Post by Coach Campbell on Jun 19, 2012 21:30:37 GMT
2012 CFL season
The 2012 CFL season will be the 59th season of modern Canadian professional football. Officially, it is the 55th season for the Canadian Football League. Toronto is scheduled to host the 100th Grey Cup on November 25. The pre-season began on June 13, 2012 and the regular season will start on June 29, 2012.
CFL news in 2012[edit] Salary capAccording to the new collective bargaining agreement, the 2012 salary cap will be set at $4,350,000. As per the agreement, the cap is fixed and will not vary with league revenue performance. The minimum team salary will be set at $4,000,000 with individual minimum salaries set at $44,000.
Season scheduleThe 2012 season schedule was released on February 18, 2012, with the regular season opening on June 29 at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, Ontario.[3] This will be the first time Hamilton has opened the year since 2009. Additionally, the league will return to division match-ups in the final week of the regular season, which was also last seen in 2009. Following an interruption in the Labour Day Classic in 2011 between the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the two teams will resume their historic series in 2012. There will be 15 double headers this year, with four on Fridays, eight on Saturdays, one on Sundays, and two (the traditional Labour Day and Thanksgiving contests) on Mondays.
The BC Lions will open their regular season schedule at the newly refurbished BC Place Stadium and spend their first full season there after splitting time between Empire Field in 2011. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers will spend the first four weeks of the regular season on the road as their home opener at the brand new Investors Group Field was to take place in week 5; however, construction delays have pushed back the opening of the new stadium to September, forcing the Blue Bombers to continue playing at Canad Inns Stadium to start the season.[4][5] The Tiger-Cats will play their final regular season home game at Ivor Wynne Stadium on October 27 as the stadium will be demolished following the 2012 season.[6] Unlike the previous two seasons, there will not be a game played in Moncton, New Brunswick as part of the Touchdown Atlantic promotion, due to the league wanting to focus on plans for the 100th Grey Cup festival.
Bye weeksThis year's bye weeks occur in the sixth and seventh weeks of the season, earlier than the usual eighth and ninth week setup that has been in place since 2007. This was likely done to accommodate the 2012 Summer Olympics, and the television coverage they will demand, which take place over these two weeks.
Uniform changes According to an email, it appears that Reebok and the CFL were in the process of designing new home and away uniforms for each of the eight teams. There is no news whether new alternate uniforms will be designed, as of now.[9] On April 11, 2012, it was officially announced that all eight teams will be playing in re-engineered jerseys that feature increased elasticity, improved resiliency and moisture wicking technology.[10] East Division teams will release their jersey designs on May 1, while West Division teams will unveil their new jerseys on May 2.
Rule ChangesOn April 18, 2012 the CFL announced that they had unanimously approved a rule change that will see all scoring plays subject to video review. All touchdowns, field goals, converts, singles and safeties can be reviewed by the referees, without a coach having to use his challenge flag. Due to a surprising number of incidents related to players helmets falling off during play, in the 2011 CFL season, the league decided to change its rules to address this issue. Now if a ball carrier's helmet comes off, the play will be blown dead immediately. If a non-ball carrier's helmet comes off, that player can no longer participate in the play. If he does, the player will be penalized 10 yards for illegal participation. If a player hits an opposing player who isn't participating because he lost his helmet, he will be penalized 15 yards for unnecessary roughness.
100th Grey CupToronto will be the site of the 100th Grey Cup as it was also host of the very first game and host of the 50th Grey Cup as well. As part of the celebration, the Grey Cup festival will stretch over nine days as opposed to the usual three.[13] The Government of Canada will also contribute $5 million towards the event in celebration of a Canadian tradition.
Off-season Coaching changesThe 2012 off-season has seen significant changes in key personal across the league. After winning the 99th Grey Cup, the then head coach of the BC Lions, Wally Buono, resigned from being the head coach so he could focus on his duties as general manager. The Lions promoted Mike Benevides, who was the defensive coordinator for four seasons, to head coach. After an 8-10 season, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats fired head coach Marcel Bellefeuille and hired George Cortez who has had extensive coaching experience with many different CFL teams. Following a very disappointing 2011 season, the Saskatchewan Roughriders hired Corey Chamblin as their new head coach. Finally, the Toronto Argonauts hired Scott Milanovich who had been the offensive coordinator of the Montreal Alouettes for four seasons, to replace Jim Barker who, like Wally Buono, resigned from being the head coach to focus on being general manager.
The 2012 CFL season will be the 59th season of modern Canadian professional football. Officially, it is the 55th season for the Canadian Football League. Toronto is scheduled to host the 100th Grey Cup on November 25. The pre-season began on June 13, 2012 and the regular season will start on June 29, 2012.
CFL news in 2012[edit] Salary capAccording to the new collective bargaining agreement, the 2012 salary cap will be set at $4,350,000. As per the agreement, the cap is fixed and will not vary with league revenue performance. The minimum team salary will be set at $4,000,000 with individual minimum salaries set at $44,000.
Season scheduleThe 2012 season schedule was released on February 18, 2012, with the regular season opening on June 29 at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, Ontario.[3] This will be the first time Hamilton has opened the year since 2009. Additionally, the league will return to division match-ups in the final week of the regular season, which was also last seen in 2009. Following an interruption in the Labour Day Classic in 2011 between the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the two teams will resume their historic series in 2012. There will be 15 double headers this year, with four on Fridays, eight on Saturdays, one on Sundays, and two (the traditional Labour Day and Thanksgiving contests) on Mondays.
The BC Lions will open their regular season schedule at the newly refurbished BC Place Stadium and spend their first full season there after splitting time between Empire Field in 2011. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers will spend the first four weeks of the regular season on the road as their home opener at the brand new Investors Group Field was to take place in week 5; however, construction delays have pushed back the opening of the new stadium to September, forcing the Blue Bombers to continue playing at Canad Inns Stadium to start the season.[4][5] The Tiger-Cats will play their final regular season home game at Ivor Wynne Stadium on October 27 as the stadium will be demolished following the 2012 season.[6] Unlike the previous two seasons, there will not be a game played in Moncton, New Brunswick as part of the Touchdown Atlantic promotion, due to the league wanting to focus on plans for the 100th Grey Cup festival.
Bye weeksThis year's bye weeks occur in the sixth and seventh weeks of the season, earlier than the usual eighth and ninth week setup that has been in place since 2007. This was likely done to accommodate the 2012 Summer Olympics, and the television coverage they will demand, which take place over these two weeks.
Uniform changes According to an email, it appears that Reebok and the CFL were in the process of designing new home and away uniforms for each of the eight teams. There is no news whether new alternate uniforms will be designed, as of now.[9] On April 11, 2012, it was officially announced that all eight teams will be playing in re-engineered jerseys that feature increased elasticity, improved resiliency and moisture wicking technology.[10] East Division teams will release their jersey designs on May 1, while West Division teams will unveil their new jerseys on May 2.
Rule ChangesOn April 18, 2012 the CFL announced that they had unanimously approved a rule change that will see all scoring plays subject to video review. All touchdowns, field goals, converts, singles and safeties can be reviewed by the referees, without a coach having to use his challenge flag. Due to a surprising number of incidents related to players helmets falling off during play, in the 2011 CFL season, the league decided to change its rules to address this issue. Now if a ball carrier's helmet comes off, the play will be blown dead immediately. If a non-ball carrier's helmet comes off, that player can no longer participate in the play. If he does, the player will be penalized 10 yards for illegal participation. If a player hits an opposing player who isn't participating because he lost his helmet, he will be penalized 15 yards for unnecessary roughness.
100th Grey CupToronto will be the site of the 100th Grey Cup as it was also host of the very first game and host of the 50th Grey Cup as well. As part of the celebration, the Grey Cup festival will stretch over nine days as opposed to the usual three.[13] The Government of Canada will also contribute $5 million towards the event in celebration of a Canadian tradition.
Off-season Coaching changesThe 2012 off-season has seen significant changes in key personal across the league. After winning the 99th Grey Cup, the then head coach of the BC Lions, Wally Buono, resigned from being the head coach so he could focus on his duties as general manager. The Lions promoted Mike Benevides, who was the defensive coordinator for four seasons, to head coach. After an 8-10 season, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats fired head coach Marcel Bellefeuille and hired George Cortez who has had extensive coaching experience with many different CFL teams. Following a very disappointing 2011 season, the Saskatchewan Roughriders hired Corey Chamblin as their new head coach. Finally, the Toronto Argonauts hired Scott Milanovich who had been the offensive coordinator of the Montreal Alouettes for four seasons, to replace Jim Barker who, like Wally Buono, resigned from being the head coach to focus on being general manager.