2021 Schedule

Pending Covid stuff of course

https://www.cfl.ca/schedule/?season=2021

If it happens I do like this one.

7 out of 9 games on Saturdays, 1 Thursday and 1 Wednesday. The Wednesday us vs. Hamilton and looks to be during the CNE.

Looks like there will be 3 CNE games overall. Doesn't look like there is a neutral 'home' game but perhaps that will be mentioned soon. Edit: July 10 vs. Calgary will be a neutral site so still 8 games at BMO

Overall, I like this.....should it happen but good on the league on getting this out.

Other than the week 1 bye, I like it. I just remember 2018 and how that first week bye went for us...ouch!

That is during the Toronto Indy weekend, so that's probably why it's at a neutral site.
Week 5
Sat Jul 10 4:00 PM EST - CGY @ TOR

With the caveat that we all hope this actually comes to fruition . . .

At first glance, it seems like a pretty decent schedule. Somehow we end up with four bye weeks, possibly because we have that mid-week game in late August. That extra bye mitigates against the fact that one of our byes is in Week 1. I personally don't mind having an extra week to prepare for the season, but players don't need a bye as soon as Week 1.

I hate the idea of playing three games in 10 days, but at least they are all at home and all during CNE. (And the fourth game in 15 days also involves no travel, essentially.)

I like all the Saturday games and the game times.

I dislike having just two home games over the final nine weeks of the season, and just one home game in 58 days between Sept. 2 and Oct. 29 is not good for either keeping this time relevant in the marketplace or for our playoff chances.

I had assumed the league would go to single games against each opponent in the other division. Instead we get eight games instead of 10 against the West, not a terrible compromise. BUT . . . this year we will not see either Bo Levi Mitchell or Mike Reilly, the league's two best QBs, in our stadium. That type of thing is a consequence when the schedule gets more division-centric. As a fan, I do not relish the idea of seeing Hamilton here three times (including PS) and Ott twice, but not seeing two teams at all.

First. Hopefully this happens. In front of fans.
And hopefully the cne happens.
But, that's lazy scheduling to have 3 cne games.
1 on a saturday before the labour day game vs hamilton would be ideal.
As a TFC ssh, the cne games were always a highlight.... before they expanded BMO. Sure you'll get a bump, and on a Saturday its great to combine the 2.
But you also have ampitheatre concerts, and the traffic is brutal. It'll only be worse as about 6 more condos will have gone into liberty since the last home game.
If there are fans this year, this schedule wont help attract them.

On the whole, not a bad schedule. Having games scheduled in May is perhaps a bit optimistic. Hopefully, vaccines will be readily available by March/April but obtaining the vaccines and then organizing the actual vaccinations arrangements before the summer, leaves me a little concerned about the May dates.

The large number of Saturday games is most welcome. But there are a number of concerns:
. the first 3 games (1 preseason and 2 regular season) are against the same team --Hamilton. By the 3rd game these teams should really hate each other.
.3 games during the CNE is interesting Parking is always a headache but now it will be a headache times three.
.Concerned about the some long gaps between home games. June 19-July24 (5 weeks) Sept 1-Oct 30, only 1 home game in over 8 weeks.
.The site of the July 10 neutral site game won't be announced till the new year. Another Atlantic site game? Time for another team to sacrifice a home game.

Don't mean to sound negative, as already stated, on the whole not a bad schedule. Especially when we look back at some of our past schedules.

I love the home schedule should we be good to go. No idea how anyone can complain about it. There are some short weeks, which can be tough, but some include home and home situations which at least limits the competitive disadvantages.

I like all the Saturday games, though the two big gaps between home games (Jun 19-Jul 24, Sept 25-Oct 30) are not ideal.

I don't get the point of three CNE games if COVID is still around next summer, which I think it will be to some degree. I can see allowing fans into games perhaps with the help of rapid testing, but I can't see the Ex operating in full unless both the city and the general public are fully confident COVID is behind us.

Putting all that aside, the league needs to have a complete 2021 season or something close to it. Nothing is more important than that.

Overall schedule thoughts:

This may be the BEST schedule the league has ever put out. Plenty of Saturday games in the summer and the CFL is on prime time TV every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from June 10-August 28. Fantastic move, and something that is long overdue.

Brilliant move to have the Riders open the season away at Edmonton on a Saturday night. That should bring a massive crowd (assuming crowds are allowed). If that doesn't have a crowd of at least 40K following a year of no football, I'll be stunned. 45K may even be on the table. This is really something that should happen more years than not.

Also, another brilliant move to have our first home game be against Hamilton on a Saturday evening. I've long advocated Week 1 (or 2 if we are on a bye) should always have Hamilton at Toronto for attendance reasons. And another smart move to have Sask host an Eastern opponent in Ottawa for its season-opener on a Saturday night.

The league has also finally figured out to have the Riders' road games be mainly on Saturdays, which optimizes attendance.

And, the league has mostly finally figured out to try and avoid inter-division matchups the last 2 weeks of the season. There's nothing worse for the SF games to have matchups that happened within the last two weeks. Let's hope Calgary and Winnipeg don't meet in the WSF as that would be a worst-case scenario.

I'm not a fan of back-to-backs, but better have them prior to mid-September than after.


Overall, phenomenal work CFL and TSN.