The CFL schedule-makers made a mistake with the Labour Day Weekend.

Isn’t this supposed to be the CFL’s biggest weekend? The season really starts at Labour Day … and all that jazz? Junior hockey teams are well into their training camps, Major League Baseball is entering its stretch drive, NHL camps are about to open and the NFL starts next week. It’s time for the CFL to turn up its spotlight. Way brighter!

So why are three of the league’s nine teams not playing? Ottawa, Montreal and B.C. are on bye weeks while the traditional Labour Day games are proceeding as usual: Winnipeg at Saskatchewan, Toronto at Hamilton and Edmonton at Calgary. Granted, the three bystanders haven’t built traditional, geographic rivalries that can challenge the mainstays. But it would make sense to capitalize on that interest by adding a fourth game to this weekend’s schedule.

Because of the required number of byes for each team, there will be weekends without four games. Scheduling a reduced slate of games for the biggest weekend on the CFL’s regular-season calendar is a mistake that can easily be corrected.