CFL Beat: Your 2026 Season Overview

Hello all – after almost six months away, the CFL Beat makes its glorious return this week! I’m looking forward to another year of covering the ridiculous sport of Canadian football for all of you; I have sincerely missed my writing responsibilities this past little while. As I head into a teaching sabbatical this upcoming year (though with the spectre of parental leave and grad school now looming over my head in its place), I look forward to jumping back into things as full swing as I can muster, considering the needs of a baby and voluminous amounts of other reading and writing to fit into my calendar. Without further ado, let’s get you all prepped and up to speed on what to expect from north of the 49th parallel this year in the world of football.

WELCOME (BACK) TO THE CFL!

The first-ever CFL Beat, from 2016, provides some more specifics than what I will be listing below, but if you’re unfamiliar with the sport or are looking for a quick refresher, here are some of the most important things to know:

• The league was founded in 1958, though teams have competed for the Grey Cup, Canadian football’s top prize, since 1909.
• There are nine teams organized into two divisions, each playing an 18-game regular season. The division winners each get a bye into the second round of the playoffs.
• Among the most important rule differences between the NFL and CFL: only 3 downs, field is 110 yards long by 65 yards wide, each team plays 12 players a side instead of 11, defense starts 1 yard back from the line of scrimmage, kicks/punt returners get 5 yards of buffer zone to make a catch, missed field goals that leave the end zone are called rouges and are worth one point – they are hilarious when they occur. (You can check out the full list of rule differences in 2016’s welcoming article, or here on Wikipedia if you’re curious.) That said, there are a significant number of rule changes coming to the league which are going to be phased in over this season and next, which I’ll get into in a moment.

Next week, I’ll be giving the preview for all of the East Division teams, followed by the West Division teams the week after. Week 1 of the regular season kicks off on Thursday, June 4th, with the Montreal Alouettes and Hamilton Tiger-Cats squaring off at 7:30 PM EDT at Hamilton Stadium.

The 113th Grey Cup is being hosted in Calgary this year at McMahon Stadium. The Stampeders last hosted the league’s title game back in 2019, when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeated a heavily favoured Hamilton Tiger-Cats team by a score of 33-12, and QB Zach Collaros, acquired at the trade deadline by Winnipeg, spurred the unlikely late-season push and playoff run to claim the franchise’s first title since 1990. This may well be the final time we see the aging stadium host the Grey Cup – talks about the future of the facility in Calgary, as well as a new permanent home for the Stampeders and University of Calgary Dinos, who own the land and facility, remain up in the air.

As for your favoUrite team? Well, just hang on for the previews coming out over the next two weeks! Hopefully you’ll be all up to speed very soon.

2026 POINTS OF INTEREST

• Last year, former TSN executive Stewart Johnston became the CFL’s 15th commissioner and immediately set a plan in place to drastically remake the game of Canadian football to attract more fans, higher TV ratings, and more revenue. This has been extremely controversial; a lot of fans are extremely upset with the rule changes that are being gradually introduced over the next two seasons. I wrote about this last year when they were initially announced, but here’s a brief reminder of how the game is going to be different this year and next compared to seasons previous:

• I have been on the record about hating these rule changes, as I feel that it completely devalues the unique history and evolution of the sport of Canadian football. In my opinion, league marketing has been getting it wrong for decades by trying to compare this league to the American game; it has never been that, despite the obvious similarities present, and, in all honesty, shouldn’t try to be an American game. Moreover, it pretty much completely does away with the return game; with the goalposts now in the back of the end zone, missed kicks become essentially impossible to return unless they’re short, which is rare. In the same manner that obvious similarities are present between rugby and Aussie rules, for example, no discerning fan would mistake the two for each other, and while the athletes unquestionably have similar skill sets, at the end of the day, nobody would ever suggest that a team in one league try to mimic a team in an entirely different league. All of what’s present here feels very much on its face like full intention to Americanize the game; I do understand that there’s a market cap present due to the vast population size difference between our nations, but at the same, considering the method in which economic and political forces operate, hitching your product’s wagon to the fate of American audiences over Canadian ones feels like a short-sighted business manouevre.
• The league also announced very recently, on the day of the CFL Draft, no less, that there will be sweeping changes made to the league’s playoff format beginning in the 2027 season. Under the current format, the league’s two division winners qualify for an automatic bye into the division finals, and will play the winner of the divisional semifinal game. In the event that the fourth-place team of one division finishes with a better record than the third-place team of the other division, that fourth-place team will cross over and take the final playoff spot ahead of that third-place team.

• This is patently ridiculous. The concept of eight teams in a nine-team league qualifying for the post-season is an absurd farce that completely devalues regular-season play. When we look at a number of recent seasons gone by, it has not been uncommon to have multiple teams at the bottom of the league finish with records as low as 4-14, or even worse in some instances. So you’re telling me now that through the intricacies of math, one of these teams is still somehow going to compete in the postseason? Not only that, but the concept of playoffs not all entirely being single-elimination circumstances is also completely crazy to me. I understand the desire for more revenue and higher TV ratings – I really do – but this is making a complete mockery of any competitive balance in play across the league. I am not alone in hating this – I have zero doubt.
• In the final changes for the 2027 season from the league’s current setup, officials announced that the start of the season will be moved up by several weeks, to begin in 2027 on the Victoria Day long weekend in May, rather than the first week of June. This would mark the earliest start to the league in its history; it also means that the Grey Cup would be played in early November rather than late November, which is potentially useful from a weather perspective. However, it does potentially reduce the importance of Thanksgiving weekend games by placing them in Week 21 – and probably not having them at all on the holiday Monday, as has been tradition. Moreover, since it moves the offseason calendar up as well, it also likely means the CFL Draft will now have to take place before the NFL one, which is a huge pain for GMs concerned about drafting Canadians with NFL potential who may not even necessarily sign right away with their rightsholders if they land an NFL contract quickly – essentially wasting picks in these instances.
• This is the final year of the league’s current TV deal with broadcaster TSN, owned fully by parent company Bell Media; with rights for a new deal currently being negotiated, it will be interesting to see what the new numbers for the league may hold in terms of being able to generate viewership and revenue for rightsholders. It’s expected to jump, but the big question is by how much. TSN reporter Farhan Lalji did note that negotiations are currently taking place, and while it seems likely that TSN will probably re-up with the league to broadcast all or almost all of the games, the league may also opt to go with a secondary broadcaster such as Amazon or Netflix to see if they can continue to expand their audience, particularly internationally. Whenever streaming services get involved, there almost always seems to be a significant revenue jump; in particular, Amazon getting involved might end up being a very good thing for the CFL, as their sports broadcasts – most notably Thursday night NFL football and Monday night NHL hockey have been really very good since signing agreements with those respective leagues. Finally, the current CFL collective bargaining agreement, which is set to expire in 2029, does have an opt-out clause for the CFLPA at the end of this season – when those TV rights are officially up again. Having won partially guaranteed contracts and a revenue-sharing formula in their last round of negotiations from a few years ago, perhaps their strong bargaining positions have some further info that the rest of us are not yet privy to.

2025 STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

Passing Yards

1. 1. Mitchell, HAM – 5296
   2. Rourke, BC – 5290
   3. Harris, SSK – 4549

Passing TDs

1. 1. Mitchell, HAM – 36
   2. Rourke, BC – 31
   3. Arbuckle, TOR – 26

Rushing Yards

1. 1. Mills, CGY – 1409
   2. Ouellette, SSK – 1222
   3. Butler, BC – 1213

Receiving Yards

1. 1. Hatcher, BC – 1688
   2. Lawler, HAM – 1443
   3. McInnis, BC – 1256

Defensive Tackles

1. 1. Awe, BC – 117
   2. Jones, WPG – 104
   3. Sankey, MTL – 103

Sacks

1. 1. Betts, BC – 15
   2. Howsare, HAM – 13
   3. Hicks, CGY – 12

Interceptions

1. 1. McFadden, TOR – 6
   2. Peters, HAM  – 6
   3. Katsantonis, HAM – 6

Field Goals

1. 1. Maltos Diaz, MTL – 58
   2. Hajrullahu, TOR – 57
   3. Liegghio, HAM – 52

2026 PICK ‘EM POOL

I will be running a pick ’em pool again this season – it’s open to readers from anywhere in the world! After many years on PoolTracker, we are making the jump over to OfficePoolJunkie for this year’s edition. If you’re interested in playing, just register here through the link below:

https://www.officepooljunkie.com/join.php?Pool=NFA9D4OXO6C2U0A1&Pass=57duHwincjTS

Congrats again to our 2025 winner,  Mr. Ayo, who led all contestants with 53 points last year – it was a very tight contest indeed! Maybe one of these years I’ll finally win my own pool. Maybe one of these years I’ll also remember to get all my picks in on time each week as well…

2025 Pool Results

And with that, tune in next week to check out previews of the East Division teams – Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Hamilton. Maestro out!