BC Lions...Finishing Ahead a Disadvantage?

With only one week left in the CFL regular season, the playoff match-ups are already set. The BC Lions will be facing the Saskatchewan Roughriders. What’s left to be determined is whether the Lions will get to host the Roughriders at BC Place or if they’ll be heading to Saskatchewan.

BC Lions Huddle

While BC and Saskatchewan are currently tied in points, the Lions hold the tiebreaker and will gain homefield advantage, if the two teams end up with identical point totals. The schedule favours Saskatchewan as they will play in Toronto against the lowly Argos. The Lions will face the Stampeders in Calgary as their last regular season opponent. A Roughriders loss or a Lions win will clinch 2nd place for BC.

The Edmonton Eskimos will finish 4th in the West and due to the crossover format adopted several years ago by the CFL, they will takeover the 3rd place slot in the East and will face the 2nd place Bluebombers in Winnipeg. The crossover format allows the Eskimos to literally “cross over” into the standings of the other conference because they have more points than the Argonauts and the Hamilton Ti-cats.

It’s a positive thing that the CFL’s format permits the best teams in the league to make the playoffs regardless of what conference they’re in. However, critics might argue that the Lions and Roughriders are at a disadvantage for finishing ahead of the Eskimos.
As mentioned, the Lions and Roughriders who currently hold records of 11-6, will face each other.

On the other hand, the 4th place Eskimos will face the Bombers who currently hold a dismal 7-10 record.

Seemingly, the Eskies get rewarded by having to face a team with a weaker regular season record in the opening round of the playoffs for finishing behind the Stamps, Leos and Riders.

The team that seems to benefit the most out of this is the Bombers, who despite their record, will not only be in the playoffs by default as the Argos were eliminated weeks ago, but will also get home field advantage in the opening round.