Darrell Davis: Fixing the CFL schedule

The CFL schedule-makers have been listening.

Maybe the CFL heard our complaints and fixed most of the issues for 2019. During recent years the biggest flaws were a lack of reasonable time between games, too many out-of-conference matchups down the finishing stretch, the absence of Canada Day contests and the crazy tradition of playing on Sundays when that day is dominated by the National Football League.

At one point I offered my schedule-making services at a discount to the CFL, since it looked like they didn’t have anybody in charge who knew what they were doing. For only $1,000, I promised to produce a better schedule than any the CFL had recently been issuing.

From the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ viewpoint, in the upcoming season they have only one extra-short break between games, a five-day turnaround that finishes with a home game. The Roughriders finish their campaign with five matchups against West rivals. They open their home schedule July 1, Canada Day, against the Toronto Argonauts. And the Roughriders have one of the two Sunday games on the schedule, their traditional Labour Day Weekend encounter with the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

There are still some minor quirks, like a five-game block with three meetings against Winnipeg and a home-and-home set against the Edmonton Eskimos to end the season. But those are minor blemishes. And the league saved a thousand bucks!