TORONTO – The Canadian Football League issued a statement Tuesday morning regarding the updated measures to help ensure public health and safety, acknowledging that the 2020 season won’t start before the beginning of July.

The statement, attributed to Commissioner Randy Ambrosie, reads as follows:

Like our fellow Canadians, we in the CFL are striving to meet today’s challenges with both pragmatism and hope. We are pragmatic enough to see our country still has sacrifice and hard work ahead of it. We urge everyone to heed the direction of public health officials in the fight to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Our hearts go out to the families who have lost loved ones. We salute the heroic efforts of those on the front lines of our health care system and our supply chain. And we are grateful for the leadership being shown by all levels of government. We respect the decisions being made by the federal government, provinces and municipalities on behalf of our safety and we will continue to follow their directives. These include indications from Canadian cities that they will not allow sporting events to take place before the end of June.

While it is now clear that the 2020 CFL season won’t start before the beginning of July, we are committed to working with our teams, the Players’ Association, TSN and RDS to play a full season or as close as we can come to one. We recognize this may require some creativity and we are preparing for multiple scenarios.

We realize there are more important things on Canadians’ minds right now than games of any sort. But we also know Canadian football has long been a source of pride and unity for our country and – when the time is right – we can play an important role in its recovery.

Until then, let’s all be pragmatic enough to do what we need to do to stop the spread of this virus and protect one another. And, at the same time, let’s keep our hopes high.

– Randy Ambrosie

CFL Commissioner

Tuesday’s statement comes a week after the League announced it was postponing Training Camp in order to adapt to the ongoing pandemic. Two weeks ago, the league announced it was postponing its Global Draft until the start of camps. The week before, the league cancelled its remaining Combines for the 2020 season.

For more information on the COVID-19 and how it relates to the CFL, please click here for more information.