CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston quietly renegotiated equity partnership with Genius Sports

Photo: Guang Quan/3DownNation. All rights reserved.

The Canadian Football League has officially reworked its partnership with data and technology firm Genius Sports, reducing the value of its equity investment in the league’s commercial arm.

“When we first began our relationship with Genius coming out of COVID, I think that was a certain moment in time. That partnership, I think, provided a great spark for the league and an ability to look forward and start rebuilding after COVID. We’re in a different place now,” CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston revealed at his State of the League address on Friday.

“We had good conversations with Genius over the course of the summer, and we have renegotiated our deal to reflect where we are today.”

Beginning with its first-quarter financial report, which was released on May 7, 2026, Genius Sports publicly disclosed an impairment of $1.7 million USD on its equity-method investment in the CFL. In accounting, an impairment is a significant, unexpected, and non-temporary decline in an asset’s recoverable value that must be reported to shareholders.

Genius Sports has not responded to 3DownNation‘s request for comment on its financial statements. Johnston declined to reveal further details about the renegotiation or why he felt it was needed.

“We’re not going to comment on any agreements, as we don’t typically on any of the agreements we have. We have a great relationship, and I wanted to have that in the right spot for us as we move forward and grow as a league,” he said.

Former CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie announced a long-term partnership with Genius Sports in December 2021, making the company its exclusive data and technology partner. As part of the deal, Genius received exclusive rights to commercialize the CFL’s official data worldwide, and video content with sportsbooks in international markets. They were also given a minority equity stake in CFL Ventures, the league’s commercial arm, allowing the company to benefit strategically and financially from the CFL’s growth.

At the time of the equity investment, Genius issued two promissory notes to the CFL valued at a combined $20 million CAD. Both have since been repaid.

Almost from the moment that the partnership was announced, Genius found itself at the heart of public criticism from fans. In March 2022, the company was accused of pushing the league to change to four-down football, a claim they later publicly denied. In 2023, they were responsible for the botched roll-out of the league’s new stats system. The following year, they drew the ire of CFL kickers for the forced introduction of microchips in footballs. The league’s free streaming service, CFL+, which was created by Genius, has also been plagued by technical issues since its introduction.

However, the CFL has long contended that Genius plays a vital role in areas of their business that fans rarely see, particularly in monitoring for potential match manipulation and betting policy violations. They will continue those duties under the current agreement. Other features the company offered have already disappeared, including augmented live streams on TSN+, which debuted in 2024.

“What I can say is that Genius remains a very strong partner of the CFL,” Johnston said. “They still power our stats, and certainly as we launched our new website and our new stats platform, they were heavily involved with that.”

Genius Sports’ initial equity stake in CFL Ventures was 6.2 percent. The company received an additional one percent stake in 2024, increasing the value of its investment by $3.5 million USD. In public financial documents, they described themselves as having “significant influence over the entity” despite their minority interest.

Through three financial quarters in 2026, Genius has reported gains of $2.8 million USD as a result of its equity stake. The company received distributions of $2.8 million USD in 2025, $1.6 million USD in 2024, $1.6 million USD in 2023, and $3.4 million USD in 2022, with reported gains of $3.7 million USD, $3.7 million USD, $3.1 million USD, and $3.4 million USD in each of those years, respectively. They recognized annual revenue of $2.5 million USD, $2.3 million USD, $0.7 million USD, and $0.3 million from CFL Ventures.

Genius Sports was formed in 2016 and is headquartered in New York. They hold partnerships with a number of major sports entities, including the NFL and the English Premier League, and purchased Legend, the gambling company behind recognizable brands like Covers.com and Casino.org, for $1.2 billion USD earlier this year.

The company boasts a market cap of over $1.6 billion USD, but has seen its stock price fall over 44 percent this year to date. They are currently trading at $6.30 USD per share.