The CFL signed new broadcast rights agreements, which start in 2027 and Arash Madani argues the league needs to shift away from relying on ticket revenue.
“I’m starting to believe that the entire business model of the league has to change. Forever, this has been a league of selling tickets two by two of a ticket revenue-generating league because the Riders and the Bombers are publicly owned. Edmonton isn’t anymore,” Madani said to SportsCage host Barney Shynkaruk.
“We’re really starting to see what’s behind the curtain. The Riders held their AGM, so they announced 14.5 million dollars in gate receipts.”
Madani was surprised to find out how the Riders fared in 2015 compared to 2025 when they won the Grey Cup.
“So ticket revenue last year was 14.5 million dollars for a Grey Cup-winning team in 2025. Rewind the clock ten years. The Riders were 3-15 in 2015, and they reported 15.7 million dollars in ticket revenue,” Madani said.
“$1.2 million dollar difference, and they had an extra game because they had a home playoff game during it. Ten years of inflation, they’re down 1.2 million overall in a year where they had one of the best records in franchise history. It’s not a ticket revenue league. Now, it’s about finding other ways to find revenue streams.”
When it came to profit, Madani brought up the Riders details from 2013.
“If you really want to talk about profit, go back to 2013, the old place and tickets were a lot cheaper and less suites. Less prime real estate and their profit that year was $10 million,” Madani said.
“So the fact that Stewart Johnston was able to get this broadcast deal is massive.”
Overall, Madani is concerned about what the league looks like, and what other teams have to hide.
“The league and the business model that we’d always kind of talked about selling tickets two by two and if this is what’s happening in Saskatchewan, then what’s happening in Hamilton? What’s happening in Ottawa? What’s happening in Edmonton and in Calgary?” Madani wondered.
“I mean, forget Toronto but this is a real kind of eye-opener that you’ve got to find the money where it may be.”
The new broadcast rights deal is for six years and it’s worth around $500 million. Regarding the broadcast rights deal and why it was needed for the league, CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston chatted with the SportsCage host Barney Shynkaruk.
“We wanted to optimize our rights,” Johnston said on the May 28th episode of the SportsCage.
“We wanted to maximize revenue, of course. We wanted to maximize our reach, and we wanted to try and reach new audiences. I feel overjoyed right now to say that we’ve landed these partners, including YouTube as a premier partner on a premier platform.”