It’s official: the CFL is doubling down on a recent change to its playoff scheduling, permanently moving its divisional semi-finals and finals to Saturday.
“The results (this year) were frankly spectacular. I think it’s safe to say that we’re now a lock for Saturdays going forward,” said league commissioner Randy Ambrosie during his state of the league address on Tuesday.
“I think it feels like a permanent move. The results were obviously very encouraging. We are seeing so much progress being made, our schedule seems to have really resonated with CFL fans and we’re attracting new CFL fans.”
The television audience for the league’s four playoff games grew by 2.1 percent this season, while attendance increased at three of the four contests. English-language ratings for the East and West Semi-Finals on Nov. 4 dropped by 4.1 percent, while the television audience for the East and West Finals on Nov. 11 grew by 6.4 percent.
This past weekend’s game between the Montreal Alouettes and Toronto Argonauts also garnered a strong audience on French-language television with a rating of 448,900. In total, 1,348,300 Canadians watched the East Final on television, which surpassed the West Final rating of 1,046,000.
The Grey Cup will continue to be played on Sunday, as per tradition.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Montreal Alouettes will meet in the 110th Grey Cup on Sunday, Nov. 19 at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton. Kickoff is slated for 6:00 p.m. EST.
