Close friends and family know that I’ve been an avid NFL fan for virtually my entire adult life. Generally, I’ve avoided arguments with fans of the CFL, or Canadian Football League, over why their league is better, the game is better, the CFL game is more exciting etc. I think a very strong case can be made, looking at facts, money, fan support and evidence that not only is the NFL game superior to the CFL one, the NFL is better-run and has been more successful than the CFL. Oh, almost forgot.

Some recent changes have been announced to the CFL that some critics claim are “Americanizing” the game. Now for the sake of this column, let’s use the term “Americanizing” sparingly; in the context of this discussion the term has nothing to do with Donald Trump or tariffs either.

On Sept. 22 the CFL announced changes to its game in order to make the league’s offerings “more exciting” to fans. I think its fair to assume “more exciting” means there are people out there, prospective fans, who feel the CFL isn’t currently exciting. Right? The changes include, firstly, the elimination of stupid “teams get a point for a missed field goal” rule. Years ago when I heard the CFL would be rewarding bad play or failure, I was dumbfounded. Typical Canadian decision, reward someone for failing. Absolutely the stupidest addition to any sport I’d ever heard of, and it’s long past time for it to go.

It seems by 2027 the CFL will also be making its play fields smaller; take it from someone who’s not only watched CFL games on TV but attended games in person as well. The field was gargantuan. Apparently, the reasoning was if the field is that big, players have more space and will rack up the scores more quickly. Apparent it’s not working out that way as the CFL stated said goal of trimming the field is to increase touchdowns and make the CFL product more exciting. Again, one can assume making it more exciting means the current product is less-so.

I’m a big fan of making the CFL more like its big, exciting, successful, wealthy neighbour to the south. Most sports experts consider the NFL the richest, most popular and most successful pro sports league in the world.

Even in Canada the NFL wins; Angus Reid conducted a 2023 poll that found more Canadians considered themselves fans or followers of the NFL than the CFL. I don’t blame them. The NFL game is more exciting and more dramatic and doesn’t feature, for example, a playoff game decided by one point awarded on a missed field goal.

I say take the effort even further. Get rid of that goofy “three downs” and change it to American football’s four downs; this makes for a more exciting, entertaining game as teams have more time to get into a rhythm. Not only as a football fan but as a sports reporter I struggle watching Canadian rules football; it lacks consistency as teams can’t extend drives and gets snoozingly boring as teams punt, punt and punt some more.

Even better for the CFL would be a complete adoption of the NFL rulebook. Every year thousands of great football players come out of American colleges but don’t make it into the NFL. They don’t come up here because of dumb stuff like three downs, points for failing and gargantuan fields. If the CFL game exactly matched the NFL rules, those college players would be champing at the bit to come play here, and fans would be the beneficiaries. We’d be watching some pretty damn good football.

And you can save all that sanguine “Save the roster spots for Canadian players” stuff. I don’t now nor have I ever been a fan of affirmative action type laws. People should succeed or fail based on their skills and effort, not a law that says “This roster spot reserved for (insert social determinant here).”

Any argument that says Canadian athletes can’t compete with American ones falls flat anyway if you look up the name Chuba Hubbard. He’s an Alberta kid playing for the Carolina Panthers of the NFL and he’s one a top-five running back in that league.

Stu Salkeld is a sports reporter who has often thought about sending his resume into the CFL head office when the commissioner's job comes open.