The 2022 CFL season is scheduled to be the 68th
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...
of modern-day
Canadian football
Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...
. Officially, it will be the 64th season of the
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
. The regular season is scheduled to begin on June 9, 2022, and end on October 29, 2022, with 18 games being played per team over 21 weeks.
Regina is scheduled to host the
109th Grey Cup
The 109th Grey Cup decided the Canadian Football League (CFL) championship for the 2022 season. The game was played on November 20, at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Saskatchewan. It marked the fourth Grey Cup game to be held in Regina, and the first ...
on November 20, 2022.
CFL news in 2022
Collective Bargaining Agreement
The three-year agreement that was ratified between the CFL and
CFL Player's Association will expire just prior to this season, on the first day of scheduled training camp in 2022 (likely in May, 2022).
Topics should include compensation, player safety, and revenue generation following two seasons heavily impacted by the
COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...
.
The 2021
salary cap
In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Sever ...
for an 18-game season was set at $5,350,000 with minimum salaries set at $65,000 for National and American Players and $54,000 for Global Players.
Schedule
The league released the season's full schedule on December 16, 2021, just four days after the
108th Grey Cup
The 108th Grey Cup decided the Canadian Football League (CFL) championship for the 2021 season. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 season was cancelled and the start of the 2021 season was delayed, pushing the game to December 12, 2021. The ...
, which returned to an 18-game schedule following a pandemic-shortened
2021 CFL season
The 2021 CFL season was the 67th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 63rd season of the Canadian Football League. The regular season began on August 5, 2021, and ended November 20, 2021. Each team played 14 regular sea ...
.
The regular season is scheduled to begin on June 9, 2022, with the
Calgary Stampeders
The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-old ...
hosting the
Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...
.
The Grey Cup rematch game between the
Winnipeg Blue Bombers
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...
and
Hamilton Tiger-Cats
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fiel ...
does not occur until week 3, which is the first time since
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
that this game was not featured in week 1 of the regular season.
Similar to the planned
2020 CFL season
The 2020 CFL season would have been the 67th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it would have been the 63rd season of the Canadian Football League.
It was originally scheduled to begin on June 11; on April 7, the start of the s ...
and the schedule from 2021, this year will again feature more intra-divisional games, with
BC,
Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
, and
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
playing 12 such games,
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
and
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
playing 11 divisional games, and the
East Division teams playing 10 divisional games.
This was done to reduce cross-country travel.
The schedule will feature all intra-divisional matchups in the last two weeks of the regular season.
This year also features more home-and-home matchups, with every team having at least two and Saskatchewan,
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, and
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
having five of these matchups.
The Toronto Argonauts are scheduled to play a
neutral site game on July 16, 2022, against the Saskatchewan Roughriders at
Raymond Field
Raymond Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. It is the home of the Acadia University Axemen football and soccer teams as well as the Acadia
Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeaste ...
, in
Wolfville
Wolfville is a Canadian town in the Annapolis Valley, Kings County, Nova Scotia, located about northwest of the provincial capital, Halifax. The town is home to Acadia University and Landmark East School.
The town is a tourist destination du ...
,
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
; with the stadium capacity being increased from 3,000 to 10,000. This will be the first CFL match held in
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...
since the
2019 season. All previous regular season games of the
Touchdown Atlantic
Touchdown Atlantic ( French: ''Touché Atlantique'') is a series of neutral site Canadian Football League games played in the maritime provinces of Canada.
In 2003, the league had struck a committee to examine the feasibility of adding a tenth ...
series were held in
Moncton
Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...
,
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
. Tickets for the match sold out in less than one hour.
Rule Changes
On April 27, 2022 the league announced a series of rule changes with the intention of improving game flow, and increasing offensive production.
* Narrowing of the field hashmarks from 28 yards from the sidelines instead of 24, making them nine yards apart instead of 17. This will centralize the offense in the middle of the field increasing the effective space the defense will have to cover.
* Increasing the no-yards penalties on punts from a 5-yard penalty to a 15-yard penalty. Previously special teams were willing to take a five yard penalty in order to prevent a longer punt return.
* Changing the starting location of the offense. Kickoffs will be moved back from the 35-yard line to the 30-yard line. After a field goal or a single rouge the team that was scored on can now scrimmage from the 40-yard line instead of the 35 yard line. Both of these changes will have the effect of enabling the offense to start their drives closer to the opposition endzone.
* Punting teams will also be penalized for any ball that goes out of bounds before the opponent’s 20-yard line, instead of the 15-yard line.
* A 'communications coordinator' from the officiating department will be on the sidelines of each team to enable faster communication between head coaches and on field officials.
* Expansion of the types of plays the Command Centre can review without requiring a coach’s challenge or an officials’ huddle (possession rulings, boundary rulings and administrative rules such as a formation without an end or ineligible receivers downfield)
* Teams will be allowed to have two quarterbacks on the field at one time to allow for creative play calling.
* Penalties that occur at the end of the first or third quarters may be applied to the start of the next quarter.
* Quarterbacks who “fake” giving themselves up will be assessed an objectionable conduct penalty.
* Automatic ejection of any player for two unnecessary roughness or objectionable conduct penalties.
Player movement
Free agency
The 2022
free agency
In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...
period officially began on Tuesday, February 8, 2022, at 12:00 p.m. ET.
Pending free agents and teams were able to negotiate offers for one week starting Sunday, January 30, 2022, and ending Sunday, February 6, 2022.
All formal offers to a player during this time were sent to both the league and the players union and could not be rescinded.
Regular season
Standings
Broadcasting
The CFL will continue to be broadcast on
TSN and
RDS across all platforms in Canada as part of their current contract.
The broadcast rights are reported to have been extended through 2025.
References
{{CFL seasons
Canadian Football League seasons
2022 in Canadian football