Saturday, February 21, 2015

CFL releases 2015 Schedule


It may seem a fair bit away's just yet, but the CFL season isn't as far off as you might think, with the league releasing the 2015 schedule last week.

The first competitive hit between teams takes place on June 8th when Ottawa and Hamilton kick off the Pre-season, putting in motion three weeks of evaluation and position battles that will see coaches and GM's settle on their opening day rosters.

Ottawa will also get the honour of kicking off the Regular season, a June 25th trek to Montreal to take on the Alouettes. The first game of the 2015 season that will take us to the third Sunday of November and the Grey Cup, this year hosted by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

For the most  part the Schedule makers have tried to ensure that the usual rivalry games are kept in place and as even a distribution of home and away treks is balanced through the year.

The exception this year being the lot of the Toronto Argonauts, as Stadium issues and the Pan AM games combining to make the Boatmen more like Vikings travelling the oceans for weeks at a time.

Included in the Argo frustrations, a season opening home game to be hosted in Fort McMurray, Alberta, featuring the Edmonton Eskimos as the opposition, something that probably ends any dreams of a home field advantage on June 27th.

As well, with Canada hosting the 2015 Women's FIFA World Cup this year, a number of CFL stadiums will be in use, leaving Ottawa, Edmonton and BC looking to host a game away from their comfortable home environment.

Fort McMurray, almost gets that valued tenth CFL franchise status it seems,  as the Northern Alberta city will also be hosting a pre-season game between the Esks and Riders

The Argos won't have a "real" home game until near the middle of August,  the majority of their early season to be spent wandering the stadiums of Western Canada.

Perhaps in adversity they will find a common cause, though being the CFL's Bedouin's of the year should provide no shortage of challenges for the Argos for the first half of the season.

The full schedule for 2015 can be found here, some background on the league's creation is reviewed here.

You can keep up to date on CFL developments through their website and twitter feed

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