According 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
On October 26, 2024, the league announced Randy Ambrosie's intention to retire following the 2024 CFL season.[8] Ambrosie agreed to remain as commissioner until a successor had been named.[8] On April 2, 2025, TSN president Stewart Johnston was announced as Ambrosie's successor, officially assuming the role on April 24, 2025.[9][10]
Scheduling
The schedule, released on January 16, 2025, was the latest schedule release date since the 2017 season.[11] On January 11, 2025, it was reported that the CFL will not host any neutral site Touchdown Series games this season.[12] However, on February 6, 2025, it was announced that the Lions would host their preseason game in Langford, British Columbia at Starlight Stadium.[13]
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.[14] 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.[15][16] 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.[14] 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.[14]
Player movement
Free agency
The 2025 free agency period will officially begin on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, at 12:00 p.m. ET.[17] Pending free agents and teams are able to negotiate offers for one week starting Sunday, February 2, 2025, and ending Sunday, February 9, 2025.[18] All formal offers to a player during this time are sent to both the league and the players union and cannot be rescinded.[18][19]
In Canada, the CFL will continue to be broadcast primarily on TSN (in English) and RDS (in French) across all platforms as part of their current contract, which are reported to have been extended through 2025.[20][21] A select number of games will also be broadcast in Canada on CTV.[22] Games will be broadcast in the United States by CBS Sports Network.[22] Outside of North America, the league's streaming platform, CFL+, will stream all regular season games for free (along with games not carried by CBS Sports Network in the United States).[22] Most pre-season games will be streamed worldwide for free on CFL+.[22] Radio broadcast rights belong to team's local stations and SiriusXM.[22]
