OverDrive - Stewart Johnston and James Duthie on the Grey Cup matchup, the changes in the league and the view of the CFL

Episode Date: November 14, 2025

CFL Commissioner Stewart Johnston and TSN Host James Duthie joins to discuss the headlines around the Grey Cup between the Roughriders and Alouettes, the league’s rules changes to enhance the CFL, how the players have looked at the changes, the CFL players participating in the Olympics, the stance of the league and more. 

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Restriction supply ships registered in Panama and Malta. Drive continues, powered by Fanduil, bringing you everything from the opening line of the final score. We're live in Winnipeg, day two in the peg. Man, the crowd loves us out here, and I'm sure they're going to love our next two guests. I told you, it's our second home. It is our second home. We have absolutely had a blast here in Winnipeg. We're at the Boston Pizza.

The hospitality's been incredible. And we haven't had a five-pack around the table in a long time. Stu Johnston, Commissioner of the CFVL, ladies and gentlemen in the house. Hey, boy. Great to see the commission. And James Duffy. What? You're not loved everywhere.

You're not loved everywhere. What did I do to Winnipeg? I love it here. Why am I here? You have the commissioner here. Well, because... You just bring me on to get me booed and humiliate? We thought this was Duffy country, but it turns out...

It ain't. It's like basically a small parcel in Ottawa. That's the only part. No, that's not true. I'm from Ottawa. It is not true. Exactly. Stu can hammer that out. We thought you'd have the book.

The book is you doing the tour? The books is out. You know that I'm not one for shameless promotion, and I would never do anything like that. That is disgusting. He's got the book on the inside of his coat. Wow. That's tailored. You have to sell.

There you go. Sorry. Get in there, Rennie. How beautiful is that? Look at Duffy running the whole operation. Randy, that was another poor Zoom by you. Look at that. That's how you sell books.

That's how you sell books. Well, it's great to see you guys. I know. It is too far. It's shameless. I'm sorry. No, it's great to see you guys. Stu, this is the first time you're doing Great Cup as the commissioner.

That's right. Whereas a TV executive, I'm sure you had a lot of fun over the years. Is it a different pace for you this week? A little bit of a different pace. I see a lot of TSN folks here. They know I never messed around with the production. I just let them run. So I could just hang out, visit Glad Hand.

It was wonderful. Now they're putting me to work. But boys is special. It started on Sunday. Canadian Armed Forces helicopter hovers about 50 feet above the ground and the Grey Cup repels down, and we welcome that to the city. And the Winnipeg, Manitoba, the bombers they are putting on a show.

Yeah, it really has been incredible. And, you know, this is the first time we've been on the road for the Great Cup, but we've all seen it in Toronto, and we've all witnessed it, noodles, you and Edmonton, like the connection, the whole country kind of comes together. That's the one thing I noticed, and what I love and appreciate, fans from every team come, and that's what I like. And that people we saw last night, everyone was behaved, and it was good, and they just want to have a good time.

It's exactly right. All of us who've been to a number of Grey Cups, that is the exact feeling. For some of us who've been to a bunch of really cool sporting events around the world, nothing compares to this. You never see where fans of all nine teams just get together to party together and just celebrate the game. It's fantastic. I tell everybody it's better than Super Bowl Week.

You think so? Because Super Bowl Week is just too big and corporate, and plus nobody's inviting me to like the Maxim Party or something. Whereas the Grey Cup is just total connection. adiana where you can go to all these places it's laid back the commission will walk into the party and have a beer you're never going to see that happen in the national football you don't think godell's going to do that well that's the thing now that you're the commish is it stop and chat with all nine fan bases everybody's got like you know a critique or not maybe a suggestion of what oh yeah all love

love all love that's just all love nothing better than a guy that's had 20 beers that feels like he can make the game better those are when i give my best idea I'm sure. I'm sure. I think there's a story about the Browns owner that talked to somebody who was just drunk on the street, and he said draft Johnny Mansell, and he did. Yeah, exactly. Well, don't listen to that guys, too. There's our suggestion. But, yeah, it's been a really cool couple of days. We saw you up there on the podium, speaking French as well. Didn't we? That was pretty incredible. I mean, has that always been a part of the background? I wasn't aware of that you had that type of talent. Well, you know, us Ottawa boys. We come up close to that. back border. We learn a little French along the way.

Usually only in the bars and hull. Well, that is true. That is true. You scrape the rust off. Just another bierce you play. Exactly. But yeah, no, it's great. And there's such a wonderful French population in Winnipeg. So if ever there was a time to bring the French out, I thought it was here. Stu, we've seen Gary Bettman address the National Hockey League at different times of the year,

one being the All-Star game. And there's one other time, maybe before the Stanley Cup playoff start. What is one thing that you like to get across? It's your first time. What's one thing you did want to? to get across in addressing everybody. Yeah, well, I mean, a few things. We wanted just a reinforcement of how amazing this league is, how unbelievable Great Cup week is. And then coming off some of the announcements we've made earlier this year,

I just wanted to make sure I was crystal clear that we are a three-down, 12 players, 65-yard-wide, unlimited motion game. That is here, and that is here to stay. And so we can't wait to see that game going forward. There's a round of applause. So when you're doing your speech, is it a teleprompter, this ties into you and the other night. There was a comment

by a commissioner that's called somebody Dumbo instead of jumbo. I felt... I don't think you guys should have given him a hard time. You could give him a hard time for a lot. We didn't give him a hard time. You destroyed him, O'Dong. He did not... I didn't do anything. I don't think we said anything. We came backstage and I thought he was going to cry.

It's like one of the first times I felt bad for the commissioner in my life. It's just a mistake. It's not a big deal. But that's a tough one. And Jumbo was great about it, too. Jumbo kind of laughed. But that's, it wasn't a teleprompter mistake, was it? No, I think it's just, the teleprompter is at that thing is way at the back of the room.

So maybe it's hard to read sometime if you're doing it doing a thing. Well, I don't know. I think we should cut all commissioners a lot of slack. Exactly. Everyone's just trying to have a good time. That's right. Everyone's trying to have a good time. Well, Stu Johnson with us, Commissioner of the CFL, James Duffy with us here as well. And, J.D., you're a part of the production.

Thank you. Thank you again. Running gag. Let's leave him alone. Yeah, come on, guys. Let's show him some love here. You've hosted the Grey Cups so many times in your career, and you're obviously thinking of the production,

and you were joking, Stu, about flying into Great Cup cities in the past and allowing the production to do what it does. As a commissioner, I'm curious, what you put more emphasis in on Sunday. Will it be the actual game itself, like how it plays? Is it a close game? Are both teams healthy, playing well, suspenseful? I know your objective. It's not about one team winning or the other.

Or is it the details of the event, because the event is as big as it gets. It is. I mean, Great Cup week is the event, and then it finishes with the ultimate finale in the game. So the game on the field, I want two teams battling it out, stay healthy, great officiating, and a close game at the end, and I'm great with the game. But because this is such a massive event, and there's so much interest of national importance, we want to make sure it comes off well. So working with a broadcast partner, make sure that those pictures look fantastic and show off this amazing game in the best possible way.

So in saying that, is it, do you go up to death and say, like, in years past, this was terrible, what you did so make it better this year? Yes, because I held off telling him that in my previous life. I've got a laundry list now. Well, the truth is the one thing he would usually say to me on Grey Cup Sunday is make sure you grill the commissioner. Yeah, right. And that's true because one thing I love about TSN, the bosses never interfere in what we say, never tell us what to do, even though the partners with the league. And so that's one of my jobs on Sunday, and now he's got to be on the other end of it.

How do you prepare for the Duthy treatment on Sunday? Well, I'm going to drink a lot on Saturday night. Maybe Sunday morning. Maybe Sunday morning, get myself ready. James has always been a very fair broadcaster and asked just very straightforward questions. No, I'm looking forward to it. He is, I think, you would all agree, the best broadcast. He's sucking up.

One of one. Oh, thank you. All right. All right. Thank you. We'll clap for them. Duffy country. That's it.

Duffy country. Just remember that on Sunday. Yeah, I'm going to open up with these rule changes are a joke. Well, the rule changes, I mean, you talk about a wave of optimism, pessimism, everything in between. People had a lot of reaction. You know, did some of the rule changes, the details of, you know, the field and the benches going on different sides and the end zones, et cetera. Nathan Mork in particular, we interviewed you shortly after Nathan was not overly happy with the decisions that you made to, you know, take the league in a certain direction. And last night he wins the MOPs, maybe the face of the CFL right now.

Have you had a chance to catch up with Nathan? And if so, where to things stand with the players around the league in terms of where you're kind of taking the sport? Yeah, look, I was at the awards last night. I got to see Nathan chat with him before the awards and then afterwards holding his two beautiful trophies and gave him big congratulations. Really nice connection, nice conversation. He's focused on the BC Lions

and where they're going to go next year. And I think we've had a great understanding and kind of where each other's perspective is. And I think what he's hearing from me and certainly what he would have heard today is these changes are about enhancing our game. They're not about changing our game. And that's our focus.

And when I look at the two quarterbacks playing in the game on Sunday, both of them have been very supportive of the things we're trying to do. I talk to player agents. They tell me all their clients are super pumped about where we can go as a league. And today we just announced, you know, a brand new overhaul of our website. We're going to have a new app. We're going to launch a season-long fantasy game. All things to engage our fans in what our game is.

and I think there's just a lot of excitement about that. Yeah, well, I read that today and I noticed a lot of positive reaction to it. I sense there's been people that have been calling for that for quite some time, linking the fantasy, making sure the technology is where it has to be in 2025. So if you are a fan and you're hearing that, like how do you emphasize the fantasy in particular? Because it's such a huge part of pro sports today, whether it's the NFL, NHL, every league has got to have it. You guys have it now, but how do you make sure everyone's exposed to it?

Well, you guys are going to do a great job promoting it for us. Absolutely. Yes, we're going to get you on teams as well. Yeah. We think that through all our channels, whether it's with our great partners here at TSN and RDS, and certainly our own channels and other partner channels, we are going to promote it. Everyone's going to know we've got season-long fantasy, and that really is the gateway to fandom. And I think for football, in particular, out of all those sports, it's just so important.

You pick your teams, you have your draft, and you move forward, and week to week. You know all about fantasy. It just keeps you engaged, and I can't wait to see it come together. So in terms of plans, you know, these are pretty significant, you know, and I don't see any drawback from the website, from the fantasy. I think that'll be very, very well received. How quickly do you dive into more changes? Like, what is your appetite for, you know, that next move,

considering, you know, how substantial these have been and the reaction they've all kind of had over the last couple of months? Well, look, I'm going to let us all breathe for a little bit. But I know the folks at the league officer are pretty tired of me asking one question over and over. Why do we do that? Why? Let's just answer. Don't do anything because you've always done it before.

Let's ask why we're doing it. We're in a modern world. Let's figure out where we're going to go. And the answer could be because this is the best plan. This is the best option. That's great. I don't think anybody should be afraid of change. And we're not looking at any rule changes, but just how we run our business and the website, our relationship with the provincial

organization, football organizations, with football Canada, with how we're going to drive flag football in schools. Super exciting stuff. And that's where I want to see us go. J.D., you just perked up with the flag football. Yeah, he was a star. That's your wheelhouse. Here we go. Well, I just, the Olympics thing just happened

like 10 years too late. I think I would have been there if it was, you know, 2016. I agree. But, well, it's not going to happen for me this time. And CFL players eligible for the Olympic Games? Absolutely. So what's going to, I wanted to save this for Sunday, but this is the one I'll ask. So if Nathan Rourke, say, is the quarterback for Canada at the Olympics,

you're not, like, it's not shutting down the league like the NHL is, right? He'll just miss a couple of games? Look, it's 2028, so the announcement we want to make is they're going to be there. They're going to participate. We're going to work. Yeah, absolutely. Let's hear it for that. How big an opportunity is this for our players and our game to be available for that team?

So let's just say that is happening. how we handle it. We're going to work with the CFLPA. We're going to talk about kind of how things can roll out. I think the two obvious ways to handle it is, one is you play right through like they do in soccer when teams move out, or you shut down. I think most likely we power right through

looking forward to those discussions. There's only 10 players on a team. There might only be three CFL players or something that play in it, right? Right. No, exactly. Because you have Canadians playing in the NFL that could play. Sure.

Yeah, you've mentioned a guy. Nathan Rourke. I mean, that's pretty difficult to fulfill that guy's role if he's going to miss a game or two, unless you're going to step in. I'm just saying. You're claiming it could be you. It's not out of reach. Right. And it is a few years away, so you have time to figure that out. But in terms of, you know, what that could mean for your league, I'm sure you're having dreams of that already. We are. And that way, you know, when we presented that to the board and we said, we know it's 2025, we're talking about 2028, but I think it's really important for us to get the message out now,

that we are committed, that however it's going to work. out. If a team's going to miss a player for a couple of weeks, we're okay with that. All nine lead governors said, absolutely. We're in on that. This is too important an opportunity. We will manage whatever the fallout is, the fact that it happens in the middle of our season. That's okay. We'll figure it out. Well, we've been in Winnipeg the last couple of days. We had the nail gun on yesterday speaking about this market and the importance of the CFL and how, you know, the sellouts and the stadium and how just rabid the fan bases out here. I mean, you've known that for a long time, obviously. But now that you're the commissioner and you can get behind, you know, under the hood, so to speak.

How great of a Canadian football league market is Winnipeg? Well, look, this is a model for all other markets to follow. What the bombers have done in the last 10 years is so impressive. Huge credit to Wade Miller, president of the bombers, but also to this fan base. They have stepped up. They know football. They love football. And they support this team.

It is so impressive. And I want to share best practices with you. other eight markets, all of whom do great things, but Winnipeg's pretty special. Well, we were joking that we flew in here to take Mike O'Shea back to Toronto with us. That's our plan. It went over really well yesterday. Wow. People here really didn't want to hear that.

That was awful talk out of your mind. There seems to be a lot of shuffling going on. I saw Ryan Dinwiddie today, and, you know, he's pretty ecstatic with his new role in Ottawa, and we'll see what happens with O'Shea. But, you know, how closely do you have to follow that stuff in terms of the coaching carousal in the league? Well, very closely. I mean, we've got clear policies in place on who can talk to whom, when.

They have to clear it with the league office. They have to clear it amongst teams. Everything has happened above board. And so these conversations happen. What I love is the discussion about the league that continues, right? This is more talk of the CFL. And the more we are all talking about the CFL, the happier I am. And hopefully the result of Mike O'Shea lands in a place where everyone's happy in this bar.

Yes, I'm sure they will be. But however it lands, we've got great coaches, and they're in high demand, and I love to see the way this is playing out. There you go. Nice. Well, J.D., you're in great cup mode, so that means you're not necessarily focused on the Leafs, but do you know who's on the panel with you on Tuesday night? Oh, is it overdrive night?

I think it's coming up pretty soon. I think it's a cut out of the back. I think maybe we were supposed to announce that next week. Yeah, I just completely threw that out. I'll be on the schedule. I'm just letting everyone know. like Duffy in particular. I'll be hung over from this so I can just

just like this segment. I'll just shut up and let you guys do your things. I was going to say, why did you even come out? We wanted to talk to the commission. All of a sudden, you sit down. That's so uncalled for. Because Duffy's been booked for weeks. You're going to have to go back.

You're going to have to go back on the show to see who got everybody to boo people in that coming out. Who do you think we'll give you one guess? Either him or him. It might have been ready. It's ready. He's been riding a tight ship out here. The only thing you can do to make me feel

better and make things right is to tell everybody in the bar to show up at McNally Robinson bookstore tonight at seven at seven o'clock yeah all right there I can't believe you did that I told you that's the only reason he wanted to come on there open the code I'm telling you there it is there's the book we're plugging books we're plugging books as we should how many books is that for you now JD five my wife always says I'm the only person who's written more books than I've read so there you go okay five books that's pretty impressive thank you is I noticed he didn't bring any for us, but that's okay. He has one.

Did you like the long pause when you asked how many? Let me just think. Oh, I know. Shakespeare over here. Oh, how many is it? Am I in this one? Am I in this book? You're in this book?

You're both chapters. Certified beauties. Certified beauty. Terrific stories. A chapter about Odog getting in trouble staying out late in L.A. Chapter about noodles kind of getting in trouble staying out in L.A. So there's a common thread between the two of them. L.A. is the trouble.

Yeah, I can imagine. All right, guys. Well, great seeing the both of you. Thank you for doing this. And enjoy each other's company on Sunday. Don't know why I was here, but thank you for having. No idea why I was here. Great cup coming up.

TSN, CTV on Sunday. J.D. will be running the whole operation. And the commissioner of Stu Johnson, of course, will be there. Great seeing you guys. Thanks for coming by. Stu Johnston, James Duffy. Duffy Country. There we go.

We got everyone behind you. And we got a plug for your book signing later to Saturday. That's all worthwhile now. It's all worthwhile. It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas. with I Heart the Holidays Non-stop Christmas music 24-7 All your festive favorites

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