Edmonton Elks’ quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson could offer no explanation for his team’s 0-6 start following Friday’s 20-14 loss to the Ottawa Redblacks but had plenty to say about the CFL’s schedule instead.
“I’m pretty out of words in terms of discussing that game but what I am interested in talking about is what I got fined for a couple of weeks ago,” Bethel-Thompson told team broadcaster 630 CHED post-game, immediately after making similar comments to TSN.
“I don’t know how many season-ending injuries we had tonight, I don’t know how many Ottawa had tonight, but there’s no reason two teams should play each other five [days] apart. It’s the same teams. It’s ridiculous and the fact that that’s our schedule — it’s a nine-team league. It’s a shame. It’s a shame on everybody. They should have to go through that rehab, the people that made that schedule. It’s just embarrassing and it’s ridiculous. Obviously, a super frustrating loss but the bigger picture of it is ‘Why?’”
The Elks and Redblacks last played on Sunday, July 14 in Edmonton, with the visitors prevailing 37-34. Due to a quirk in the schedule, the second part of the home-and-home series was played in Ottawa on July 19, providing just five days between games.
Short weeks have been a hot topic of discussion this season since Bethel-Thompson called out the CFL for a “lack of leadership” ahead of the Elks’ Week 4 loss to the B.C. Lions, suggesting that the five-day turnaround disregarded player safety. The 35-year-old quarterback was fined an undisclosed amount by the league for his comments, though that punishment does not seem to have diminished his passion for the topic.
“I’ll probably get fined for it again and I don’t care,” he told the media. “It’s disgusting. It’s a five-day week and how many career-ending injuries or serious injuries happened tonight? It’s a shame. It’s a travesty. I got fined for protecting my brothers. I got fined for protecting players. We’re on a five-day week against the same team, you couldn’t add two days to it?”
Edmonton lost rookie defensive lineman Antonio Alfano for the season in the B.C. game following Bethel-Thompson’s first rant and several more players were forced to exit Friday’s game early. Elks’ defensive lineman Samuel Acheampong and safety Scott Hutter both went down with apparent lower body injuries and offensive lineman Hunter Steward suffered a head injury. Redblacks’ returner Tobias Harris also had to be carted off in the fourth quarter after his leg was twisted up in a gang tackle.
While Hutter’s injury was the only one that appeared to be non-contact, the increasingly sparse bench provided more anecdotal evidence against short weeks. In Week 6, the Montreal Alouettes lost their first game of the year after quarterback Cody Fajardo went down with an apparent hamstring injury after a similar turnaround. That came after head coach Jason Maas told the Montreal Gazette that “football’s not meant to be played with five days’ rest” and said that the scheduling doesn’t benefit anyone. It remains unclear whether the reigning Grey Cup MVP will be able to play next week.
“I just feel so terrible for the guys that now have to go through surgery, go through rehab. It’s easy to sit in the ivory tower and plan some schedule and think that they’ll be just fine. These are human lives that you’re dealing with,” Bethel-Thompson continued.
“Those are careers. Those are professionals that are providing for their families through this game and to put them in that position is just embarrassing. It’s a shame, it shouldn’t happen. It’s not necessary. There’s got to be a better way.”
The CFL has not issued an official statement on the criticism of short weeks, though sources familiar with the scheduling process told 3DownNation that the games were booked in accordance with the guidelines laid out in the collective bargaining agreement. The overall balance of rest days is also the highest it has ever been in the league, with both Edmonton and Montreal going on bye weeks immediately following their first short week.
While no official injury data has been made available for the CFL, a 2020 study in the American Journal of Sports Medicine (Perez et al.) found that Thursday night NFL games between 2013 and 2016 featured fewer injuries on average than Sunday contests. A similar study from 2023 in the Journal of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine (Sharma et al.) found a slight uptick in reported injuries for NFL games on short weeks between 2011 and 2015, though it also concluded that shortened recovery “does not have significant effect on injury rates.” Neither paper examined the severity of the injuries which occurred in those games.
The NFL’s Thursday Night Football cycle is one day shorter than the CFL’s five-day short weeks, though that does not seem to placate Bethel-Thompson. While defenders of the league’s current Thursday through Sunday slate point to it as a boon for television rating and fan engagement, he believes there is more to be lost than gained.
“You’re talking about a business and you’re spending more money to fix people than you are just paying attention to it. It’s ridiculous,” the veteran pivot insisted. “I wish better for this league. It’s unacceptable. Address the player safety issue, address it right in the frickin’ face. It’s just sloppy.”
Edmonton has three short weeks scheduled this season and will again face the same team within five days when they host the Calgary Stampeders on September 7 for the Labour Day rematch.
They’ll get nine days of rest this week before taking on Hamilton on July 28, while the Redblacks will suit up in seven days against Calgary on July 26 before going on a bye in Week 9.
