CFL's Playoff Format Revamped?

Adamo Marinelli

February 19th, 2020

     Recently, the commissioner of the CFL, Randy Ambrosie started pitching the idea of a new playoff format to CFL team owners and fans. 

     The current formula sees 6 teams make the postseason. The top seeds in the East and the West division get a bye. Then, in theory, the next two best teams from each division will play in the semifinal game for their respective division; the higher seed hosts the semifinal game. The winner of the semifinal game then plays the division winner in the East or West final game for a chance to go to the Grey Cup. This can be a problem, especially if one division is better than the other. For the past four years, the West has been the better division. The fourth-place team of the West was better than the third-place team in the East, so it would receive a playoff spot and would cross over to the East Division and play the 2nd place East team in the semifinal game. The fact that the West team would have a better record than the East team, but have to play on the road in the semifinal is unattractive to many.

     The new proposed plan would ensure the top seeds in the East and the West division get a bye to the division final games. The next four teams with the best records - regardless of what division they’re in - would get into the playoffs. The 3rd place team would host the 6th place team and 4th place teams would host the 5th place team in Saturday’s semifinal game. The next day, the team with the best regular-season record in the league would get to pick which of the two semifinal winners they wanted to play in the conference final games, for a potential Grey Cup birth. 

     This new format would allow the best teams to have a shot at the playoffs and would prevent any West Division teams missing out on the playoffs or having to travel on the road to face an East Division team with a weaker record. 

     According to the commissioner, “We think [the new playoff format] could actually keep more teams in the playoff hunt longer and create more intrigue [fan engagement, and interest in later season games].”

     The commissioner said that this new playoff format could be introduced as early as the 2020 season. Personally, I would be very interested in the new format.