OUT OF THE TUNNEL: IMAGINING A MERGER

BY: RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF

It’s a lingering cloud of doubt that just doesn’t want to float away, nor will it anytime soon. The announcement regarding discussions between the CFL and XFL still has football fans in Canada buzzing. The Rock also advanced the narrative this week with a Tweet advising people to just settle down, especially when it comes to potential scheduling.

Because he spent time up here, we also think The Rock understands how important it is to keep a Canadian game somewhat Canadian. The Rock grew up around wrestling and although he didn’t compete in the territory days, he would recognize that certain types of wrestling would work in certain areas. A Stampede Wrestling high-flying wrestler would have a hard time adjusting to the ground-oriented Memphis territory but would flourish in All-Japan Pro Wrestling. 

If it does come down to a merger between the two leagues how would two formerly separate leagues, with two completely different sets of rules for the same game, find a way to play the same game at the same time?

We’ve scoured the books and haven’t been able to find a situation like this (let us know if we are wrong!) but there hasn’t been a sport as great as football with two sets of rules that started to deviate after McGill played Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts in May, 1874. What we did was find examples in other sports on how to make this happen.

We lamented the perfect merger scenario a couple of weeks ago, so what does the worst case look like, or close to the worst case for Canadian football fans?

First is the schedule, we honestly don’t have a single clue how to amalgamate a spring schedule for an American league trying to avoid the giant foot of the NFL with a history-rich league in Canada that begins two months after their championship and ends half-way through the fall.

This is the first big hurdle to climb because of two forces of mythic proportions: the NFL and winter in Canada.

The new “league” could encompass two separate leagues that play in a championship game that flips between a Canadian host and American host. The reasoning for that will be mentioned below. We take this from the minor league baseball where the International League and Pacific Coast League would meet for the Triple-A National Championship.

Next, the field. Let’s all go back to the 1972 Summit Series. Canada and Russia played the first four games in Canada on 200 by 85 foot ice surfaces and then went and played the next four on the Olympic size surfaces in the then Soviet Union. Those measures 200 by 100 feet.

So the CFL would play on the 110 by 65 yard field where the XFL would play on 100 by 50 yard field. This is why championship games would flip between “leagues”.

For a little consistency here’s the first tough hit for Canadian fans and a change for the American field change the end zones. Hold on and hear me out … changing to 15 yards from the current 20 in the CFL and 10 in the American game, and move the goal posts to the back of the end zone and the XFL would need to welcome the rouge.

These changes wouldn’t come at a huge cost for either league and would amalgamate rules from both without changing things too much for either. And settle on a nice compromise to share the game.

CFL would keep the current Canadian ratio. We agree with The Big Boss that this would make for great Canada vs. United States fervor. 

The XFL would welcome all of the motion from the Canadian game and also set the line of scrimmage one yard from each other instead of current neutral zone of 11 inches. Also eliminate fair catches but welcome the current XFL kick-off rules.

Defensive backs will have to get used to the one-yard chuck rule from the CFL and not five yards in the American rules.

Ok, I’m sorry but it had to come up eventually: the crappy part for Canadian fans. It would be a four-down, 11-man playing field with all of the American clock rules. This would remove one American starter and one Canadian starter from the ratio.

These rules wouldn’t destroy the current infrastructure that is in play in Canada as this is a country full of 110 yard fields and the rule changes could be exclusive to just the CFL with the rest of the country staying with the more traditional Canadian format.

This is an oversimplification of what a merger would look like. We don’t know if it will happen, if it will work or who will have to bend to who’s will in all of this potential mess.

The crappy cliché tells us desperate times call for desperate measures and those complaining the loudest are having a hard time realizing that this is the CFL’s come-to-Jesus moment. Currently CFL staffs across the board are more than cut in half with all taking salary cuts. The players are being pushed to take another cut on top of the cut they agreed to last year. The great Canadian game is on the brink of becoming a memory. Yes, this was a league that was innovative but there hasn’t been a change in the game in almost 20 years.

This was a league that was in rough shape before the pandemic. The two biggest markets had a hard time drawing more than 10,000 fans a game and attendance overall has dipped for ten seasons in a row. Something needed to be done and now something MUST be done.

If it is a merger with a fledgling American league looking to give football a shot for a third time in a row, so be it. Especially if those Americans have deeper pockets than what the CFL has dealt with in the past, it is worth the effort.