The 2025 CFL season is scheduled to be the 71st season of modern professional Canadian football. Officially, it would be the 67th season of the Canadian Football League. Winnipeg is scheduled to host the 112th Grey Cup on November 16, 2025.[1][2]
| 2025 CFL season | |
|---|---|
| Duration | June 5 – October 25, 2025 |
| 112th Grey Cup | |
| Date | November 16, 2025 |
| Venue | Princess Auto Stadium, Winnipeg |
CFL news in 2025
editSalary cap
editAccording to the new collective bargaining agreement, the 2025 salary cap was scheduled to be set at $5,650,000.[3][4][5] However, on February 5, 2025, the league announced that the salary cap would grow by $412,365 to reach $6,062,365 (or $134,719 per active roster spot).[6] The increase was driven by the revenue growth sharing model which first went into effect in 2024, but this was the first year that it impacted the salary cap.[4][6] The cap excludes unlimited non-football related services payments and preseason and playoff bonus money.[3] The minimum player salary will be set at $70,000, which remains unchanged since 2023.[4][5] It was reported that the revenue growth was not determined until the last week of January and the CFL Player's Association was required to determine how they wanted the money applied, with options including increases to the salary cap, playoff bonuses, training camp stipends, and pension contributions.[7] The timing of the announcement was questionable since the free agency negotiating window had begun three days prior with teams operating with the old salary cap figure.[7]
Commissioner change
editOn October 26, 2024, the league announced Randy Ambrosie's intention to retire following the 2024 CFL season.[8] Ambrosie agreed to remain as commissioner, likely until sometime in 2025, until a successor has been named.[8]
Scheduling
editThe schedule, released on January 16, 2025, was the latest schedule release date since the 2017 season.[9] On January 11, 2025, it was reported that the CFL will not host any neutral site Touchdown Series games this season.[10] However, on February 6, 2025, it was announced that the Lions would host their preseason game in Langford, British Columbia at Starlight Stadium.[11] The 2025 preseason will occur from May 19 to May 30, the regular season will happen between June 5 and October 25, and the postseason will take place from November 1 to the 112th Grey Cup on November 16.[12] After the 2024 season featured Sunday night games for the first 13 weeks of the season, the 2025 schedule will have Sunday night games from week 4 to week 8 before shifting to Saturday afternoon games for 12 of the final 13 weeks of the regular season.[13][14] This change helped contribute to a focus on afternoon games for clubs with 23 games starting at 4:00pm local time or earlier, compared to 16 such games from 2024.[12] The league will also debut the Stampede Bowl this year, to be hosted by the Calgary Stampeders on July 3, 2025, which is the day before the start of the Calgary Stampede.[12]
Player movement
editFree agency
editThe 2025 free agency period will officially begin on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, at 12:00 p.m. ET.[15] Pending free agents and teams are able to negotiate offers for one week starting Sunday, February 2, 2025, and ending Sunday, February 9, 2025.[16] All formal offers to a player during this time are sent to both the league and the players union and cannot be rescinded.[16][17]
Regular season
editStandings
edit| Team | GP | W | L | T | Pts | PF | PA | Div | Stk | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BC Lions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0–0 | – | Details |
| Calgary Stampeders | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0–0 | – | Details |
| Edmonton Elks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0–0 | – | Details |
| Saskatchewan Roughriders | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0–0 | – | Details |
| Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0–0 | – | Details |
| Team | GP | W | L | T | Pts | PF | PA | Div | Stk | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0–0 | – | Details |
| Montreal Alouettes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0–0 | – | Details |
| Ottawa Redblacks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0–0 | – | Details |
| Toronto Argonauts | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0–0 | – | Details |
Postseason
editPlayoff bracket
edit| November 1: Division Semi-Finals | November 8: Division Finals | November 16: 112th Grey Cup Princess Auto Stadium – Winnipeg | ||||||||||||
| E1 | ||||||||||||||
| East | ||||||||||||||
| E2 | ||||||||||||||
| E3/W4 | ||||||||||||||
| W1 | ||||||||||||||
| West | ||||||||||||||
| W2 | ||||||||||||||
| W3/E4 | ||||||||||||||
Broadcasting
editThe CFL will continue to be broadcast on TSN and RDS across all platforms in Canada as part of their current contract.[18] The broadcast rights are reported to have been extended through 2025.[19] CTV, CBS, and CFL+ will also have broadcast rights. Radio rights belong to team's local stations and SiriusXM.[20]
References
edit- ^ "112th Grey Cup in 2025 awarded to Winnipeg". Canadian Football League. March 14, 2023.
- ^ "Bombers announce 112th Grey Cup ticket pricing". Canadian Football League. August 16, 2024.
- ^ a b "Collective bargaining agreement" (PDF). cfldb.ca. Retrieved October 27, 2024.
- ^ a b c "Details of the CFL's new CBA: salary cap increases, ratio changes, and guaranteed contracts". 3DownNation. May 26, 2022.
- ^ a b "CFL commissioner Ambrosie feels new deal provides benefits for both CFL and players". The Globe and Mail. May 28, 2022.
- ^ a b "2025 Salary cap increase driven by 2024 league revenue growth". Canadian Football League. February 5, 2025.
- ^ a b "Naylor and Lalji: Answering the questions raised by the CFL's higher salary cap". TSN. February 5, 2025.
- ^ a b Barnes, Dan (October 26, 2024). "Randy Ambrosie to retire from role as CFL commissioner in 2025". Canadian Football League.
- ^ Dunk, Justin (January 8, 2025). "CFL still working on 2025 schedule, will be announced in 'coming weeks'". 3DownNation. Retrieved January 13, 2025.
- ^ 3Down Staff (January 11, 2025). "CFL won't hold neutral site Touchdown Series game in 2025: report". 3DownNation. Retrieved January 13, 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Lions Announce Pre-season Tilt In Langford". BC Lions. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- ^ a b c "CFL + Redtag.ca announce 2025 schedule". Canadian Football League. January 16, 2025.
- ^ "2025 Schedule". Canadian Football League. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
- ^ "2024 Schedule". Canadian Football League. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
- ^ "Ryan Dinwiddie would 'love' to have 111th Grey Cup MVP Nick Arbuckle back with Toronto Argonauts". 3DownNation. November 28, 2024.
- ^ a b "Negotiating window a new feature of 2020 free agency". Canadian Football League. January 27, 2020.
- ^ Dunk, Justin (January 27, 2020). "Details for the CFL's new negotiating window prior to free agency". 3DownNation.
- ^ "CFL and TSN extend rights on long-term deal". TSN. November 21, 2019.
- ^ Barnes, Dan (September 6, 2019). "BARNES: CFL agrees to new six-year TV deal with TSN". Toronto Sun.
- ^ "Where to Watch: 2025 CFL Broadcast Information". CFL.ca. Retrieved December 26, 2024.