Photo: John E. Sokolowski/CFLPA

Labour peace in the Canadian Football League will hinge on what happens in 2026.

The current collective bargaining agreement, which was ratified by the CFL and its Players’ Association after a brief strike in 2022, runs for a seven-year term that expires 30 days prior to the first day of training camp in 2029. However, the deal contains an opt-out clause ahead of the 2027 season, which would allow either side to force the other back to the bargaining table.

At the State of the Union address earlier this month, CFLPA president Solomon Elimimian confirmed that the organization will consider its options in the lead-up to that deadline.

“There’s an option for 2027, and obviously, the term ends in 2029. I anticipate we’ll look at 2027,” he said. “We’ll look at the language with our members internally, and we’ll see if it’s the best option to open up the collective agreement at that time.”

The opt-out clause is tied to the CFL’s television broadcast agreement with TSN, which is slated to expire on December 31, 2026. If the league strikes a new contract before that date with the base fee adjusted in either direction, positively or negatively, then either side can notify the other that the CBA will terminate two years early.

The CFLPA made historic gains amidst a fraught negotiation process in 2022. For the first time, they secured the right to partially guaranteed contracts for veteran players and established a revenue-sharing formula with the league. That paid off in 2025, when the salary cap unexpectedly jumped by more than $400,000 as a result of that formula, which the CFLPA touted as the second-largest increase in league history.

Elimimian stated that the union is optimistic about the preliminary numbers for this year and believes another revenue-sharing bump could be on the horizon. However, the execution of the deal left much to be desired, as delays in providing the proper financial documentation to the PA led to the cap increase being announced on February 5 — after many players had already agreed to contracts during the free agency negotiation window.

That late announcement caught teams off guard and led several personnel executives to publicly state they would be sticking to their original budgets. Others manipulated the system by stashing healthy players on the one-game injured list to make use of the extra cap space, which led to a grievance by the CFLPA and an $50,000 exemption being added to the cap in a settlement with the league.

“That’s something we’re continuously investigating, we’re looking at, we’re talking to the league. It’s all things revenue sharing,” CFLPA executive director David Mackie said. “As I alluded to, there are some positive changes, but it’s not perfect. We need to continue to work with the league so that when revenues grow, all members benefit. If the cap grows, how do all members benefit? You want to make sure that the bottom line continues to lift, and that’s what we’re fighting for.”

In order to prevent future issues, the PA has told the league that it will be strictly enforcing the January 15 deadline for the reporting of financial documents. Despite an early setback regarding the rule changes, they believe the league’s new leadership under commissioner Stewart Johnston is committed to being more transparent than ever before.

“In terms of our relationship with the commissioner, I think it’s getting better. I think in the past, there’s a lot of things we learned the first time (when the public did). I think that Stewart is open to hearing our opinions and actually listening to our thoughts and how it concerns the players,” Elimimian said.

“There’s some learning here. I think that he’s learning us, we’re learning him. We’re always going to push back on what supports our members, and I felt like we did push back in a strong way, and ultimately got what we wanted.”

That transparency has so far extended to CFL Ventures, the league’s revenue arm, where the PA has two non-voting seats on the Board.

“I think my first Ventures report call with Randy (Ambrosie), we were on for five minutes, and I said, ‘That’s not what we bargained for.’ We deserve to see these numbers. We deserve to see the growth,” Mackie said, indicating that Johnston is now granting access to virtually the entire call before voting commences.

“They’re providing us access to these numbers and looking at that value here. We talked about the relationship, and they’re being open about some of these things.”

If that transparency continues and the revenue share continues to grow, it could be in the best interest of the players to keep the existing CBA intact. However, a failure to meet deadlines or keep promises could sour the relationship quickly, continuing a long history of acrimony between the CFL and the Players’ Association.

Even if good relationships are maintained, the details of the next TV deal will remain a determining factor on whether the CBA survives past next season. If the contract offers a sudden windfall, the players will want their fair share of it. If the payout is less than anticipated, the league may want to claw back some of the union’s gains.