The Canadian Football League (CFL) announced its American television partner on Thursday by signing a multi-year agreement with CBS Sports Network. The move ends the CFL’s tenure with ESPN after four years.
The 24-hour cable home of CBS Sports will air 34 CFL games, including the playoffs and the 110th Grey Cup championship game from Hamilton, Ontario.
“We’re looking forward to working closely with CBS Sports Network to serve our loyal fans in the U.S. and grow our base there,” said Randy Ambrosie, Commissioner of the CFL. “CBS Sports is synonymous with the finest in sports broadcasting and we’re proud to showcase our product on its network.”
This is a significant upgrade for the CFL as far as television exposure. ESPN televised 20 regular season and playoff games combined across their platforms on ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, and ESPN plus all 81 games aired on ESPN+.
In addition to CBS Sports Network, the CFL will also announce how U.S. fans can watch games not being broadcasted on CBS Sports Network at a later date.
Currently, CBS has a streaming service called Paramount Plus. Paramount Plus is $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year. They have a premium no-ad service for $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year. As of September 2022, Paramount Plus has 43.4 million subscribers.
In addition to the CFL, CBS Sports Network and Paramount Plus air the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), College Football, College Basketball, Army, Navy, Professional Bull Riding, Motorsports, WNBA, 3ICE Hockey, NFL, PGA Tour, Serie A, and the UEFA Champions League. Furthermore, they have sports talk shows from NFL Monday QB featuring Trent Green, Rich Gannon, and Steve Beuerlein, We Need To Talk the first-ever all-female sports show, Boomer & Gio, The Jim Rome Show, Tiki & Tierney, Time to Schein and That Other Pregame Shows which cover Pro, College, and Fantasy Football every Sunday morning.
“The CFL is an exciting brand of football, with a great history that has long included some of the stars of the game,” said Dan Weinberg, Executive Vice President, Programming at CBS Sports. “We are excited for the CFL to join our robust line-up of live events on CBS Sports Network and we look forward to showcasing the current generation of CFL stars.”
The initial slate of CFL on CBS Sports Network games will feature the league’s season opener and its traditional holiday weekend matchups, including Labour Day Weekend – home to Canadian football’s most historic and heated rivalries.
For example:
- June 8 at 9 p.m. ET | Season Opener | BC Lions at Calgary Stampeders
- July 1 at 7 p.m. ET | Canada Day | Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Montreal Alouettes
- September 3 at 7 p.m. ET | Labour Day Classic | Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Saskatchewan Roughriders
- September 4 at 3:30 p.m. ET | Labour Day Classic | Toronto Argonauts at Hamilton Tiger-Cats
- September 4 at 7 p.m. ET | Labour Day Classic | Edmonton Elks at Calgary Stampeders
- October 9 at 1 p.m. ET | Thanksgiving Day | Ottawa REDBLACKS at Montreal Alouettes
The rest of the CFL on CBS Sports Network schedule will be released closer to the season starting. The new agreement between the CFL and CBSSN will see the network and the league work together to elevate Canadian football’s profile in the U.S.
“We’re confident that, working together, we can serve our American fans and continue to grow their numbers,” Ambrosie said. “We’re looking forward to a partnership that brings together the best of Canadian football and one of the great brands in American sports television.”
