CFL’s top teams should meet in Grey Cup

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/07/2022 (1203 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It had everything you could ask for in a sporting event. A tremendous Friday night environment, both in the sunny, 30 C weather at kickoff and the nearly 30,000 raucous fans inside the stadium. No shortage of star power, starting with quarterbacks Zach Collaros and Bo Levi Mitchell who have four Grey Cups and three Most Outstanding Player awards between them. And the perfect set-up, with undefeated Winnipeg going toe-to-toe with undefeated Calgary.

And while the Blue Bombers got the best of the Stampeders this time at IG Field in an instant classic that lived up to the hype, you get the sense these powerhouses will be crossing paths later this year with even higher stakes than a mid-July regular-season tilt.

Unfortunately, there’s almost no chance that bigger stage will be at the 109th Grey Cup in Regina on Nov. 20. Which, to be perfectly honest, stinks.

Nobody asked me, but the CFL playoff system is in need of an overhaul. That’s become more apparent than ever this season, with the West absolutely laying waste to the East in the form of an absurd 13-1 head-to-head record so far. This is men versus boys, Goliath versus David sort of stuff. And it’s creating a nightmarish situation that is potentially heading to a farcical conclusion.

Consider this: If the playoffs started today, Winnipeg (6-0) would be the No. 1 team in the league, earning a bye straight to the West Final where they’d await the winner of the semifinal between the No. 2 team in the league (4-1 Calgary) and the No. 3 team in the league (4-1 Saskatchewan). Add it all up and two of the best three squads would be guaranteed to be eliminated by the time the Mounties are polishing up the championship trophy at frozen Mosaic Stadium.

Over in the East, the No. 6 team in the league (1-2 Toronto) would get a free pass to the East Final, where they’d host the winner of the semi-final between the No. 7 team in the league (1-4 Montreal) and the No. 4 team in the league (3-1 British Columbia, the crossover club from the West). Oh, and for added fun, the Lions would have to travel three time zones to play that winner-take-all game in La Belle Province.

To recap, only one of the No, 1, No. 2 and No. 3 teams would play in the Grey Cup, against either the No. 6 team, the No. 7 team or, if they can win two straight in enemy territory, the No. 4 team. And let the record show that no crossover team has ever made it to the Grey Cup, let alone won one. Although you’d think if ever there was going to be a year, it’s this one.

Does anyone else see a problem here?

The reward to winning the West this year is likely going to mean having to beat either the second or third-best outfit in the land, who also have a hellish path to the promised land. You’re almost better to finish fourth and take your chances against the 98-pound weaklings in Ontario and Quebec. That’s a terrible look for the three-down loop.

Fortunately, I’m not just here to complain, but offer a solution. And it’s a pretty simple one. Do away with the geographical alignment. Move to a nine-team division. Go down to a 16-game regular-season schedule that could be completely balanced by having everyone play each other twice. Once at home, once on the road. And when the dust settles at the end of October, have the top two teams receive byes to the semi-finals, where they await the winners of No. 3 vs No. 6 and No. 4 vs No. 5.

If such a system was in place this year, Winnipeg and Calgary would get the bonus week off based on the current standings. Saskatchewan would host Toronto (and likely annihilate them). And British Columbia would take on Edmonton, who also get shafted under the existing set-up given that they’d be leading the turtle derby in the East despite being dead-last in the West with a 2-4 record.

Yes, it’s early, two-thirds of the schedule still to be played. And sure, the standings could look much different in a few months from now. Maybe the East gets its act together and things aren’t as laughably lopsided as they are right now. That would require them to start beating teams outside their own division, which appears to be a mighty tall ask. Some of the games haven’t even been competitive, none more so than British Columbia 44, Toronto 3. Yes, that’s your fourth-place Lions pulverizing the first-place Argonauts. Woof.

If the idea is to have your two best teams playing every year for all the marbles, not to mention have the rigours of the regular-season truly mean something, why not ensure you’re doing everything possible to allow that to happen?

But, but, but….tradition!

Any attempt by the CFL to wrap itself in that flag goes right out the window by their own recent actions, which include trying to radically change the all-important Canadian content in the league, dabbling with a potential move to four downs and even doing business with The Rock and his XFL operation south of the border. All in the name, we’ve been told, of trying to attract a wider audience.

So I’d ask this of commissioner Randy Ambrosie: How do you think it’s going to look if your sixth or seventh-best team is playing in the Grey Cup this year — potentially with a record well below .500 — against one of your top three teams who would have not only had to survive an entire regular-season of competing against the other two in the West, but also surviving the gauntlet to represent the division in the championship?

The term “bush league” comes to mind.

I get that many fans love a good underdog story, but this is bordering on the absurd if it continues to play out as it has so far. And while it’s too late to make any changes for the current campaign, I’d suggest this become an off-season priority for the league.

Friday’s game was the best the CFL has to offer, a reminder of all the things we love about football in the Great White North. You had highlight-reel catches, rock-solid defence, plenty of momentum and lead changes and an exciting game that came right down to the wire and was decided by the absolute slimmest of margins. I suspect nobody who tuned in, whether it was in person at the stadium or watching across the country on television, felt they got shafted on the entertainment scale.

I’d love to tell you these two heavyweights trading punches on the Prairies might just be a Grey Cup preview. But the reality is, that’s probably not going to be possible. And that’s a shame.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg