CFL 2026 Season

[elly63]

Originally Posted by cjones2451

He can't denounce 4 down because its not up to him, if the BoG voted to do this in some bizarre world, he can't change that. He has gone on numerous shows podcasts, etc to say he did not handle that well and should have been more clear, which he committed that he and the BoG are committed to 3 downs, but guarantee is a loaded word.

Please tell me what stinks, what are the ulterior motives?

It was a very easy answer he could/should have given. I agree with him when he said never say never but he should have added "not under my watch" If the BOG went ahead that sentence would infer he would resign or get fired.

As for the ulterior motive, I don't know what it is, that's the problem.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by cjones2451

Someone made a comment long time ago about the CFL TV rating in the GTA doing well and relating it to porn, "everyone watches it, they just don't admit it"

Jim Hunt of the Toronto Sun and that was a long time ago. When I grew up nobody gave a shit about the NFL or Super Bowl but it's probably getting near decades where the Grey Cup has outdrawn the SuperBore. If the GTA had near the audience the CFL does in the west people would think the league was the greatest thing ever. I still remember the Buffalo sportswriter on Prime Time Sports marveling how the big area of Toronto submits itself to the small city of Buffalo, his words were "It should be the other way around"

[cjones2451]

Originally Posted by elly63

Jim Hunt of the Toronto Sun and that was a long time ago. When I grew up nobody gave a shit about the NFL or Super Bowl but it's probably getting near decades where the Grey Cup has outdrawn the SuperBore. If the GTA had near the audience the CFL does in the west people would think the league was the greatest thing ever. I still remember the Buffalo sportswriter on Prime Time Sports marveling how the big area of Toronto submits itself to the small city of Buffalo, his words were "It should be the other way around"

Yes, It was Jim Hunt

I think you make a great point. No other nation on earth has the influence of a neighbour (yes see what I did there) like Canada and the US. The NFL and increasingly the NCAA are such a juggernaut because of the sheer size, hype, etc. that it is understandable that people who are swept up in the hype bypass the CFL. So I think the league needed to make a bold move to try and get some of the hype and attention. Maybe it won't work and by 2030 things change back (who knows).

I just want the CFL to get its fair share of $$ and viewers. I can relate to a guy making $120K playing ball than making millions

[jonny24]

Originally Posted by cjones2451

I have seen that proposed elsewhere too, but let me ask you this. If not for the reasons I proposed, why would the league do this. Lets say for arguments sake it is for going after the US Market. Is that going to offer more security and financial upside that focusing on Canada. Every Spring League in the US has been a disaster and bleeds money (Any big US network that has partnered with the AAF/XFL/USFL/UFL has done it on a revenue sharing model so no up front money.
There is also season overlap and once College and NFL starts they would be dead in he water so so what would they do start in March - no chance!

Seeing the pushback on these changes, could you imagine if they did other rule changes, or eliminated the ratio or became an NFL farm system - it would die and the owners know this. They are not idiots, Stewart Johnston is not an idiot, he was still running TSN and resigned to become CFL Commish, so its not like he was fired.

So this whole they want to Americanize the game to get US TV dollars or US expansion does not make sense

If one is really reaching to say they are planning to stay in Canada and trying to appeal to NFL and American football fans to grow, that is a WAY bigger risk than what I have hypothesized

To be clear, you mean this?

Originally Posted by cjones2451

My hypothesis is there was urgency to get it done to have it ready for the new TV deal and they had to have some significant 'modernization' to get other networks (Prime, Netflix and possibly SN) to come to the table. Amazon Prime TV numbers for the NFL are huge, and at the presser yesterday they said they would like to get the new TV deal done before the season starts.

I think you are correct, in that US expansion is not it. But Prime/Netflix IS "chasing US TV Dollars", IMO.

I don't know the answers. But the shady way they've acted, and the flimsy explanations that don't hold up to any real scrutiny, make me think there must be [I]something[/I afoot].

If "change these rules and we'll have more bidders" is the reason, then somebody somewhere is an idiot.

Because I truly, truly believe that these rule changes will not bring in noticeable new fans or viewership.

We may see a chicken-or-egg scenario play out. Netflix comes in offers a pile of money for the TV contract. Guess whey they will do next? Promote the shit out of the CFL.

THAT would be what increases viewers, along with the more accessible technology and reach that Netflix has vs TV (let's not pretend TSN's streaming options are cutting-edge, here. It's expensive and sports-specific - a different market than Netflix).

If Netflix paid a huge pile of money then promoted the shit out of the league, with no rule changes, the exact same thing would happen.

So why are the changes required? Netflix thinks the changes will attract the fans they need for the deal to pay off? Then someone at Netflix is an idiot.

Netflix says it's okay either way, but they have big sponsor who won't come on board without the changes? Then someone at that sponsor is an idiot.

Somewhere down the line of who-pays-who, somebody thinks this will make a difference. And they are misguided.

Originally Posted by cjones2451

I think you make a great point. No other nation on earth has the influence of a neighbour (yes see what I did there) like Canada and the US. The NFL and increasingly the NCAA are such a juggernaut because of the sheer size, hype, etc. that it is understandable that people who are swept up in the hype bypass the CFL. So I think the league needed to make a bold move to try and get some of the hype and attention. Maybe it won't work and by 2030 things change back (who knows).

I can't help but think that becoming more similar is fundamentally the opposite of "bold".

[cjones2451]

Originally Posted by jonny24

To be clear, you mean this?



I think you are correct, in that US expansion is not it. But Prime/Netflix IS "chasing US TV Dollars", IMO.

I don't know the answers. But the shady way they've acted, and the flimsy explanations that don't hold up to any real scrutiny, make me think there must be [I]something[/I afoot].

If "change these rules and we'll have more bidders" is the reason, then somebody somewhere is an idiot.

Because I truly, truly believe that these rule changes will not bring in noticeable new fans or viewership.

We may see a chicken-or-egg scenario play out. Netflix comes in offers a pile of money for the TV contract. Guess whey they will do next? Promote the shit out of the CFL.

THAT would be what increases viewers, along with the more accessible technology and reach that Netflix has vs TV (let's not pretend TSN's streaming options are cutting-edge, here. It's expensive and sports-specific - a different market than Netflix).

If Netflix paid a huge pile of money then promoted the shit out of the league, with no rule changes, the exact same thing would happen.

So why are the changes required? Netflix thinks the changes will attract the fans they need for the deal to pay off? Then someone at Netflix is an idiot.

Netflix says it's okay either way, but they have big sponsor who won't come on board without the changes? Then someone at that sponsor is an idiot.

Somewhere down the line of who-pays-who, somebody thinks this will make a difference. And they are misguided.




I can't help but think that becoming more similar is fundamentally the opposite of "bold".

I don't think any of us truly know what will happen

No changes to me is a renewal of the TSN exclusive contract maybe $55M a year and people go on complaining TSN doesn't do enough for the league, love the NFL too much, blah, blah, blah

Or the changes appeal enough to other networks, and if non watchers of the league see CFL on Netflix or CFL on Prime (yes they are US based but have Canadian Divisions and are separate enough IMO) and people take notice and go wow, that's new, lets take a look.

I am trying to take "my view" of this out of my thinking and basing it on those that do not watch the CFL, I would watch a CFL no matter what network, even if it was still on CBC with the Orange Blazers.

I guess I meant bold as in taking a risk, because it is a risk and I feel the status quo is not going to help the long term success of the league. I am not sure what you do to get others to bid on the CFL rights as TSN has had them exclusively for such a long time.

Let me say that I do not think the rule changes themselves are going to do anything. Part 2 was announced at the Grey Cup, in a new website, CFL App and Year-long fantasy football which was needed, and like it or not better alignment and partnering with online sports gaming, and that is difficult to have them put up money on that when 2 of your 9 stadiums do not have regulation end zones.
Part 3 to come I feel is a league wide marketing plan, hopefully promoting the players more nationally.

Again, I am spit-balling, but am trying to look at it through a positive lens

[jonny24]

Originally Posted by cjones2451

I don't think any of us truly know what will happen

No changes to me is a renewal of the TSN exclusive contract maybe $55M a year and people go on complaining TSN doesn't do enough for the league, love the NFL too much, blah, blah, blah

Or the changes appeal enough to other networks, and if non watchers of the league see CFL on Netflix or CFL on Prime (yes they are US based but have Canadian Divisions and are separate enough IMO) and people take notice and go wow, that's new, lets take a look.

I just don't see how a rule change would have an impact on what interest another TV provider has.

Most sports have worldwide governing bodies that set the rules. Thinking like soccer or rugby. TV broadcasters bid for those without any say over the rules in a given league.

Let me say that I do not think the rule changes themselves are going to do anything. Part 2 was announced at the Grey Cup, in a new website, CFL App and Year-long fantasy football which was needed, and like it or not better alignment and partnering with online sports gaming, and that is difficult to have them put up money on that when 2 of your 9 stadiums do not have regulation end zones.
Part 3 to come I feel is a league wide marketing plan, hopefully promoting the players more nationally.

Parts 2 and 3 don't require the rule changes. Baseball has gambling and fantasy, and has different shaped fields.

It's laziness / cheapness on their part to not want to actually build out CFL-specific data. There's no way you can't analyze the data and quantify the different probabilities of Toronto's end zone, for example.

[elly63]

Questioning Johnston's dismissive approach and logic of the data (19:43) Dunk raises a good point about the shrinking endzone leading to lesser scoring (25:00). Sounds like ol' Stew didn't make it through his "100 day listening tour" before implementing major change.

• Video Link

[Hackslack]

Here is a video of all the riders throwing touchdowns from 2024, and from what saw there was only one definitive touch down throw that was beyond 15 yards at 4:55 ( which would not have counted if played in Toronto on one side of their field), and another that was basically right at the 15 yard mark at 5:25 of the video… the same exercise could easily be done by the CFL to actually come up with some data, over the course of the last number of seasons.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CFL/comment..._by/?rdt=35174


Here’s another compilation of all the throws (and kicks) hitting the uprights… lol at Masoli at 2:08 “man I wish they would just cut the uprights down” funny thing to is he hit the uprights Twice in the same half of the same game… at 7:30 a defender, Corey Banks?, damn near died at 7:30, likely had some head injury after running full speed into the upright ( an injury that just simply would not have happened if that immobile object was not there)… so funny at 8:25 the goal post got directly in the way of the defender that led to an easy catch by the receiver, another potential for injury…another injury at 9:50 with receiver running into the goalpost…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JmsgqpllU68

[BlackDog204]

I love the fact that Johnson and the CFL BOG think that the new changes will mean the league will see an increase of 60+ Touchdowns a year, so when it fails to happen, I can just laugh.

Spoiler: It's not going to happen.

[cjones2451]

Looks like league wide revenue was up $10M last year so the salary cap is going up by about $220K per team as well as $50K more for veteran players for training camp

https://www.cfl.ca/2026/01/23/2025-s...evenue-growth/

it will be interesting to see how much it will be next year with the new TV contract revenue as part of that calculation

[cjones2451]

Looks like Amar Doman is putting some big $$ to revamp the Lions practice facility, even though it will not be their long term home

https://www.bclions.com/2026/02/17/b...m_content=null

[cjones2451]

The combine, coach of the year banquet, Draft and Training Camp and pre-season coming up fast all within the next 100 days