Overview
- Nathan Rourke will start for the B.C. Lions and Tre Ford for the Edmonton Elks in Saturday’s Vancouver opener, marking the first opening-week game with two Canadian quarterbacks since 1968.
- Buck Pierce and Mark Kilam will make their CFL head-coaching debuts with the Lions and Elks respectively in the same weekend.
- The season kicks off Thursday night in Regina as Dru Brown’s Ottawa Redblacks visit Trevor Harris’s Saskatchewan Roughriders.
- Grey Cup champions Toronto Argonauts will begin their title defence Friday in Montreal with Nick Arbuckle under centre.
- Players enter the season with an average age of 28.2 years and 2.5 seasons of CFL experience as only 13.6% of the 493-man rosters are rookies.