The Canadian Football League Players’ Association believes the right decision was made when it came to rescheduling Friday night’s game between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Calgary Stampeders.
“Despite our disappointment that we were unable to play last night’s game in Saskatchewan, we want to acknowledge the collaboration between the CFLPA, CFL and the teams to make players’ safety and well-being the priority. As a former player, I know firsthand that every athlete in that locker room wanted to play. That’s who we are as competitors. The health and safety of our members must always come first,” CFLPA president Solomon Elimimian said in a statement.
“We appreciate the league’s willingness to prioritize our members’ well-being in this situation and to make the difficult, but necessary, decision to delay the game. We will continue to work with the CFL through our joint health and safety committee to ensure our air quality policy is supported by the most recent research and evidence to protect our members.”
The game will now be played on Saturday, July 12 at 4:00 p.m. EDT, after originally being scheduled to kick off at 9:00 p.m. EDT on Friday at Mosaic Stadium. Fans and players waited through three hours and 45 minutes of delays for the final decision on postponement to be made, with the visiting Stamps forced to find last-minute accommodations with half the team staying in the dorms at the University of Regina.
The CFL originally pushed the game by 45 minutes, with warmups scheduled to begin at 9:10 p.m. EDT. However, air quality levels did not reach a level acceptable for players to take the field and went on for nearly four hours.
The league finally set a drop-dead time for the start of warmups at 12:45 a.m. EDT, with kickoff 30 minutes later. Once that benchmark was missed, the game was officially postponed, and fans were sent home.
Under the terms of the CFL’s weather protocol, any delay of more than three hours is supposed to result in cancellation. Per the policy, players are “NOT required to play on the following day” and instead will play a two-possession shootout to determine the winner before their next meeting. However, all sides seem to agree that the policy does not apply until players have warmed up, which they did not do on Friday night, allowing for unlimited delays and postponements.
In 2019, the CFL and CFL Players’ Association (CFLPA) agreed that players should not practice or play outdoors if the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) is eight or higher. Last night, Regina’s air quality was listed at a 10+ on the AQHI—the highest possible rating — but has since improved overnight.
According to Environment Canada, air quality due to wildfire smoke can fluctuate over short distances and vary considerably from hour to hour.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders (4-0) and Calgary Stampeders (3-1) will meet to determine the West Division leader a day late, but with the full blessing of the union.
