TORONTO (AP) — The Canadian Football League and the CFL Players’ Association broke off negotiations on a collective bargaining agreement Saturday, hours before before the previous deal expired at midnight.
The move came after the two sides met for roughly 16 hours into the night Friday, then returned to the bargaining table Saturday morning. The current agreement was reached in 2019 and amended last year to allow the league to have a 14-game season.
Training camps are scheduled to open Sunday, but the union directed players from seven of of the CFL’s nine teams to participate in a work stoppage beginning at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.
Edmonton Elks and Calgary Stampeders players will report to camp but will join the work stoppage once provincial labor laws allow. And while the union said Montreal Alouettes players won’t report Sunday, there’s confusion regarding whether Quebec labor laws would put them in a legal strike position.
Negotiations resumed negotiations Wednesday, six days after the CFLPA rejected the CFL’s first proposal. The lone previous CFL strike came in 1974 and was resolved before the season.
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