The finger-pointing has started already in CFL negotiations.
Before the owners and the CFL Players’ Association agreed on any part of their pending collective bargaining agreement, somebody let slip the notion that both sides were amenable to reducing the number of Canadian starters from seven to five. So only five of 24 starters would be Canucks. May as well call it the “Token Canadian” Football League. Many players believe the story was planted by the owners, with the intent of dividing the ranks. If that’s true, it worked. Canadian and American players are blasting away at each other.
The CFL is dominated by American coaches and general managers, who have long insisted there aren’t enough Canadian players to fill their rosters, all while insisting Canadian players and coaches are getting better. The CFL isn’t just about the three-down, 12-player, wider-field, return-all-kicks rules, it’s also about giving opportunities to Canadian players. The league doesn’t need fewer Canadians, it needs more.