Week 2 features a couple of major CFL rivalries playing each other too early in the schedule.
The week starts out with Ottawa hoping 2023 will be a lot more fun at TD Place. The RedBlacks welcome Calgary for the home opener. The Stampeders and RedBlacks are looking for a boost after an opening loss.
Ottawa has lost 23 of the last 24 at TD Place. The RedBlacks last home win was on September 28, 2021 with a 34-24 win over Edmonton. The previous home win was June 20, 2019 with a 44-41 win over Saskatchewan.
The Trevor Harris home era starts in Regina on Friday Night Football. The Saskatchewan home opener would draw a lot of fans even without Winnipeg as the opponent. The prairie teams won't meet again until the day before Labour Day.
Summer can feel short in Vancouver so a 4 pm start isn't ideal. The BC Lions home opener features a concert (details below) and the Edmonton Elks on Saturday. At least, you can grab a good dinner after the game.
Toronto's home attendance will be boosted Sunday night more by the presence of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats than in the limited crowd seeing the return of the defending Grey Cup champions.
The latter 3 games air on the CBS Sports Network in the United States.
Montréal gets a quick break after its home opener last week.
CBS Sports Network
Friday
Winnipeg @ Saskatchewan, 9p
Saturday
Edmonton @ BC, 7p
Saturday
Hamilton @ Toronto, 7p
TSN
Thursday
Calgary @ Ottawa, 7:30p
Friday
Winnipeg @ Saskatchewan, 9p
Saturday
Edmonton @ BC, 7p
Saturday
Hamilton @ Toronto, 7p
Bye week: Montréal
Unofficially, this is the smallest announced regular season crowd at McMahon Stadium since the turn of the century.#Stamps | #Stampeders | #Calgary | #CFL https://t.co/5Mo6MldyhO
— John Hodge (@JohnDHodge) June 9, 2023
You could argue in this Battle of Alberta that Edmonton prevailed over Calgary. The Elks drew 32,233 fans for its home opener at Commonwealth Stadium Sunday night. McMahon Stadium in Calgary only had 17,942 fans for the Thursday night opener.
There is considerable nuance to the difference. Calgary needs a new CFL stadium. The Stampeders, minus Bo Levi Mitchell, don't seem as invincible as the team once was, especially at home.
Edmonton hosted Saskatchewan, which brought a lot of fans wearing green and white in the Commonwealth Stadium crowd. The Elks came up with a guaranteed win ticket promotion. Those who bought seats to the home opener get to keep those seats until the Elks win a home game. Those tickets are limited yet are in the P1 (best section) of the stadium.
The success or failure of a marketing campaign isn't as important if you are in a desperate situation. This is a great idea no matter how long the losing home streak continues. Edmonton had to do something.
Not related to the promotion: kids 12 and under get to watch the Elks for free with a paid adult ticket.
🎙️DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK! 🎙️
— BC LIONS (@BCLions) June 2, 2023
Two-Time Grammy Award Winner & Hip Hop Icon @LLCoolJ will ROCK BC Place for our Concert Kickoff event on June 17th!
🎟️🎟️ DON’T MISS OUT! https://t.co/tlT7QYXqgv#BCLions | #CFL pic.twitter.com/93Tqar6A22
The BC Lions like to start out the home season with a concert. This year, LL Cool J will headline a concert at BC Place. The concert is scheduled to get underway around 3 pm PDT, an hour before kickoff in Vancouver.
We didn't get any highlights of the Our Lady Peace concert from Montréal on TSN.
2023 CFL Week 1 preview
The BC Lions hosted the Western semifinal in 2022 because of a 2-1 regular season advantage over the Calgary Stampeders. The teams play 3 times in 2023. Right now, the Lions have the advantage with a 10-point win.
Calgary suffered a setback, having to put running back Ka'Deem Carey on the 6-game injured list this week.
Taquan Mizzell had an impressive debut as the new BC running back. Vernon Adams Jr. had a perfect start on a quick TD drive early in the game.
Winnipeg dominated the first half at home against the Tiger-Cats. Hamilton created its own magic to make the game close in the second half. The Tiger-Cats crave the 0-1 record, now 2-16 in the team's last 18 openers.
Montréal scored an early TD against Ottawa; otherwise an exchange of field goals in what was generally a defensive and boring contest.
Saskatchewan played well enough to barely beat Edmonton. Holding the Elks in a goal line stand is a good sign for the green and white from Regina.
The Elks had the play of the week with a 102-yard touchdown pass from Taylor Cornelius to Eugene Lewis.
The quality of CFL games improves as the season progresses.
2023 CFL preview
For those U.S. and international readers and CFL viewers, the CFL has 8-minute wrapups of each game. Not the same as watching the game live through CFL+. Better than missing the game completely. You can find those videos on the CFL Web site.
CBS Sports Network hit all its marks in the opening weekend, as far as we could tell.
Statement on the air quality in Edmonton and our Home Opener today #OurTeamOurCity #GoElks #CFL pic.twitter.com/LR5DvNc8Yx
— Edmonton Elks (@GoElks) June 11, 2023
The worry for delays in CFL games is usually summer thunderstorms, mostly in the west. The Canada wildfires may play a role in the CFL season. From what we saw, the skies in Edmonton looked good Sunday night. Then again, we weren't breathing the air in the Alberta capital.
2023 CFL preseason schedule
Dustin Nielson's day job had been the host of the morning show on TSN 1260 in Edmonton. The show and the station came to a close yesterday morning around 9 am MDT. This was part of yet another round of Bell Media cuts.
Bell Media suddenly yanked its local TSN radio stations in Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Hamilton in 2021. The company still has a sports outlet in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montréal.
Nielson posted a tweet that said "I'll see you soon."
This move doesn't affect any of the major sports rights since 630 CHED has the Elks and Edmonton Oilers radio rights.
Nielson does have a backup job; a lot of very good people lost their livelihood though no fault of their own.
TSN 1050 in Toronto replaced Leafs Lunch with ESPN programming.
CanadianCrossing.com CFL coverage
The CFL on TSN panel will be in Vancouver for the BC Lions home opener. Getting excitement for the CFL in the major markets (Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver) is crucial. Good to see TSN recognize this. Helps that BC Place is the only domed stadium in the CFL these days.
The panel will host a viewer watching party of Friday's game while in Vancouver.
Rod Smith and Glen Suitor with Farhan Lalji started the CFL on TSN season in Calgary. Dustin Nielson and Duane Forde made their debut with John Lu in Winnipeg. Smith and Matt Dunigan were with Kenzie Lalonde in Montréal on Saturday night. Nielson and Suitor worked with Ryan Rishaug in Edmonton on Sunday night.
Last year, Sara Orlesky worked in 3 different western markets in 3 days. TSN has a reporter in every city but Calgary. We would be curious as to why Calgary is the exception.
Jim Barker filled in for Dunigan on the panel.
One new change is the sideline reporter does a live interview leading into halftime instead of taped interviews that run before the second half kickoff.
logo credit: CFL
Twitter captures: @JohnDHodge; @BCLions; @GoElks
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