Explaining the CFL's weather protocol after Roughriders' postponement
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However, due to wildfire smoke blanketing the air around Regina's Mosaic Stadium, the contest was postponed — following a nearly four-hour delay — until Saturday at 2 p.m. after the air quality health index (AQHI) didn't meet the CFL's official guidelines to play.
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Under the CFL's official weather protocol, games can't be played when the AQHI is eight or above. However, the CFL doesn't currently have anything in their weather protocol surrounding delays due to wildfire smoke before the game starts, which is something that will likely be addressed in the coming week — before the situation happens again.
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The lack of clarity surrounding the situation on Friday left fans in attendance and players in the locker room wondering when the game could potentially get underway. The game was then officially postponed at 10:45 p.m.
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'That sucked. It wasn't fun,' Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris said after the teams played on Saturday. 'We're sitting there and we're trying to figure out what the protocols are.
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'They can only delay it three hours, but that pertains only to lightning. And then it was like, 'OK, well now we've got this mini-game that we play before (the next meeting). You're trying to figure it out.
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'I always tell people, there's a reason you sign a tenant agreement when you rent a house, it's because people have things happen.
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'And now this will probably be something in the (collective bargaining agreement) that we'll have to address because that was not fun … We were sitting in the locker room since 5 p.m. and we're talking about teeing it up at 11:15, it's like, 'Hey, this is probably a player safety issue where we're sitting in the locker room for six hours and then go out and warm up for 20 minutes and play and be done at 2:15 in the morning.'
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'That doesn't make a lot of sense, right? And so, I'm sure the league will do a great job responding in terms of creating a creating a protocol and an answer for us as you'd expect a very professional league (to do).'
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In the CFL's current weather protocol, the only guideline surrounding wildfire smoke is that players cannot take to the field for warm-ups or a game if the air quality health index is eight or above. Each stadium is equipped with multiple air quality sensors that measure real-time data and any activity will be halted or not allowed to start like on Friday night.
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