The Canadian Football League (CFL), the top-flight gridiron football competition, has struck a pair of major broadcast deals, both at home and internationally, ahead of its 2026 campaign.
Domestically, long-term broadcast partner Bell Media has reaffirmed its commitment to the CFL with a new “extensive” six-year agreement that will run through the 2032 campaign.
Beginning with the 2027 campaign onwards, Bell Media’s sports-focused TSN, French-language RDS, and national CTV linear network brands, and the Crave OTT streaming service, will all cover a total of 60 combined games through each season, of which 25 regular-season games will be provided in French on RDS.
The slate will be made up of three weekly broadcasts, including the prominent Thursday and Friday night broadcast windows, followed by six of the eight post-season playoff games, and the season-ending Grey Cup, which Bell Media will retain on an exclusive basis.
Speaking on the deal, CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston said: “This is a transformative agreement for the future of the CFL in Canada. Our league would not be where it is today without our long history of partnership and support with Bell Media.
“With their unrivaled scale and reach, we have delivered the game to fans from across Canada, igniting a burning passion for Canadian football. We look forward to building upon these foundations to reach new heights together.”
The CFL has also struck a major new broadcast agreement with international OTT streaming service DAZN.
That deal, also beginning in 2027, will span the Canadian and international markets, with the service picking up domestic rights in the country for Saturday night games across the regular season, and two post-season playoff games in that slot also.
DAZN will produce the coverage and deliver it alongside its own broadcast team.
Internationally, DAZN will hold even more rights, showcasing every game from the series, including the playoffs and the Grey Cup, worldwide (excluding the US market).
Furthermore, outside of North America, DAZN will offer CFL coverage for free as part of its burgeoning ‘freemium’ content strategy.
Johnston added of the DAZN deal: “From our first conversations, they have been steadfast in their pursuit of the CFL. That drive and passion for our game, combined with their cutting-edge capabilities, an unwavering commitment to football and unparalleled global reach, will deliver a new viewing experience for all CFL fans, while introducing broader audiences to Canadian football."
With the 2027 season set to be the first of the CFL’s new playoff format, continued playoff coverage is a strong vote of confidence from Bell Media, which has broadcast CFL action since 1986, and DAZN.
The CFL has also expanded the playoffs to now include eight of the nine CFL teams, up from the current six.
This will be facilitated by the addition of a preliminary playoff round, in which the top two teams in each division will face off against each other, with the winner earning a bye to the third round (the division finals), while the losers will enter the second round (the division semi-finals) where they will face the winner of a game between the 3rd and 4th-placed finishers in each division that will also take place in the preliminary round.
So too will the CFL alter its annual calendar, with the season now set to begin in May on the Victoria Day weekend (the last weekend preceding May 25), making it the competition’s earliest ever start.
The CFL and CFLPA had already agreed on several changes that will be enacted in the 2027 campaign, including the reduction in field size from 100.5 meters (110 yards) to 91.4, with end zones shortened to 13.7 meters, and goalposts moved from the goal line to the back of the end zone.
All of this, the CFL says, is in service of increasing the number of touchdowns scored in each game, which it naturally hopes will increase interest in the viewing product.
The addition of an extra play-off round also grants the league more broadcasting inventory that it can sell to networks, which it has now done.
