If you\u2019re one of the millions playing fantasy football, you\u2019re likely gearing up for a playoff push in your league or considering where you went wrong in your draft strategy.<\/p>\n
That is, of course, for those NFL-based fantasy football leagues.<\/p>\n
But in 2026, you\u2019ll be able to play in a CFL season-long fantasy football league after CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston announced those plans during Grey Cup week earlier this month in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n
But what will a CFL fantasy football league look like?<\/p>\n
While there have been versions of CFL season-long fantasy football leagues, on unofficial sites including \u201cFantaseh\u201d and \u201c110 Yards,\u201d the league has never provided an official season-long fantasy platform before.<\/p>\n
It has tried fantasy lineups where you draft a roster on a weekly basis that fits under a certain budget. But for those that play in the season-long leagues, it\u2019s not the same as drafting a team and tinkering with your roster throughout the season.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve seen how popular fantasy has become in the NFL. Can fantasy become as popular in the CFL and generate engagement to ultimately grow the product and the game? I guess we\u2019re about to find out.<\/p>\n
But before we see what the CFL\u2019s version of fantasy football looks like and how it will help grow the league, there are still some questions to be answered.<\/p>\n
Fantasy teams\/managers<\/p>\n
Considering that the NFL has 32 teams, fantasy leagues can have anywhere between eight to 14 managers although most leagues typically have 10 or 12.<\/p>\n
That won\u2019t be possible in the CFL considering there are only nine teams in the league. While you might think eight fantasy managers would be possible, to run the league fairly, you\u2019d be limited to six managers.<\/p>\n
Since each fantasy team needs at least one quarterback, one kicker and one defence, six managers would be the maximum number because there are certain weeks throughout the CFL season where there are only three games being played (featuring six teams). If you went to eight managers, there would be instances during the season where two managers would be without quarterbacks, kickers and\/or defences for certain weeks.<\/p>\n
Roster composition<\/p>\n
In most NFL fantasy leagues, managers are required to start one quarterback, two running backs, two receivers, a tight end, and a flex position which can be any of those positions besides quarterback. Typically, you also start one kicker and one defence while having a number of players on the bench after drafting teams before the season begins.<\/p>\n
In CFL fantasy, those rosters would look different.<\/p>\n
When it comes to drafting, fantasy managers would be limited to one quarterback, one kicker and one defence on their rosters. Maybe even one running back too. Having two of any of those positions would leave other managers without a starter. During those weeks where eight teams play, you\u2019d have two starting quarterbacks, running backs, kickers and defences on the waiver wire, who are free to pick up by any team if your player is on a bye week.<\/p>\n
During the bye weeks, all six quarterbacks, running backs, kickers and defences would need to be picked up and played. You should be able to have a \u201cbye-week\u201d bench spot along to keep the players you choose to stick with.<\/p>\n
In the NFL, it\u2019s no problem to have two starting running backs on your team and a few more depth ball carries on your bench. Same for quarterbacks while kickers and defences aren\u2019t as high of a priority to have backups. In NFL fantasy, typically there are no bye-week roster spots.<\/p>\n
Scoring<\/p>\n
The point system would remain the same and could be tinkered with depending on each league commissioner. Usually, it\u2019s six points for a touchdown and one point for every 10 yards gained for running backs and receivers. Quarterback scoring can vary but touchdown passes are usually worth six points and passing yards can range between one point per 10 yards or one point per 50 yards. Then there\u2019s the option to do a point-per-reception league. Again, scoring will be straightforward for those who have previously played in NFL leagues.<\/p>\n
Other nuances<\/p>\n
What about the ratio? That would be a unique twist in the CFL fantasy game where managers have to start a certain number of Canadians in their lineup on any given week. Or you could scrap that all together and just go with whatever lineup you choose.<\/p>\n
When you look at what the NFL has built with season-long fantasy football, there\u2019s no doubt interest in the CFL will grow with fantasy football \u2014 if they do it right.<\/p>\n
tshire@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n The Regina Leader-Post has created an\u00a0Afternoon Headlines\u00a0newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day.\u00a0Click here<\/a> to subscribe. <\/p>\n With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark leaderpost.com<\/a> and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here<\/a> to subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re one of the millions playing fantasy football, you\u2019re likely gearing up for a playoff push in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,947,77018,6116,139266,139267,514,82,84996],"class_list":["post-312062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-cfl-commissioner","tag-cfl-season","tag-fantasy-football","tag-fantasy-leagues","tag-fantasy-team","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-stewart-johnston"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}