Even more changes are coming for the Canadian Football League.
The CFL announced in the fall that a series of significant rule adjustments would be implemented over the next two seasons.
The most significant changes will begin in 2027 as the field is re-sized and the goalposts are moved to the back of the endzone.
While those will affect the on-field product, today the CFL announced additional major changes for 2027 and beyond that will affect the structure of the league as a whole.
Coming in 2027, a CFL season built for Summer long weekends, as the CFL and CFLPA champion a new era of Playoff football.
— CFL (@CFL) April 28, 2026
DETAILS: https://t.co/gAe8cASYYe pic.twitter.com/tIJiOOZ2ao
The regular season will shift to begin on the Victoria Day weekend, which the league says will ensure there is exciting CFL action on all long weekends from May through October.
It will also mean the season wraps up on the Thanksgiving weekend, which results in an earlier playoff schedule and better playing conditions for the most important games of the year.
“All summer long, the CFL will be front and centre – exactly where it belongs,” says CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston. “We’re 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.”
When the playoffs do arrive in October, they’ll look much different than what fans have become used to over the past few decades.
There will now be eight teams that make the playoffs instead of the usual six.
On the first weekend, the top two teams in each division will face off while the teams seeded fifth through eighth in the league will do the same.
The Division Showdown winners will advance to the Grey Cup Semi-Finals, while the losers will take on the two Play-In Round winners in a pair of Elimination Games the next weekend.
The winners of those Elimination Games will meet a pair of rested teams that won the Division Showdowns with a chance to play in the Grey Cup on the line.
“More games. More drama. More entertainment. That was the mission and that’s exactly what this format will deliver,” the commissioner added. “We’re raising the stakes so every game carries real consequences – more teams in the hunt, right to the end.”
For a more in depth look at these changes, see the CFL release here.
