2014 CFL season

With a new and more lucrative television contract with TSN beginning this season,[1] revenue distribution was a major sticking point in CBA negotiations.

The players' union originally countered with a proposal that would have increased the cap to $6.24 million in 2014 with the cap in subsequent years being calculated as a percentage of league revenues, but CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon had said the league would never agree to such a formula.

Had the players gone on strike, it would have been only the second work stoppage in CFL history and possibly the first to have caused the cancellation of regular season games.

It would also have been the first work stoppage in North American professional sports in almost 20 years to be initiated by players, since all such labour disputes since the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike have been owners' lockouts.

The first CFL strike, in 1974, occurred during training camp and was settled before the regular season began.

On June 7, the CFL and CFLPA announced that they had reached a tentative labour agreement, pending ratification by the players and owners.

However, if the nine member clubs' total aggregate revenues increase by more than $27 million in any year starting in 2016, both sides will renegotiate the salary cap.

[4][5] The team was able to sign players starting on the day after the 101st Grey Cup on November 25, 2013, and an expansion draft for the club was held on December 16, 2013.

There was earlier speculation that Winnipeg would continue to be an East Division team, due to the CFL's board of governors' desire to have long-term stability.

[10] However, due to the desire of the Blue Bombers organization to return to the West Division, the switch was made for the 2014 season.

[12] The schedule was announced on February 12, 2014, with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers hosting the league opener for the second consecutive season on June 26.

There are 25 double headers this year, with nine on Fridays, 11 on Saturdays, three on Sundays, and two (the traditional Labour Day and Thanksgiving contests) on Mondays.

The Ottawa Redblacks began play at the newly renovated (and renamed) TD Place Stadium, which finished construction on time and on budget.

To accommodate continued construction, the Tiger-Cats began the 2014 season with a four-week, three-game road trip; the stadium was slated to open in July but construction delays forced the Tiger-Cats to move the first three games of the 2014 season to McMaster University's Ron Joyce Stadium.

Tim Hortons Field, still not completely finished, opened in time for the Labour Day Classic.

In Canada, the league gave a no-bid extension to its existing exclusive contract with TSN and RDS, ESPN's partially owned Canadian subsidiary.

In the U.S., the contract will see the network's online platform, ESPN3, continue to present CFL games (as it has done since 2008), and will also see a minimum of 17 games (including the 102nd Grey Cup) air on one of ESPN's conventional networks (ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPNews) as well as through the WatchESPN platform.

This will be Higgins' third stint as a CFL head coach, having previously served under the Calgary Stampeders (2005–06) and Eskimos (2001–04).

[24] On August 6, 2014, the league announced that each team would be wearing brand new alternate uniforms, complete with new jerseys, pants, helmets, and socks.

One of the most noticeable features were logos centred on the front of four of the uniforms (Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, and Ottawa), which had not been seen since the 1995 CFL season.

The Calgary Stampeders defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 20–16 to claim their seventh Grey Cup championship.