2021 CFL season

After the league was forced to cancel the 2020 season because federal and provincial governments forbade attendance at sporting events in an effort to stop the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada and refused to provide the subsidies needed to cover the expenses necessary for the season to be held, commissioner Randy Ambrosie in August 2020 guaranteed a return to play in 2021, with full fans in attendance, without regard to the status of the pandemic by that time.[3]

According to the new collective bargaining agreement, the 2021 salary cap is scheduled to be $5,350,000.[4][5] That number is subject to change as players will now have revenue sharing of 20% from broadcast deals, but may also change due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] Individual minimum salaries will be set at $65,000 in 2021 for National and American players.[4] Since no 2020 CFL Draft pick signed a contract in the cancelled 2020 season, this will be the first season with all CFL Draft picks subject to a pay scale, with the first overall pick earning approximately $85,000.[4]

The league released the season's full schedule on November 20, 2020 which featured a 21-week regular season schedule.[1] The regular season is scheduled to begin on June 10, 2021 with a rematch of the 107th Grey Cup with the defending champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers hosting the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.[1] Notably, the schedule will feature more intra-divisional games, with BC, Calgary, and Edmonton playing 12 such games, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg playing 11 divisional games, and the East Division teams playing 10 divisional games (an increase of one to two divisional games per team).[6] This was done to reduce cross-country travel due to COVID-19. The Toronto Argonauts are scheduled to play a neutral site game on July 19, 2020 against the Calgary Stampeders at a location to be announced at a later date.[7]

After first being introduced for the 2019 CFL season, the league is scheduled to feature two active roster spots for players designated as "global" players for each team.[8] Each team would also have up to three spots on their practice rosters for global players.[8] Global players are defined as those who do not hold Canadian or American citizenship nor do they qualify as a National player in any other way.[9] This is subject to change after the cancellation of Global Combines in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[10]

With the 2020 CFL season initially postponed and then ultimately cancelled, the league had placed a moratorium on re-signing players. Teams will be able to re-sign players after December 7, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. ET.[11]

The 2021 free agency period will officially begin on Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. ET.[12][11] Similar to the previous off-season, pending free agents and teams are able to negotiate offers for one week starting Sunday, January 31, 2021 ending Sunday, February 7, 2020.[13] All formal offers to a player during this time will be sent to both the league and the players union and cannot be rescinded.[13][14]