Analysis: Johnston, CFL board went too far modifying field and moving goalposts

Currently, teams earn a single for missed field goals that sail through the end zone. Critics have long complained why reward failure?

Starting next year, single points won’t be awarded for missed field goals. Ditto for punts and kickoffs that clear the end zone — either in the air or bouncing through.

If the ball in any of those three situations comes to rest in the end zone and is picked up by a returner, a single will be awarded if the player kneels or is tackled before crossing the goal line. Long overdue.

Also in 2026, all CFL stadiums will be required to have player bench areas on opposite sides of the field, and the league will implement a 35-second play clock. The two moves go hand-in-hand as the current 20-second play clock is started manually by an official but in some venues teams are on the same side of the field and substitutions could impact when the clock begins.

These changes eliminate timing inconsistencies. Again, well done.

THE NOT SO GOOD

As part of the change, the CFL will alter its playing field in 2027. It will reduce the length of its fields from 110 yards to 100, and cut its end zones from 20 yards to 15 yards.

What’s more, the goalposts — currently set on the goal line — will be pushed to the back of the end zone, a move the CFL feels will open up the middle and create more opportunities for touchdowns, allow teams to open up their playbook while enhancing sightlines for fans watching both in person and on television.

According to the CFL, repositioning the goalposts will result in 10 per cent more end zone completions and 60 more TDs per season. The reducing of the end zones will also make that area standard throughout the league as Toronto’s BMO Field currently has 18-yard end zones while the corners at Montreal’s Molson Stadium are curved.

But what the reconfiguring of the field does is pull the CFL playing surface more in line to those in the NFL. Both will be 100 yards long although the Canadian dimensions will still feature wider end zones (15 yards compared to 10) and wider fields (65 yards compared to 53).

And while the CFL will maintain its unique rules — three downs, 12 players per side, lining up a yard off the ball and unlimited motion — by moving the goalposts back, it will severely diminish if not eventually eliminate one of its most unique elements, the return of missed field goals.

This season alone, there have been 33 returns of missed field goals. The CFL only lists its top-10 returners but combined they’ve scored three touchdowns and registered 13 returns of 30 yards or more with more than a month of regular-season action still to come.

In 2027 with the goalposts located at the back of the end zone, there will be significantly fewer missed field goals returned. And with the threat of a return minimized, what will stop special-teams coordinators from lining up 12 players against 10 on the kicking team (the kicker and holder are behind the line) to go for the block?

It will also impact how CFL coaches do their jobs on game day. They’ll be faced with longer field goals, which the league hopes will result in more third-down gambles. In 2027, a team that’s at its opposition’s 30-yard line will face having to kick a 52-yard field goal from there. Currently, though, that attempt would come from 37 yards out.

WHY FIX WHEN NOT BROKEN?

This year, CFL teams are combining for 54 points per game. Thirty-one games have been decided in the final three minutes and there have been 39 comeback wins.

A total of 14 contests had been decided by three or fewer points. There’s an argument to be made the CFL’s on-field product is already in good shape and not in need of tweaking.

There’s also the question of what impact the CFL’s decision to reconfigure its field will have on both amateur and university football in Canada. Do they remain status quo or spend to redo their fields to stay in sync with the professional league?

For many Canadian universities, that cost could be anywhere from $800,000 to $1-million per school.

And if they do follow suit, how will it impact the kicking game in Canada, especially at the minor football or high school levels where field goals are a rarity. Pushing the goalposts back 15 yards won’t help.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2025.

Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Analysis: Johnston, CFL board went too far modifying field and moving goalposts

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