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While players can get together and work out over the off-season, it’s not like officials can happen upon a pro pickup game to log some extra hours.

So when Alan Eck had the chance to join a CFL crew to work the Edmonton Eskimos season-opener at Commonwealth Stadium, he jumped at the opportunity.

“I’ve been officiating for 20 years, 14 years in college in the U.S. and I just got hired by the NFL in April,” said Eck, who primarily worked as referee for the past six years and is going to the NFL as a side judge. “Since I’m working a position I haven’t worked in seven years of college (football), they wanted me to come up here and get some reps.”

And become a trailblazer in the first exchange of its kind between the two leagues, while he’s at it. Even if this is the last place the Georgia resident saw himself doing his first tour of duty as an NFL official.

“No, it didn’t cross my mind,” he said. “But back in the day, the NFL used to have NFL Europe where they used to send (officials) they were looking at in college and kind of groom them over there and get them ready for the League. See if they were ready to make that jump up.

“It’s exciting, it’s good for both groups,”

And, by extension, both leagues.

“We’ve got some guys going down to NFL camps and learning by being on the field with NFL players and other NFL officials,” Johnson said. “They’re going to bring those ideas back up to Canada. It’s about as good a way to win as you can get.”

And hopefully avoid more of the “only in the CFL” moments that have haunted the league in the past.