Calgary Stampeders fans excited for first pre-season kickoff in 3 years
Fans of the Calgary Stampeders are breathing a sigh of relief and looking forward to watching pre-season football at McMahon Stadium on Saturday for the first time since 2019.
A deal struck between the CFL Players’ Association and the league meant the collective bargaining agreement would be agreed upon just in time for exhibition games.
A 2 p.m. matinee affair between the Stamps and B.C. Lions on Saturday brought out thousands of spectators, including Andrea Henry who has been tailgating in Calgary for the last 15 years.
She’s happy to hear that her favourite players got what they needed to ensure a competitive and exciting year ahead.
“I was 100 per cent with the players, I agreed with their comments about what the owners and CFL commissioner wanted to do,” Henry said.
“'I’m not always a huge supporter of strikes, but if they went on strike, I understood why, so the fact that it's back and they've settled is just brilliant.”
Other fans like Wheeler Boys are just happy that he can bring his entire family out to the games again.
“We got a little stressed out during the off-season, I mean our whole lives revolve around football for the most part and having a local team. This is what we live for,” he said.
“Honestly, we can all have our opinions but at the end of the day, we just want to see the kickoff. It doesn't really matter how they ratified it at the end of the day."
The CFL announced a seven-year labour agreement with its players, ending a lengthy and sometimes contentious negotiation that included the second strike in league history and first since 1974.
A new deal means CFL teams can have seven Canadian starters and 21 in total on the roster this year. In 2023, that number increases to eight with one being a nationalized American – a player from the U.S. who has spent either five years in the CFL or at least three with the same team.
CFL players will also receive a ratification bonus of $2,450 each according to league sources who spoke under anonymity as neither the league nor the union provided specific details of the new deal.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment which has been banned at Queen’s Park.
Mountain guide dies after falling into a crevasse in Banff National Park
A man who fell into a crevasse while leading a backcountry ski group deep in the Canadian Rockies has died.
2 teens charged in Halifax homicide: police
Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to an alleged homicide near the Halifax Shopping Centre earlier this week.
'Deep ignorance': Calls for Manitoba trustee to resign sparked after comments about Indigenous people and reconciliation
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in U.S. if legal options fail, Reuters sources say
TikTok owner ByteDance would prefer to shut down its loss-making app rather than sell it if the Chinese company exhausts all legal options to fight legislation to ban the platform from app stores in the U.S., four sources said.
12-year-old hippo in Japan raised as a male discovered to be a female
When Gen-chan arrived at a zoo in Japan in 2017, no one questioned whether the then-five-year-old hippopotamus was a boy. Seven years later, zoo staff made a surprising discovery: Gen-chan, now 12, was female.
Here's why Harvey Weinstein's New York rape conviction was tossed and what happens next
Here's what you need to know about why movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape conviction was thrown out and what happens next.
Improve balance and build core strength with this exercise
When it comes to cardiovascular fitness, you may tend to focus on activities that move you forward, such as walking, running and cycling.
Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole dies at 90: CBC
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.