‘Grey Cup will be in Hamilton’ Dec. 12 rather than Nov. 21, says CFL

The CFL is pushing back the start to its 2021 season and reducing the number of games played due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The league announced Wednesday it plans to kick off the ’21 campaign Aug. 5, nearly two months later than originally planned.

And the Grey Cup game, scheduled for Nov. 21 at Hamilton’s Tim Hortons Field has been moved back three weeks to Dec. 12.

“Today’s announcement by our Commissioner is the welcome news that we will be playing football this season!” said Ticat owner Bob Young in a prepared statement for Hamilton fans. “The Tiger-Cats organization has been steadfast in our commitment to playing football in 2021. Our business is all about entertaining our fans and delivering value to our partners by playing football.

“Moving the 108th Grey Cup game to Dec. 12 allows us to play as many regular season games as possible this year in light of the unavoidable delays to the start of the season. The priority for us is to get our players back on the field to play as much football as possible.”

CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie told The Spectator early Tuesday afternoon that “this is a reason to celebrate. There is an optimism built into this announcement, but I think all things being equal, there has to be reason for optimism that by Dec. 12 we will have fought off this terrible health care crisis to come together for a Grey Cup. And what better place than Tim Hortons Field?

“We’re not entirely sure of what will be allowed or not be allowed as things are changing so quickly, every day, but our perspective is very simple: The Grey Cup game is so fundamental to Canada, that it’s important for it to be played.”

The CFL campaign was slated to open June 10 with each team playing a full 18-game regular season after the league cancelled the ‘20 season due to the global pandemic.

Training camps were to open in mid-May with the first exhibition contest slated for May 23.

But with Canada dealing with a third wave, the CFL board of governors decided Tuesday to push back the start of the 2021 season and reduce the schedule to 14 games.

The CFL is pushing back the start to its 2021 season and reducing the number of games played due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And although the CFL remains committed to returning in 2021, this schedule revision is merely a target date because of the unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The move was not a surprise, given Ontario (3,469 new cases Tuesday) and Quebec (1,136 new cases) are both battling a tough third wave of the pandemic.

Four of the CFL’s nine franchises — Toronto Argonauts, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Ottawa Redblacks and Montreal Alouettes — operate in the two provinces.

It’s the second straight year that the novel coronavirus outbreak has wreaked havoc with the CFL schedule.

In August, the CFL cancelled plans for an abbreviated 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic after failing to secure an interest-free, $30-million loan from the federal government.

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The hope is the decision to delay the start of the ‘21 season will allow for more Canadians to receive their COVID-19 vaccinations and thus increase chances of fans being in the stands at some point once football resumes.

That’s crucial for CFL teams, which are heavily reliant upon ticket sales to generate operating revenue.