CFL returns after full season-plus canceled

The CFL season opened at IG Field in Winnipeg Thursday night, as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers topped the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the '19 Grey Cup banner "was raised as the Bombers celebrated." There were 29,376 "fully vaccinated fans in the stands (4,000 short of a sellout)." The "real winner on this night was Canadian football itself," which is "back, finally, after missing a full season, and part of another, because of the COVID-19 pandemic" (WINNIPEG SUN, 8/6). The event provided, "at least for one evening, a feeling of normalcy unlike anything we’ve seen in these parts over the past 20 months." It had been "exactly 620 days since the last CFL game was played" (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, 8/6). TSN’s Kate Beirness: “After the layoff it is hard not to appreciate this game and what its history means to this country” ( “Tiger-Cats-Blue Bombers,” ESPN2, 8/5).