At a press conference in Toronto yesterday, first-year CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston unveiled a suite of rules changes that he called, without exaggeration, "the most significant in decades" for the league.

The new rules will be phased in over the next two seasons. Starting in 2026, the kicking team can no longer score a single point for missed field goals, punts or kickoffs that go through the end zone (the rouge will still be awarded when the returner fails to get the ball out of the end zone or takes a knee). Also, an automatic 35-second play clock will start when the previous play is blown dead, while the benches in all stadiums will be placed on opposite sides of the field to help teams get their substitutions in on time.

The bigger changes arrive in 2027, when the length of the

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