Nathan Rourke doesn’t speak for the B.C. Lions when it comes to the CFL’s recently announced rule changes, but his vocal opposition to them hasn’t put him at odds with team management either.
“Nathan has lots of passion, and we love his passion. When he first talked about this, you could feel the passion through the video, if you will,” Lions president Duane Vienneau told 3DownNation on Friday. “Nathan’s got his opinions. He’s got what he likes, and I don’t want to comment on all that stuff. All I’ll say is he’s our starting quarterback. That passion is what makes him who he is as a person and a quarterback.”
The CFL unveiled a slate of radical new rule changes on Monday that will be rolled out over the next two years. Beginning in 2026, the rouge will be modified to prevent victory by a missed field goal, while a running 35-second play clock will replace the current 20-second clock that begins at the referee’s discretion. Then, in 2027, the goalposts will move to the dead line, with the field set to shrink to 100 yards with 15-yard end zones.
Vienneau confirmed that B.C. owner Amar Doman voted in favour of what was a unanimous decision by the board of governors to institute the proposed changes. However, that didn’t sit right with the face of his franchise, Rourke, who called the moves “garbage” and accused the league of attempting to become more like the NFL without consulting players or coaches.
“The challenge with Nathan is that he was on the field when the announcement came, and so there was no time for him to talk to anybody, really. And then there’s a mic in front of him,” Vienneau said, revealing that the two have since touched base.
“We talked and I did a lot of listening. He’s an incredibly passionate person, and that’s who Nathan Rourke is. That’s why he is the quarterback that he is.”
Despite that conversation and a tête-à-tête with commissioner Stewart Johnston, the Oakville, Ont. native remains vehemently opposed to the rule changes. As the de facto leader of the opposition, Rourke has encouraged those against the alterations to make their voices heard in an attempt to force the CFL to reverse course.
Despite the vows of online warriors, Vienneau does not believe that backlash will negatively affect his team’s bottom line.
“As of yesterday, late in the day, we had nine inquiries to our office about potentially not renewing their season seats. When we went on a two- or three-game losing streak, we had more, just to put perspective on that,” he said.
“There are definitely strong opinions out there, and we respect all those opinions. We understand it, we respect it, and we get it. But at the end of the day, these rules, we believe, are going to improve our game.”
While the Lions have no interest in silencing their star quarterback or telling him how to feel, it is abundantly clear where team leadership stands on the topic. Both from a personal and organizational standpoint, Vienneau is a supporter of the changes, particularly when it comes to eliminating an aspect of the rouge that he dreaded the possibility of arising when he was in charge of running Grey Cups for the CFL office.
Further proving the alignment between the league and their Vancouver franchise is the fact that a plan to move the team benches to opposite sidelines in BC Place had already been in the works for six months before the governor’s vote mandated it for next year. The other structural changes will only require minor alterations to the facility and could even open up the possibility of expanded end zone seating capacity, similar to what has been possible for the MLS’s Whitecaps behind their goal.
In Vienneau’s opinion, tweaking the game to create a more entertaining, faster-paced product with better sightlines is in the spirit of everything the team has done since Doman purchased the team in 2021.
“We’re not trying to do status quo. We are constantly trying to improve our business and do things that the fans will appreciate, reach kids and get that lost generation,” he stressed. “Everything we do every day is about improving our business. We believe this will improve our business.”
The B.C. Lions (7-7) will host the Toronto Argonauts (5-9) at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver on Friday night with kickoff slated for 10:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be broadcast on TSN in Canada and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on TSN 1050 in Toronto and 730 CKNW in Vancouver.
J.C. Abbott is a University of British Columbia graduate and high school football coach. He covers the CFL, B.C. Lions, CFL Draft and the three-down league's Global initiative.
