According to Dave Campbell, Edmonton Football Team color analyst, an official schedule for to 2021 CFL season is just 2 to 3 weeks away. This is based on his conversation with Edmonton President and CEO Chris Presson.
“Presson says the process for a 2021 schedule has gone through a couple of drafts. Expects to see a final draft in the next week to 10 days. Not a set in stone timeline but we likely will see a schedule release in about 2-3 weeks.”
Back in November of 2020, the CFL released its schedule for the 2021 return season after shutting the league down in 2020 due to COVID. The regular season was supposed to kick off on Thursday, June 10th. With the Hamilton Tiger-Cats taking on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
In late April the Canadian Football League pushed back the start of its 2021 season to August. In the process cutting down the 18-game schedule to 14 games. Commissioner Randy Ambrosie said.
“Our revised target date to start our regular season is August 5. I say ‘target date’ because our plans are subject to the state of COVID-19 across the country. A so-called ‘third wave’ in some provinces is forcing us today to postpone the start of our regular season, which had been scheduled for June 10.”
Some fans and people in the media raised concern over whether the season will happen based on reports that potentially not all providences have approved return to play measures. However, Ambrosie did say they will get creative with the schedule if they have to.
“We are prepared to be creative as well as prudent. For example, if we are unable to host fans in the East because of COVID-19, we are prepared to start play in the West, provided eastern teams can return to their home provinces, and play in front of their fans, later in the season,”
“We’re going to play football in 2021,” Ambrosie said. “We have backup plans and backup plans to our backup plans, we’re committed to finding a way to play.
“There’s no perfect answer right now because like almost everybody else, we’re at the mercy of what’s happening with this pandemic. What I am going to continue to reiterate and am happy to say is we are going to play football.”
The CFL playoffs is pushed back by three weeks and now begins on Sunday, Nov. 28. The 108th Grey Cup will take place on Sunday, Dec. 12 and will still be played at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario.
CFL News Hub will have full coverage once the reviews schedule is released.
