CFL receives 'Canadian and international' interest in possible expansion franchise ownership: commissioner Stewart Johnston

Canadian Football League commissioner Stewart Johnston is open to all passports when it comes to potential ownership for a future CFL expansion franchise.

“We receive a lot of incoming calls from Canadians and international — I’ll say — folks who are interested in our league,” Johnston told 620 CKRM‘s The SportsCage this week. “I can tell you things are always cooking, but we’ve learned our lesson to let it cook a little longer before we get too excited.”

Johnston made headlines on Monday when he unveiled arguably the most dramatic change to the rulebook in league history, including a shortening of the field from 110 yards with 20-yard end zones to 100 yards with 15-yard end zones by 2027.

While the professed logic behind the decision was to maintain the current rate of scoring and keep field goals attainable after removing the goalposts from the field of play, analysts were quick to point out that the alterations would allow CFL football to be played in venues where it previously was not feasible. That opens up many American stadiums and international rugby pitches to be able to accommodate games, raising the number of fields globally capable of hosting the league from three percent to roughly 40 percent, according to former Football Canada president Jim Mullin.

The CFL has actively been pursuing expansion to 10 teams for close to a decade, with the board of governors identifying that as the best path to the substantial revenue growth they desire. While the league appeared tantalizingly close to the birth of the long-awaited Atlantic Schooners in Halifax prior to the COVID pandemic, that door has since been slammed in their face with no viable alternatives. Those frustrations have led to speculation that the league might consider revisiting the failed American expansion project from the 1990s in order to fulfill its goal.

Johnston did not dismiss that possibility in revealing that he has received inquiries from ownership hopefuls from various countries. However, he also did not clarify as to which side of the border — or where in the world — those prospective franchisees might hope to put a team.

Regardless of location, the former TSN executive acknowledged that expansion will never be far from his desk, even if it isn’t as high on his to-do list as his predecessor’s.

“Expansion is not a top priority. It’s, of course, an absolute objective,” he said. “You can sense, maybe today, what a top priority was for me and and I’ll continue to focus on things like we did today. Expansion is always going to be at least on the middle burner of what’s happening.”

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