WINNIPEG — When the Canadian Football League announced a swath of rule changes in late September, the news took many onlookers by surprise.
Solomon Elimimiam wishes the Canadian Football League Players' Association wasn’t one of them — and at the annual state of the union on Friday morning, the CFLPA president vowed that it would never happen again.
The annual event coincides with the CFL’s state of the league — which was delivered by commissioner Stewart Johnston earlier in the day — and offers the players’ union an opportunity to give their view of how things are shaping up for the Canadian game.
And while there were plenty of positives to talk about, the rule changes and the lack of CFLPA consultation was a major thorn, to the point that Elimimiam addressed them in his opening remarks to the media.
“We were informed about these changes, but not consulted, that won’t happen again,” he said. “We’ve had positive conversations with Stewart and the league about our expectations to be consulted on any future change or changes to our game. Rule adjustments can directly affect or fundamentally alter members' lives and its important players’ perspectives are heard.”
The rule changes were announced on Sept. 22 and brought a major overhaul to the CFL game. In 2026, teams will have their benches on the opposite sides of the field and a 35-second play clock will be implemented, up from 20 seconds. The major topic of conversation, though, was the modified rouge, which will see a single point no longer awarded on a missed field goal or when a punt or kick-off goes out of bounds in the end zone.
Then come the 2027 changes, which radically alter how the game will look. The field will shrink to 100 yards long from 110, end zones will be shortened to 10 yards from 20 and the goalposts will be moved to the back of the end zone.
While the changes have been met with mixed reviews from players and fans alike, the lack of consultation in any form rankled the CFLPA, especially with regards to the rules committee.
Executive director David Mackie said the union would liked to have had input from that group — comprised of head coaches from throughout the league as well as members of the players and officials unions — before the changes were implemented, if only to have their voices heard.
“Ultimately, if they’re running a business, we want to make sure that jobs are protected and health and safety is a priority and that’s why it’s important for us to sit on that rules committee,” Mackie said. “We only have two votes on that rules committee, it could sway one way or another, but our perspectives are heard. Whether that’s a health and safety reason, or it's the make-up of their job, that’s why it’s important for us to sit on that rules committee and we’re going to continue that conversation.”
While Mackie deigned to point out a specific rule change that was rankling to players as a whole, he explained how the lack of consultation could have led to some serious concerns being missed.
“Our biggest issue is how is it actually going to be coached, how is it going to be managed, how our players are going to play the game, and that’s why we say the rules committee is important,” he said.
“All of these rules, there’s not one particular rule, they all flow together. What’s important to us is it has to go through the rules committee because how is this actually going to impact the game? Is play-calling going to change, or are they going to just punt the ball? That’s why we said, ‘Let’s go to the rules committee that exists for that reason.’ And if they’re trying to make changes outside of the rules committee, our voices have to be heard.”
The good news is that when the CFLPA approached Johnston, he was understanding of their concerns and assured the union they would be included in any kind of rule change conversations in the future.
“I think our relationship with the commissioner has been good. We in this room want Stewart to be successful, because if Stewart is successful, then we’re successful,” Elimimiam said.”We’ve had candid conversations about the process of the rules and how it happened. These rules affect our members and their ability to do their jobs, and moving forward, we will be consulted to be able to give our perspective and how the rules affect our members’ jobs.
“That’s a good thing, that’s what the league should want, that’s what we should all want because the league is looking at it from a business standpoint, we’re looking at it as how does it affect our players doing their jobs.
“We’ve been assured that moving forward, we will be consulted, so that’s a positive thing.”
You can listen to the complete CFLPA state of the union by clicking right here. Be sure to catch the Co-operators Rider Broadcast Network pregame show at 2 p.m. and game call at 5 p.m. on Grey Cup Sunday.
