{"id":637269,"date":"2026-04-29T22:39:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T22:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/637269\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T22:39:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T22:39:10","slug":"3-cfl-player-takeaways-on-new-regular-season-schedule-and-playoff-format","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/637269\/","title":{"rendered":"3 CFL player takeaways on new regular season schedule and playoff format"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2013 The CFL announced a new regular season schedule, and that the CFLPA and the league have agreed to a new playoff format beginning in 2027<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These changes are designed to create more meaningful games, better summer experiences for fans, and a more competitive path to the Grey Cup.<\/p>\n

CFL.ca spoke to CFLPA representatives and CFL players Hamilton\u2019s Stavros Katsantonis and Ottawa\u2019s Brett Lauther to assess their opinions on the new formats.<\/p>\n

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MORE EARNING OPPORTUNITIES<\/p>\n

Katsantonis emphasized how the changes are an improvement to the players\u2019 experience, helping them with more earning opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing was ensuring that this is creating new revenue opportunities for our members and how they could share in that growth,\u201d said the All-CFL safety.<\/p>\n

Lauther shared his colleague\u2019s sentiment that increasing player\u2019s revenue is positive for all parts involved in the CFL, especially when it comes to raising the salary cap and increasing the league\u2019s competitiveness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe direction that the league is going,\u201d answered the kicker when asked about what fans should be most excited about. \u201cI really believe in some of the things that are going on behind the scenes. From the revenue for players going up, having revenue sharing more money in players\u2019 pockets, whether it be preseason, post-season or in season, lifts the salary cap.\u201d<\/p>\n

EVEN MORE MEANINGFUL FOOTBALL<\/p>\n

The veteran kicker also thinks the new playoff format gives teams new chances to go on a run late in the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor clubs, more teams having an opportunity to maybe host a playoff game or be in a playoff game. Having added benefit to coming first or second in Division, where the first loss doesn\u2019t eliminate you, like the curling format as well. Maybe a team that was coming on strong at the end, where they might have had some injuries earlier in the year and couldn\u2019t get it going. They could find a way to get in as a six or seven seed, and maybe normally wouldn\u2019t have been in playoffs, (but now they) could go on a run. I think there\u2019s a lot of benefit, a lot of potential to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katsantonis also believes that the changes could lead to more meaningful games down the stretch for CFL fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the biggest thing is more games of consequence,\u201d said the defender.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the CFL, anyone can win on any given week. I think given that opportunity in the playoffs, it could be against the one seed, but any team can win, what a story that would be. If you were that team on the outside looking in towards the end, maybe you make a run down the stretch and to be able to lift the Grey Cup that way, I think there would be no sweeter feeling than that to say, \u2018hey, you know what, we beat all the good teams\u2019. And that\u2019s who the champion is at the end of the day. It\u2019s the best team in the CFL, right? I think it\u2019d be pretty cool to experience that from that end.\u201d<\/p>\n

OVERALL OPTIMISM<\/p>\n

Lauther knows it\u2019s early to fully assess the impact these changes are going to have, but highlighted his optimism about what the future holds for the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all just speculation, but I am looking forward to the future of the CFL and the direction that the league\u2019s going,\u201d said Lauther.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2013 The CFL announced a new regular season schedule, and that the CFLPA and the league have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-637269","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-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637269","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=637269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}