The game of Canadian football is now officially divided between professional and amateur. Significant rule changes made by the Canadian Football League (CFL) will not be adopted by USports or Football Canada. Athletes in Regina have played the same way they see the Riders play, but next year, their games will be significantly different. Smaller fields, moved goalposts, and different play clocks will be seen in tandem next CFL season while the rest of Canada from the grassroots to collegiate levels will remain as Canadian football has been played for decades. Following suit down the road is not in the works for USports. Lisa Robertson, University of Regina (U of R) director of sport, community engagement and athlete development, outlined why there was never a chance for USports to follow the CFL. “There’s only four teams affected out of a lot more that have college stadiums on their campuses. And that would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars to flip those to CFL. So USports I don’t see it being feasible.” she said. A solution is still needed, however, for the University of Regina Rams, who play part of their schedule in Mosaic Stadium and would like to keep it that way to make the season work logistically. “I’ve heard it could be a combination of paint and stitching here in Regina. So, once we have those final decisions, we’ll figure out how to respond and do our final schedule.” Robertson explained. Without a guaranteed schedule, the Rams, Thunder and every high school in Regina may have to pivot to an entire season played at Leibel Field, the home of Regina Minor Football (RMF). Len Antonini, executive director of RMF, says that field time for games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday is at a premium but not an impossible task to schedule everyone if all seven days of the week are used. A different issue for a full season of collegiate football away from Mosaic is seating. “We seat over 1,000 easily so there’s lots of room for the Thunder. I’m not quite sure if the Rams have any more than 3 or 4 thousand. So maybe the city could look at instead of painting Mosaic all the time, maybe put that money towards new bleachers in the endzone of Leibel Field maybe.” Regardless of where and how they take the field, Canadian football talent will continue to grow. There might just be some extra steps to translating that talent to the CFL game, or more literally, less steps to get to the end zone with shorter fields.
