Commentary: Quite A Choice

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The seismic changes to the CFL’s playoff format announced just prior to Tuesday’s CFL Canadian College Draft deserve more than a few throwaway lines in a Random Thoughts Commentary.

In fact it’s been a tidal wave of reaction from the CFL’s millions of fans after the league announced it’s switching its playoff format from six teams, to eight teams beginning in 2027.

Surprisingly, there’s way more support for the move than I’d have thought. Some polls are 50/50, while I’ve seen others that are 70/30 against the move. In almost all cases, those who support the idea admit it’s a cash grab and simply want the league to survive. Yet nobody seems to think having eight out of nine teams making the playoffs is a good idea.

Either way, it’s happening.

Because it’s a small, intimate league there are few secrets. And there really is no deep plot behind this move. Playoff games sell the most tickets and get the most ratings, so adding more playoff games will boost profits.

Pretty simple really.

And because there are no secrets, I know that CFL owners basically put a gun to Commissioner Stewart Johnston’s head and told him “Make us more money, or else.”

This was the quickest, easiest way to do it and clearly they’re thinking if it sacrifices the integrity of the game, so be it. Fans will get over it.

I guess we’ll see.

I tend to agree with the many whose comments I’ve seen on social media who say, “The CFL’s already the greatest game in the world; why can’t we just promote the best of that, rather than go changing it?”

A voice in the wilderness. A tree falling in the forest.

What’s done is done and now we’re left to see if these radical changes cause the fans to look elsewhere, or if they’re willing to grin and bear it.

Quite a choice indeed.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary.

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