The CFL may have made their best move of the off-season and quite quietly on Thursday as the season was about to begin.
They announced via their football operations twitter account as well as the football operations web page they would have video explanations for controversy penalties.
They started off with 30-second videos with the film necessary to show some of the new rules and some of the most common controversial calls like illegal contact, receivers looking like they run offside and roughing the passer.
The relationship and understanding of the fans to the officials is one of the biggest disconnects that leads to more fan vitriol toward the league than anything else.
Fans either don’t fully understand the rules or are too blinded by their own fandom to actually see the infraction.
The refs in this league are pretty good, they’re not perfect but nobody in football is, whether it be refs, players or coaches.
This initiative will help with the misconception the refs are terrible and maybe, hopefully, diminishes the amount of heat the officials feel week to week.