A New Era: CFL announces landmark media agreements in Canada and globally

[Sir Blue and Gold]

I'm impressed with this thread!

[peg_city]

lots of numbers being thrown around, i do trust Naylor:


Based on Dan's reporting, this means the league's annual broadcast revenues will jump, by my calculations, from roughly $50 million per season to about $84 million. Meaningful increase that will show-up on the 2028 salary cap.

I tried to ballpark the math and it will equal about another million to the salary cap. If my Manitoba math is correct, average league salary will be close to 100K USD, if all teams spend to the cap.

[Jesse]

So I just read the announcement, and I'm officially pissed off. I have to pay for TSN for some of the games and then DAZN to get the rest of them? Crap!

I wonder if it's on DAZN @ the $25/month or DAZN+ @ $45/month?

I hope they get enough subscribers from the younger generation to replace us old folks or else the death clock just got closer to midnight.

$25 is also only if you commit for the year. It's $35/month if you month by month.

[theaardvark]

Oh My Goodness.

The guy pens a deal that increases non gate league revenue by 60%, and people are complaining?  You know who's NOT complaining?  Every CFO of every CFL team.

The NFL does not have 100% game coverage on free network television.  Many games are only available through subscription basis.  And we all know what a badly run league the NFL is, and how moving from free broadcast to premium services has killed them.

Adding in a youtube element suggests that every game WILL be available for viewing, just maybe not live.

This is why Johnston was brought in, to negotiate the media deal.  And this is an out of the park slam.

For those begging for a few extra ducats to sign more talent, or expand rosters, or attract more/better coaches, this is going to probably do all three and then some.

PLUS, this can possibly have a positive gate benefit.  If you know your local team's game isn't being broadcast on a service you receive, that might influence whether you attend live.  Remember the blackouts?

And before someone jumps up my butt saying I am parroting the leagues talking points, again, this is great news for the league, assuring financial stability going forward.  Not sure how much the new rules aided in this deal, making it more modern certainly didn't hurt.

Good job, Stewy, you have earned your salary and the trust the league put in you in spades.

[Waffler]

I tried to ballpark the math and it will equal about another million to the salary cap. If my Manitoba math is correct, average league salary will be close to 100K USD, if all teams spend to the cap.

When has paying players more meant a more viable league? We are still never going to have NFL level salaries. What does that make the paying customer? His cash goes to American players and a British streaming service.

All the changes just make me think of a corporation willing decrease package size, willing to save a nickle per package with cheaper and worse tasting ingredients all in the name of making a bonus for the CEO THIS year. Next year he won't care, he'll be doing the same thing somewhere else. Eventually your ravioli tastes like crap and Kraft dinner is too small to make a meal with.

Lost in the X number of dollars promised is quality. Lost is the reason the CFL came into being, local guys Canada wide playing the game for the love of it, cities cheering for their own.

[Jesse]

Good job, Stewy, you have earned your salary and the trust the league put in you in spades.

And as soon as Stew began changing things, I knew this was inevitable.

Because before we even see how any of the changes look in real life, he's sitting there dislocating his shoulder patting himself on the back for what a job he's done. Everything is justified. It's probably one of the reasons everything was announced so quickly, so not matter what he could point to the new money and say "this is why we did it" - even if one thing has nothing to do with the other.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

And as soon as Stew began changing things, I knew this was inevitable.

Because before we even see how any of the changes look in real life, he's sitting there dislocating his shoulder patting himself on the back for what a job he's done. Everything is justified. It's probably one of the reasons everything was announced so quickly, so not matter what he could point to the new money and say "this is why we did it" - even if one thing has nothing to do with the other.

It has been, and will always be, about growing revenue and profitability for the CEO/ED.

[Jesse]

It has been, and will always be, about growing revenue and profitability for the CEO/ED.

I don't think anyone is denying that. And I can appreciate that some of these moves (ie. the play off structure and tv deal) are directly tied to more revenue.

But the questions many of us have been asking is, how far can you push your stakeholders before they begin to tune out? Is there long-term viability to these changes, or is a new commissioner 6 years from now going to have to deal with the fall out of decreased viewership and attendance when trying to negotiate the next deal?

I think I said in another post that there are many things that make the CFL great. The Canadiana, the uniqueness, the affordability, it's approachability to fans, the 20-yard endzones and general wide-openness of the game. But above all the emotional connection you have for cheering for the team that you grew up watching. And I'm not saying that all of the changes have been 100% bad or without merit, but a lot of them are chipping away at things I appreciate and it's severing that emotional connection I have. And if I lose that, my kids never develop it.

[Pete]

It will be interesting to see how much the viewership numbers drop for the non tsn games. Also how many will be western conference vs east. I wouldn't be surprised if it was less then half the viewers

[wpg#1]

I am not subscribing to anything new. I already subscribe to more than I need.
So DAZN is covering the playoff games ?? Wow, that's really going to alienate and knock off a lots of viewers.
Incredible !

EDIT .. I see they are covering just 2 of the playoff games.

[bunker]

It will be interesting to see how much the viewership numbers drop for the non tsn games. Also how many will be western conference vs east. I wouldn't be surprised if it was less then half the viewers

You have to believe there are fans that like me watch on TSN that will not sign up to watch on DANZ. Maybe they are hoping some of the non-CFL DANZ subscribers check out the new CFL games, and make up some of the difference. Time will tell.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

While it may be new to some CFL fans it's the reality for every sports league these days because it's way more profitable.

Winnipeg Jets games are on TSN, Sportsnet and Prime
NFL games (in the US) are on NBC, ABC, ESPN, Prime, YouTube

The CFL is mostly sticking with TSN but also using YouTube over CFL+ and adding Saturday nights (and two playoff rounds, also on Saturdays) with DAZN.

Seems...kinda basic to me. But whatever. Some people love to be outraged and no one is forcing you to subscribe to anything. You retain your power of free will and the world moves on.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

You have to believe there are fans that like me watch on TSN that will not sign up to watch on DANZ. Maybe they are hoping some of the non-CFL DANZ subscribers check out the new CFL games, and make up some of the difference. Time will tell.

Don't think more people will watch on DAZN. Probably less people watch those games but they end up making more money due to how licensing works. It also works to create some accountability and competition within the broadcast partners which IS a very good outcome and will keep Bell/TSN honest. They aren't the only game in town. Also allows the league to slowly get the CFL audience used to DAZN should they want to continue to change the broadcast mix in Canada over time if that's where the money is. 

[theaardvark]

The question is, though, not whether CFL fans will subscribe to new services, or whether there will be more or less eyes on the game (although we do hope to increase that), but how many $$$ does this generate.

And that is a defined given for the near future, and its is a LOT more than present.

Will not being able to see the game on free TV affect the gate short or long term?  I guess we will see.  But radically increased TV revenue will displace any gate losses, without a doubt.  Gate losses that could be natural or linked to the TV deal.

So, if your sole metric on the health of the league is pairs of eyes seeing each game, we don't know what the end result is, regardless the doomsayers.

But, if financial liquidity and improving cashflow is the metric you use to define success in the league, Johnston has delivered that in spades.

[Waffler]

Seems DAZN wants to bring their online sports betting platform to Ontario. This is probably the reason they want in on the CFL.  Make bets on the same platform you watch the game on.  Their end game is the gambling profits, not the sports.

https://www.canadiangamingbusiness.com/2025/12/22/dazn-bet-canada/