CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston urges City of Regina to reconsider stitched turf at Mosaic Stadium

Photo: Tanner Piper/3DownNation. All rights reserved.

CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston has called on the City of Regina to reconsider its decision to permanently stitch the new turf at Mosaic Stadium.

“I think that we have seen that multi-use facilities can use fields of all kinds and things can be converted. I know there’s comments recently about that field being stitched. All our other clubs are looking to paint,” Johnston said on Friday during his annual State of the League address.

“Painting is not that difficult, and I think painting future-proofs your field. I would urge the City, with the support of the Roughriders, to consider moving back to a painted field.”

The process of replacing the turf at Mosaic Stadium, which had reached its expiry date, began on November 4 with the removal of the rubber infill. The new field surface is expected to be laid in spring 2027, with permanently stitched lines for soccer and the CFL’s new field dimensions that take effect next year.

According to a statement procured by 3DownNation, the City of Regina, which owns the facility, believes that up to 97 percent of their historical bookings will continue to be possible with the new field dimensions, though that is predicated on the assumption that Football Canada will update its minor football rule book to allow play on either a 110-yard or 100-yard field. However, the University of Regina Rams have confirmed that they will no longer be able to play games at the facility and will have their ability to host future Vanier Cups impacted after U Sports chose not to adopt the CFL’s changes.

Reports differ as to why the municipal government opted to continue with stitched turf, though the two main reasons cited have been cost and the short timeline to reconfigure the field between events. Those do not appear to be concerns for Johnston.

“I think all the clubs are working with the various facilities on how the changeovers will manage,” he said. “The process for painting a field and changing fields for various different sports, because pretty much all of our facilities are multi-use sports facilities, is relatively straightforward. That will all be worked out between the teams and their facilities.”

In September 2025, Johnston announced sweeping structural rule changes to be implemented for the 2027 CFL season. The 65-yard field width will remain the same, but the field is set to shrink from 110 yards to 100 in the new setup, while the end zones are adjusted from 20 yards to 15 with goalposts at the back. The three-down league projects the field and goalpost changes will result in 10 percent more end zone completions and 60 more touchdowns per season.

The changes, which were made without consultation with amateur stakeholders, were met with concerns about how they would impact venues that also house U Sports football, including Mosaic, Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg, McMahon Stadium in Calgary, and Percival Molson Memorial Stadium in Montreal. Johnston addressed those concerns last November by saying it would “be the CFL’s responsibility to change the field back and forth” if changes were not adopted by other levels of football.

However, he was careful with his language on Friday, stopping short of a promise that every current venue would be able to adopt the changes.

“We have full expectation that all nine clubs are going to have fields that reflect the guidelines of our expectations for 2027. More discussions with all those clubs, and progress is being made.”

Mosaic Stadium officially opened in July 2017 and has always had stitched turf. The taxpayer-funded facility cost a reported $278 million to build, with the intention that it would be a net positive for all levels of sports in the city.

The fact that its usage could now be limited due to a unilateral decision by a for-profit professional sports entity has understandably been met with criticism, but Johnston appears hopeful that all parties can continue to coexist if the stitched turf is reconsidered.

“We think that the needs of professional football are sometimes different than the needs for amateur. That’s reflective of all sports,” he said. “I think that we should wait and see exactly how that’ll play out, because I’m not sure there will be that impact that you’ve described.”