ association, it meets to discuss which rules might be replaced, changed or tweaked slightly to make our game even better.

Hundreds of proposed rules changes are pouring in from CFL fans across the country.

They started arriving within minutes of our league putting out a request today to Canadians, asking them to share their ideas with the CFL’s rules committee.

And they just keep coming in, demonstrating CFL fans’ passion for our league, and knowledge of our game.
 
Some of your suggestions so far include:

  • Change the safety to dissuade teams from taking a knee in the end zone.
  • Change the scoring rules around the single point on a kick.
  • Change how instant replay works, with some fans wanting more coaches’ challenges and others wanting fewer challenges.
  • Change how teams can score a convert after a touchdown.
  • Don’t change a thing.
  • Change or eliminate the playoff crossover rule.

We’re asking you to provide input to the committee. We want your ideas and suggestions. We can’t promise the committee will accept them all. But we will make sure your ideas are shared with its members.

Simply send your suggestions for rule changes by clicking here  or by emailing — rules@cfl.ca — by Friday, February 27. That will give us time to share them with the committee before it meets as part of CFL Congress, this year in Hamilton on  March 3rd and 4th.

Why are we doing this, for the very first time? Well, when we say This is Our League, we don’t mean it’s ours to run, and yours simply to watch. We mean the CFL truly belongs to all of us who care about it and support it. So we want to tap into your passion, your knowledge and your ideas.

Thanks for your help and hang in there: with Congress around the corner, CFL training camps can’t be that far off.

Mark Cohon
Commissioner of the Canadian Football League