Saskatchewan Roughriders kicking off 2021 season on Aug. 6
The Saskatchewan Roughriders will kick off the 2021 Canadian Football League (CFL) season at Mosaic Stadium on Aug. 6.
The CFL released its full 2021 schedule on Tuesday morning.
The schedule includes 14 regular season games over 16 weeks. No preseason games will be played this year.
The Green and White will take on the BC Lions to open the season in Regina on August 6 at 7:30 p.m.
The Labour Day classic returns to Mosaic Stadium, with the Riders and rival Blue Bombers facing off on Sept. 5.
Saskatchewan's regular season finale will take place in Hamilton on Nov. 20.
The Roughriders’ full 2021 schedule can be found on the team's website.
The team will not be travelling to Ottawa or Toronto this season and as a result, will only play those teams once.
'YOU HAVE TO RESET THINGS'
Roughriders’ starting quarterback Cody Fajardo said after more than 600 days between CFL games, expect some rust on every team when the season does kick off.
“It's going to be not the same CFL football from the get-go, because it's two years, you have to give the players a break,” he said.
“It's a shortened training camp, you have no preseason games, right, so there's a lot of things stacked against the players, but whichever team can get to midseason form fastest, I think will have a chance to make a deep run in the playoffs.”
Fajardo led the league in passing yards in 2019, helping the Riders to a 13-5 record in his first year as a starter in the CFL.
He says it could take some time to adjust to playing football at that level again.
“Being a one year starter, a one year true starter, and then having to sit out for two years, it's almost like you have to reset things,” he said.
“I set the bar pretty high, which I'm glad I did because I wouldn't want it any other way, but there's going to be some high expectations on this team, there's going to be a high expectations on me as a player.”
One of the bigger oddities with the regular season schedule is three consecutive games against the Calgary Stampeders in October, along with the team’s second bye week.
Fajardo says that many games against the same team will be tough on the offences.
“The defense is definitely at the advantage because they can change much quicker than us, implementing new plays for one week,” he said.
This season will also see games being played in potentially colder weather in late November and into December, but Fajardo says he won’t mind.
“The good news about cold weather games is if you're playing in them, that means you're playing for something special,” he said. “You kind of throw that out the window, how cold it is, because you know what the significance is around the game.”
THE CFL RETURNS
The CFL season officially begins on August 5, with a rematch of the 107th Grey Cup between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Hamilton will host the 108th Grey Cup on Dec. 12.
The league announced Monday it voted to begin the 2021 season in August.
Each club is currently in talks with their local governments to determine how many fans will be allowed in stadiums, according to a news release from the league. Teams are expected to release their plans for tickets as the season approaches.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
Full parole granted to man convicted in notorious 'McDonald's murders' in Cape Breton
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Incident on Calgary's Reconciliation Bridge comes to safe resolution
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
George Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
'We won't forget': How some Muslims view Poilievre's stance on Israel-Hamas war
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.