CFL season to start on Victoria Day weekend in 2027, adds eight-team playoffs

Changes are coming to the Canadian Football League (CFL), beginning next year with season starting at the earliest date in its history.

The newly-announced changes include updates to the season schedule and changes to the league’s playoff format.

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In 2027, the season will begin on Victoria Day Weekend, “anchoring the start of each new CFL campaign with an iconic Canadian holiday and the unofficial start of summer,” the CFL said in an online statement announcing the changes.

“From May to Thanksgiving, long weekends will serve as defining moments in the regular season, creating new tentpole CFL traditions in addition to the league’s legendary Labour Day Weekend games,” the statement read.

The new start of the season will result in an earlier fall postseason to maximize warmer weather for fans attending games and playing conditions for players.

Saskatchewan Roughriders president and CEO Craig Reynolds said they were a big proponent of shifting the season up.

“I think you have to recognize the trends that are out there in terms of the at-home experience being good and, late in the season, watching the games at home. With the weather that much better early on in the season, it will help fill stadiums.

“With Saskatchewan weather, you don’t know what you’re going to get whether it’s 26 C when camp opens, or you’re going to get a snowstorm. Logistically, we will have to be prepared for that,” Reynolds said.

“We’ve been advocating this for a long time. I always go back to 2013. That Grey Cup Sunday was OK but had that game been on the Saturday, I don’t know what as a league we would have done. With those levels of temperatures, it’s not good, potentially not safe, for the fans and not good or safe for our players as well.

“Your odds of having a poor weather game in early November are just diminished versus late November or even mid-November. Your playoff games are going to be earlier, too. They are going to be in October and likely good weather games as well which will be better for fans and better for the on-field product as well.”

Commissioner Stewart Johnson said the CFL will be front and centre throughout the summer, with the league also “establishing CFL long weekends, from Victoria Day to Thanksgiving, to create can’t-miss events for fans in the stadium and those watching at home.”

Four additional playoff games are set to be added into the fall schedule for the league, also. Teams that finish in the top two positions in the divisions are guaranteed at least two playoff games.

Reynolds said the conversations around changing the playoff format started in the fall and carried on throughout the winter.

Playoffs will look very different for the CFL next summer. (CFL website)

Starting next season, the first- and second-place teams in each division will square off in first-round playoff games. The winners earn a bye to the Grey Cup semifinals and home-field advantage. The losers move to the second playoff round (elimination games).

Teams outside of the top-two divisional finishers will be seeded from No. 5 to No. 9, with the final seed not qualifying for post-season play.

The fifth and sixth seeds will host the seventh and eighth seeds for play-in games that will be held the same weekend as the divisional contests. The play-in winners advance to the second round while the losers are eliminated.

The following weekend, the division showdown losers will host the play-in victors. The winners go on to the Grey Cup semifinals while the losers are eliminated.

The division showdown victors will host the elimination game winners, with matchups based on regular-season records. The winners advance to the Grey Cup game, which will be held Nov. 7.

“It’s already hard to win the Grey Cup, I think this makes it harder,” Reynolds said. “Last year, we were advantaged by finishing first and winning one game to make the Grey Cup. Now you need to win at least two. Finishing first or second, certainly first, gives you an advantage because you’re going to have two home playoff games to help your chances to get to the Grey Cup.”

Reynolds acknowledges that there is thinking it could lessen the value of the regular season, but he believes the seeding will be very important for teams.

“The reality is when you finish eighth, that’s a tough road to get to the Grey Cup. With the reseeding each round, you have to essentially win four games on the road which is very, very challenging,” Reynolds said.

“Postseason re-seeding — regardless of division — and two victories being required to advance to the championship introduces the possibility of postseason rematches, and new playoff and Grey Cup clashes,” the CFL statement read.

“More games. More drama. More entertainment. That was the mission and that’s exactly what this format will deliver,” Johnson stated. “We’re raising the stakes so every game carries real consequences — more teams in the hunt, right to the end.”

The changes come after an agreement has been reached with the CFL Players’ Association (CFLPA) on the refreshed playoff format, with the new structure being integrated into the existing collective bargaining agreement, according to the league.

The NBA is one of several major sports leagues that have adopted a “play-in” format.  Play-in games are played after the regular season allowing lower-seeded teams to compete for the final playoff spots.

The 2027 season will also feature a number of rule changes for the product, including moving the field goal posts to the back of the end zones and reducing the field to 100 yards.

“Stewart has been tasked with growing the league. He’s looking at the product and there are rule changes from last year and he’s looking at how to grow the league, how do we grow revenue, how do we move this league forward and I think that’s what you’re seeing,” Reynolds said.

The 2026 CFL season begins on June 4.

–with files from The Canadian Press