The Canadian Football League has signed the largest media rights package in its history, reshaping how the sport reaches viewers at home and, for the first time at this scale, abroad.
The slate of agreements pairs a renewed deal with longtime majority partner Bell Media alongside the arrival of DAZN as a new broadcast partner and YouTube as a premier platform partner. Together, the domestic and global deals take effect in 2027.
“These record-setting agreements mark a transformative moment for the CFL,” said Commissioner Stewart Johnston, who framed the deals as positioning the league for its next era of growth.
Bell Media remains the centrepiece. TSN will carry up to three regular-season games a week, totalling 60 games, including the established Thursday and Friday Night Football slots. The network also takes six of the eight playoff games under the new postseason format, plus the Grey Cup, which will simulcast on CTV and Crave to widen its reach.
RDS stays on as the exclusive French-language broadcaster, airing every Montreal Alouettes game, 25 marquee regular-season matchups, all playoff games and the Grey Cup. The relationship dates back four decades, to TSN in 1986 and RDS in 1989.
DAZN enters on two fronts. Domestically, the platform gets an exclusive weekly window with Saturday Night Football at 7 p.m. ET through the regular season, extending into a Saturday game in each of the first two playoff rounds. Internationally, DAZN becomes the official global broadcaster of every CFL game outside Canada and the United States, streaming the full season, all eight playoff games and the Grey Cup across more than 200 countries. The league joins a portfolio that already includes NFL Game Pass and the UEFA Champions League.
For DAZN, the appeal is straightforward. “Adding the world’s second-largest professional football league is a no-brainer,” said group chief executive Shay Segev.
YouTube rounds out the group as a premier platform partner in Canada, expanding the league’s footprint with live preseason games not carried elsewhere, deeper Combine coverage, an All-Access series, and a steady stream of highlights and behind-the-scenes content. The deal also opens up the CFL’s historical game archive and leans into creator-driven projects, including a CFL-YouTube creator event.
The combined arrangements give the league three distinct distribution lanes, including traditional broadcast, premium streaming and open digital, as it heads into a reworked season format built around summer long weekends next year.
Financial terms of the arrangements were not disclosed.
Information for this story was found via the sources and companies mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to the organizations discussed. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
