So here was the old thread that ran from April 2023 through September 2024:
So, it is about that time of year when we hopefully get an announcement from CBS on just what they are going to cover for the CFL and how for some games in the US.
And also from the CFL with regards to games on CFL+, for those of us outside of Canada.
There is more hope also because CFL fan and CFL Forum friend Jim Nantz is on our side too, so please don’t forget that as well.
There will be changes for coverage of live sports in 2026 of course, though otherwise Paramount and CBS have truly expanded their presence in sports coverage on digital platforms like Paramount+, Pluto TV, and Fast Channels, including more live sports on Paramount+.
I want the theme music to any US coverage of the CFL on CBS borrowed from the old NBA on CBS theme song (not the primitive 1980s arcade game graphics!).
Shoot, have Jim Nantz do the pre-game intros over the right section of music just like Pat O’Brien for the NBA games back in the day:
So via the CFL site, here’s what we have so far for the media schedule, for we are confirmed for coverage also on CBS networks.:
I have to wonder if CBS, due to heavily decreased distribution and viewership any more of cable channels such as CBS SN, will expand some CFL coverage, even highlights, to other digital video platforms.
The full listing of TSN Channels and how you can watch the game in your regions is coming soon.
RDS BROADCAST INFORMATION
Pour consulter le calendrier de diffusion des matchs de la LCF sur RDS et RDS2 à venir.
CTV BROADCAST INFORMATION [Canada]
New in 2024, the CFL came to CTV, with exclusive 3:00 p.m. ET Saturday games that began Saturday, Sept. 7. CTV also joining the CFL ON TSN to showcase afternoon playoff matchups, and the networks combine to deliver Canada’s biggest single-day sporting event – the 111th GREY CUP, live from BC Place in Vancouver on Sunday, Nov. 17.
The entire CFL broadcast schedule on TSN, RDS, CTV, CBS Sports Network and CFL+ is coming soon.
THE CFL ON CBS SPORTS NETWORK [USA ONLY], INTERNATIONAL STREAMING AND CFL+
The 2025 CFL season will reach more American and international fans through CBS Sports Network and the league’s free, online live streaming platform – CFL+.
Viewers outside of North America will have access to the entirety of the 2025 season via CFL+.
The entire CFL broadcast schedule on TSN, RDS, CTV, CBS Sports Network and CFL+ is coming soon.
In addition, games are on Canada Talks on Sirius XM, with often but not always the home team’s homer radio feed, especially for teams in the West Division.
I’m glad to see the games on CTV. Probably the most important place for the league to be. Free Canadian TV. Anyone can watch. Many folks don’t have any cable and just watch whatever’s free or easiest to find online. Just need one game a week maybe a couple weekends with two games. Very important step to build in Canada. CBS is fine as far as I know they just show the Bell feed. So it’s like showing Aussie Rules in the states. Mostly for fans of guys they love from US college not for fans of the league.
I don’t agree here. The average college football fan is no longer as overlapping with the average NFL fan. In fact, there is a large faction of college football fans who have animosity towards the NFL and vice versa.
Personally I have myself never looked down on pro college football as much as in modern times, for right now the whole ordeal is in the midst of yet another power struggle between the haves and have-nots, and until that is resolved with truly equal opportunity for all instead of stacked in heavy favour of the SEC and Big Ten, the primary audiences that drive the ratings.
Sure the NFL media dominate their coverage of the top division for the sake of ratings and attendance and ticket prices, the NFC East, but no way are the teams and policies stacked towards that division, which has ups and downs in performance like any other division in the NFL. Imagine if that were done and pick another division in the AFC, and voila you would have the sporting equivalent of NCAA Pro College Football as it has been for about 20 years now with the SEC and the Big Ten.
I am hardly the one only who runs into far more NFL fans who look into the CFL than I do college football fans who are not NFL fans into the CFL.
College football is a heavily regional following by design, especially with audiences out West of Colorado and in the Northeast who dominantly could not care less but for any gambling engagement. It’s no accident at all that the Pac 12 failed in recent years, for example.
My point is if the CFL wants to make any kind of inroads in the Us the only real connection is through college football. I can’t think of any other thread that connects them. I have friends in Dallas who watch because they know some of the players through the college game. I could be wrong
I agree with this point for the CFL to make inroads into the NCAA, but let’s face it, the NFL has first dibs though that relationship is changing quickly, as noted in the NCAA thread.
But overwhelmingly most American fans of the CFL are not like your friends in my opinion and experience.
Years ago as one example, there was a player I remember who played for the Stamps for several seasons who had played at the University of Alabama for Nick Saban’s teams and who I think was on national championship team. When asked about fans of his alma mater in the US, he responded accurately that those fans don’t care where you play after you are no longer playing college football. This is particularly true in the American South in SEC Country, which is larger after expansion now than it was during his time.
Well CBS is not screwing around it turns out, but this is yet another awful tradition for US fans of the CFL in that the media partner waits so long to announce games on TV in the US.
Here’s an announcement involving the Pac 12, but for CBS’s part, that coverage is for only two games in the 2025 NCAA FBS Pro Football season:
