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CFL makes unusual mid-season challenge rule change, hopes to improve for fans

CFL coaches like B.C.'s Wally Buono will need to be more careful with challenges, as a first missed challenge will now cost them one of their two timeouts. (canoe.com.)

Changing CFL rules is usually a long and elaborate process, with the league's rules committee observing a full season and proposing some changes each spring (usually in March or April)and then the board of governors voting (generally in April or May) on which ones will be approved for the upcoming season. The CFL did things very differently Friday, announcing a rule change out of the blue that will take effect immediately and punish coaches for failed challenges. Here's the key part of their release:

Effective immediately, if a team makes its first coach’s challenge of the game and does not win that challenge, the team will now lose a timeout. If the team wins its challenge, it will keep its timeout.

In other words, the first coach’s challenge is no longer a “free” one. With this change in place, teams now put a timeout at risk with their first challenge, in the same way they already do for their second challenge of the game. And teams must be in possession of a timeout to make a challenge. Teams are allowed two timeouts per game and can only use one timeout in the last three minutes of the game.

“We are listening to our fans,” said Jeffrey L. Orridge, commissioner of the CFL. “And while it’s unusual to have a rule change during the season, the league and our teams wanted to respond to fans’ concerns about the frequency of challenges.

“We are proud of the innovation we have brought to our game, including innovation in the use of replay, and the fact that these advances are being followed by other leagues. But innovation in any pursuit is often followed by adjustments and alterations. Fan enjoyment is vitally important.”

While this is dramatically different from how the CFL has typically handled rule changes, it makes some sense to do this. Complaints about slow games and challenge delays have been present in the CFL for years (and they're present in most other sports that use replay, too), but they've been particularly elevated this year. Those complaints have been for good reason; the league's Game Notes this week revealed there have been 2.5 challenges per game on average this year, almost double last year's 1.26. One particular reason why may be the apparent expanded usage of "Hail Mary" challenges, where teams aren't necessarily convinced they can prove the call on the field was wrong but see the play as so important that it's worth challenging. Without the first challenge being "free," those should plummet.

This also may bring some balance to the CFL's expanded list of what's challengeable. Defensive pass interference has been challengeable in the CFL since 2014, but offensive pass interference was added this year, along with illegal contact, illegal interference, roughing the passer or kicker and no-yards penalties. The numbers of challenges weren't increased, but with an extra list of what could be challenged, many coaches appear to have been using their flags more, and that does tend to slow down the game and annoy fans. A midseason change like this is highly unusual, but this change probably makes sense given how many complaints there have been about this, and it's better than going through the rest of the season with a subpar rule and endless complaints about long games before fixing it in the offseason. It's also good to see that the league office can admit when criticism is deserved and make the necessary course correction instead of just blindly persevering with an unpopular policy.

This also isn't something refs will have to adjust to midseason (as nothing with calls or reviews changes, just how coaches are penalized for unsuccessful challenges), and it should reward the coaches who challenge plays well and penalize those who don't. Even those who do it well aren't always challenging the right thing, though; Edmonton's Jason Maas leads the league with six calls overturned, but that's on 14 challenges, just a 42.9 per cent success rate. Meanwhile, Calgary's Dave Dickenson has gone zero-for-seven so far. With this rule change, coaches will have to be more careful about what they challenge, and more strategic about if a challenge is worth a timeout. That should lead to less ridiculous challenges, and provide the accuracy these expanded challenge rules were brought in to give without the delays that have accompanied that. From this corner, it's a good move and one that should make CFL games faster, more strategic, and more exciting, even if made in an unconventional way.