Roughriders cancel practices as CFL work stoppage continues

TORONTO (AP) — The Saskatchewan Roughriders became the fourth Canadian Football League team to cancel training-camp practices after the league and its players broke off negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement.

The Montreal Alouettes, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts canceled practices on Sunday, a day after negotiations halted, putting players on seven of the league's nine teams in a legal strike position.

Players for the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Elks won't be in a legal strike position until later this week under Alberta's labor laws.

Hamilton players planned to stand outside the team's stadium in a show of unity on Tuesday.

The ratio of Canadian players on team rosters appears to be a sticking point in the negotiations. The previous agreement called for 21 Canadians on each roster, with at least seven being starters. The CFL is proposing that an American who has been in the league for at least four years or played with the same team for at least three years would count as a Canadian toward those totals.