Jamie Nye: CFL flying close to the sun as league rolls out rule changes

The Canadian Football League is looking a little bit more American than it did yesterday.

The three-down game remains, but the 110-yard field, parts of the rouge and the goal posts at the front of the end zones will all be gone by the time the league kicks of the 2027 season.

Read more:

• CFL making changes to field layouts, rouge, play clock in next two seasons
• LISTEN: CFL Commissioner discusses major changes to game
• Hilltops, Thunder coaches hope CJFL stays the same as CFL announces rule changes

It’s too much and too soon for some, and others say any change is bad. “I like this rule change, but not that change,” say the majority, while there are plenty who love the fact the league actually did something different after years of being fearful of backlash.

Monday’s announcement of an amended rouge, an automatic 35-second play clock and a 100-yard field with 15-yard end zones and goal posts moved to the back will be, as Johnston put it, “a watershed moment” for the CFL, but what type of watershed moment will it be?

Will this turn the league into one that grows its younger fan base and looks to survive many generations to come?

Will this come back to bite those who made these decisions by turning off their aging-but-loyal fan base and not actually attracting any new fans?

Or is this just a slow burn to roll out these rule changes and eventually switch to an NFL-sized field and four downs before the next decade?

Commissioner Stewart Johnston, who was clearly hired and mandated to bring in significant rule changes, acknowledged that some of the moves were being discussed in the back rooms of TSN when he was an executive there.

If you believe these rule changes were just put on the table in the last five months, and were signed off on unanimously by the board after less than six months of deliberation, I’ve got some oceanfront property outside of Lanigan to sell you.

The board, the league’s television partner and the commissioner all want the CFL to look more like the game down south. They believe it’s the right direction.

I knew change was imminent less than a week ago, when MLSE CEO Keith Pelley told TSN radio in Toronto that he was frustrated that he left the CFL in 2004 only to return 20 years later and see that nothing had changed.

Yes, the man who guides the biggest, richest sports and entertainment enterprise in the country was trumpeting to all who were watching or listening that MLSE is not happy with the direction the CFL is taking.

So I wasn’t took shocked we saw changes announced on Monday. And now I know he was fine saying that because he already knew changes were coming, as the meetings were held before Pelley sat down at the mic.

Consider that new owners have taken the reins in Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal over the last five years, and they’re all tired of losing money. They’ve invested in a game that to them was going nowhere, and a league that seemed to have no appetite to move the needle.

So what changes did they come up with? It seems like they looked at the success of the NFL and said “Let’s do that.”

The field will now look almost identical to the NFL’s fields, except for the 65-yard width. The strategy of the game will be more in line with the American game, with the goal posts at the back and less chance of missed field goal returns. And the play clock is just five seconds different.

It’s almost like they said “We need to have NFL rules, but people aren’t ready for four downs or a slimmer field.”

But if the changes are meant to draw in younger fans, it should be noted that the kids don’t watch the NFL for the rules.

The CFL has always had the better rules, with three downs and unlimited motion. Thankfully, those are two pillars of the Canadian game that the league didn’t touch on Monday.

The younger demographic watches the NFL because they’re force fed the league through better social media, better hype by the television partners, better gambling options, better fantasy football, a video game and a much heavier investment from their broadcasting partners (including the broadcaster that has exclusive CFL rights).

The bottom line is, the NFL puts on a better show and the CFL will never have the money to match it.

Now, the CFL is hoping the rule changes will help, but in their eagerness for change, have they flown too close to the sun? Are going to get themselves burned by looking too much like the NFL game?

B.C. Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke thinks so. The league’s biggest star said he thinks the CFL is making a mistake, and plenty of callers to the Green Zone agreed.

Some of the die-hard fans are threatening to turn in their season tickets, while others are going to social media to petition the league to change the rules back.

The commissioner knew this was coming, of course. He’s not a fool, and he’s not blind to the fact that CFL fans are more protective of their game than just about any other fan base in the world.

What the CFL did on Monday would be similar to the English Premier League making the nets bigger and shrinking the pitches. The changes were always going to cause an uproar, and they certainly have. But just how long it lasts and how many fans the CFL loses or gains remains to be seen.

But hey, they’re trying. You have to give them that. The CFL needed a spark, as fans aren’t exactly buying up more tickets to games. Maintaining the status quo was no longer a viable option over the long term.

The league is betting that the hardcore fans who hate the changes won’t be able to stop supporting their beloved Riders or Bombers. Their in-house analytics indicate the changes will increase scoring and make the games more watchable.

However, you have to believe that if these rule changes aren’t enough to move the needle, the last option will to turn the CFL into NFL Canada. A shift to four downs and NFL-size fields doesn’t seem as far away today as it did yesterday.

And when that day comes, you can have my season tickets.

But for now, I’m hopeful these rule changes enhance the product. After all the years and money we’ve poured into this league, we should at least give it a chance.