The 2023 CFL season starts out with the best matchup we saw in 2022. Nathan Rourke of the BC Lions against Bo Levi Mitchell of Calgary at McMahon Stadium. This year, neither quarterback will be in Calgary. The game should still be fun.
The CFL opener marks the debut on the U.S. side of CBS Sports Network covering the CFL. A reminder that all telecasts are simsubs of the TSN feed from Canada.
The Tiger-Cats wished their opening game was a Grey Cup rematch on Friday night. Rough for any team to start its season in Winnipeg as the Blue Bombers have been dominant at IG Field.
The Highway 417 rivalry gets an early start as the Ottawa RedBlacks travel to Montréal on Saturday night. That game also airs on the CBS Sports Network in the United States.
The green battle gets an early start as Trevor Harris returns to Edmonton as a new member of the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Sunday night. The Elks have a CFL record 17 straight home losses at Commonwealth Stadium.
The defending Grey Cup champions aka Toronto Argonauts get to rest a bit more before starting its 2023 season.
CBS Sports Network
Thursday
BC @ Calgary, 9p
Saturday
Ottawa @ Montréal, 7p
TSN
Thursday
BC @ Calgary, 9p
Friday
Hamilton @ Winnipeg, 8:30p
Saturday
Ottawa @ Montréal, 7p
Sunday
Saskatchewan @ Edmonton, 7p
Bye week: Toronto
We give no thought to CFL preseason records. So we were quite shocked that the Saskatchewan Roughriders had a long winless streak in the CFL preseason.
The 30-27 win over the BC Lions on May 27 was the team's first preseason win since June 14, 2014. The Riders beat the Ottawa Redblacks 21-17 in the latter's first preseason game ever.
Saskatchewan did have a tie against Winnipeg in 2017 to go along with 12 preseason losses in the streak.
The Roughriders also beat the Blue Bombers 28-16 to finish the preseason with a 2-0 record.
2023 CFL preview
No one should be surprised that Ottawa quarterback Jeremiah Masoli will not start the road opener on Saturday. The RedBlacks have been cautious with Masoli's progress.
Ottawa head coach Bob Dyce told reporters that Masoli won't play against the Alouettes or next week against the Calgary Stampeders. Backup Nick Arbuckle will get the start.
.@OurLadyPeace will perform at halftime of our @Videotron home opener! Only a few tickets remaining for the game/front-stage access. Tickets start at $40 + tax!
— Alouettes de Montréal (@MTLAlouettes) June 1, 2023
🎟️https://t.co/5yNc7XATpv pic.twitter.com/5UcNqHKWAH
New ownership in Montréal means a push to make the fan experience at Molson Stadium better. Getting Our Lady Peace to perform at the home opener on Saturday will definitely help.
More changes are on the way.
The U.S. audience might get some coverage of the concert, depending on how much time TSN will provide for the concert.
If you are tuning in fresh for the season opener, all games not on the CBS Sports Network in the United States are on CFL+. This is available through CFL.ca though navigation isn't easy or obvious.
We like more live games on U.S. television in the United States. The non-TV games in the States are available live for free. Yet a lot of us would pay for an on-demand service. We will monitor how this goes and report our observations.
Time zones are a factor within North America. This applies to games in Vancouver for those in the Eastern time zone. Staying up until 1 am or 1:30 am isn't practical. Can't imagine how that works outside the continent.
This may affect our CFL coverage. Don't want to spend quality summer time chasing too many live football games.
Feel free to respond with comments on the new policy affecting how you watch CFL games.
2023 CFL preseason schedule
2022 felt like the year of the Canadian quarterbacks. Nathan Rourke was the obvious frontrunner. Tre Ford (Edmonton) and Michael O'Connor (BC) also started CFL games as Canadian quarterbacks in 2022.
Ford is the primary backup to Edmonton starter Taylor Cornelius. The BC Lions went through a quarterback overhaul. O'Connor is currently a free agent. We've seen enough quarterback injuries in recent years that O'Connor could be an option for a CFL team.
We just fear that Canadian quarterbacks won't be brought into camp due to a general bias against those quarterbacks. Rourke went through the U.S. college system, which seems to deflect some of the criticism of Canadian quarterbacks.
My French is not that great but I would watch the @CFL on @RDSca if I had an on demand option. https://t.co/2siBksowTS
— Chad Rubel (@canadian_xing) June 2, 2023
There was a CFL game in Montréal a few years back where the TSN signal had issues and the TSN audience got the RDS video feed. The June 2 preseason game in Montréal was available on RDS in Canada and CFL+ in the United States. Since I got distracted, I don't know if CFL+ used the RDS audio or substituted an English language audio signal for that game.
I don't recall how often RDS carries CFL preseason games in years past. RDS carries all the Ottawa and Montréal games and other select CFL regular season games plus the playoffs.
My sarcasm points out the absence of an on-demand for non-televised games in the United States. An RDS+ on demand wouldn't get every game but would be an asset for Ottawa and Montréal games.
CanadianCrossing.com CFL coverage
Rod Smith and Duane Forde matched up with Claire Hanna in Ottawa in the preseason game on May 26. Dustin Nielson and Glen Suitor were out west with John Lu on June 2 in Winnipeg. We will do our best to get this information during the season, but that will be difficult without an on-demand setup.
logo credit: CFL
Twitter capture: @MTLAlouettes; @canadian_xing
photo credit: CFL
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