Return to balance: CFL reveals schedule for 2024 season

Photo: Matt Smith/3DownNation. All rights reserved.

The Canadian Football League has unveiled their schedule for the 2024 season, returning the league to a balanced slate for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The league has played an unbalanced schedule since it returned to the field in 2021, prioritizing divisional matchups as a cost-saving measure. That resulted in certain teams playing one another more frequently, with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts meeting 12 times during the regular season since 2021, including four times in five weeks during the summer of 2022.

The move will see a much-anticipated Grey Cup rematch in Week 1, something that fans missed out on a year ago. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers will host the Montreal Alouettes on Thursday, June 6 for the CFL season kickoff at 8:30 p.m. ET, with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats visiting the Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Elks hosting the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and B.C. Lions travelling to the Toronto Argonauts on each subsequent day of the opening weekend.

The league will once again feature a consistent Thursday through Sunday slate throughout the summer, which drew rave reviews in 2023. The last Thursday game of the season will be played in Week 12, as the Saskatchewan Roughriders visit the Toronto Argonauts on August 22.

The following week, all of the league’s traditional Labour Day rivalries will be on display, in addition to a special Touchdown Pacific clash between the B.C. Lions and Ottawa Redblacks in Victoria on Saturday, August 31. The Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats will not have a back-to-back rematch on the following weekend, however, as the two Ontario foes don’t meet again until Week 16.

Other key games include a Thanksgiving Monday clash between the Ottawa Redblacks and Montreal Alouettes on October 14. The Redblacks will also be involved in the annual Hall of Fame game, visiting the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Saturday, September 14.

All playoff matchups will once again be set for Saturdays in 2024, with the Divisional Semi-Finals slated for November 2 and the Finals taking place on November 9. The 111th Grey Cup will remain on a Sunday, as Vancouver is set to play host to the event on November 17 at 6:30 p.m. ET.

CFL action will officially resume with the preseason, which commences on Monday, May 20 when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers meet the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The full CFL schedule can be viewed here.

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