Photo courtesy: Andrew Mahon/CFL.
The Canadian Football League’s playoff format was discussed during the 2026 winter meetings in Calgary.
“We know that in many other leagues there’s been an introduction of different playoff formats, play-in games, mid-season playoffs, new playoff formats. We talked about our playoff format and how the Grey Cup is the single biggest annual championship in our country,” commissioner Stewart Johnston said.
Currently, six CFL teams qualify for the postseason with the first-place teams in each division earning byes to the East and West Finals, respectively. Between playing at home and having a week off, this gives these teams a considerable advantage to reaching the Grey Cup. The other four playoff teams meet in the East and West Semi-Finals with the two winners advancing to play the two top seeds.
“One area we’re focused on is: how do we have our single biggest championship where a team can possibly win only one game and make it to that championship? And can that be solved?” Johnston questioned.
“Of course, we have a very unique situation at the CFL, where we have only nine teams. We want to balance a playoff structure and format against making sure our regular season is meaningful. More to come, that’s all I’ll say on playoff format for now.”
As it stands, the second-place team in each division hosts a postseason game, even if a potential opponent from the other division produced a better regular season-record.
Meanwhile, the crossover rule helps ensure the best six teams garner a spot in the playoffs regardless of division. Should the fourth-place team from one division earn more points than the third-place team from other division, the fourth place team earns the crossover postseason spot and competes versus the second place team.
It certainly doesn’t seem as though the CFL will be changing its playoff format in the near future, but that could potentially change in the long-term based on Johnston’s comments.