[1] According to the new collective bargaining agreement, the 2015 salary cap was set at $5,050,000 (average of $109,782 per active roster spot).
The major complication this year was the lack of available stadium dates due to the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2015 Pan Am Games occurring over the entire CFL pre-season and first five weeks of the regular season, affecting five member clubs.
The BC Lions, Edmonton Eskimos, and Ottawa Redblacks played pre-season games away from their regular stadiums and in some instances, in different cities.
The Canadian Football Hall of Fame game took place on August 22, 2015, featuring the Saskatchewan Roughriders hosting the Calgary Stampeders.
This was done due to the Argonauts' usual home stadium, Rogers Centre, being unavailable because of the 2015 Pan Am Games and Toronto Blue Jays occupying all dates in the month of July.
[10] The Toronto Argonauts defeated the Edmonton Eskimos 26–11 in front of a dismal attendance of only 4,900 fans (only 32.6% sold out), a low figure not seen for a regular season game since the days of the Las Vegas Posse.
[11] Fort McMurray was also considered as a host site for the BC Lions' pre-season game against Edmonton, because they also had to vacate their stadium for the Women's World Cup, but the Lions instead opted to hold that game in Thunderbird Stadium, a much closer but smaller venue, for that contest.
[10] On June 13, 2015, the Ottawa Redblacks and the Montreal Alouettes played a preseason game in Quebec City, at the 12,257-seat Telus Stadium.
[13] On August 21, 2015, Alouettes ownership relieved Tom Higgins of his coaching duties and brought general manager Jim Popp to the bench for the fourth time.
Most recently, Orridge had been employed by the CBC as their Executive Director of Sports and General Manager from April 2011 to March 2015.
[17] Two of the principals of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (Kilmer Sports and Bell Canada) announced its intent to acquire the Toronto Argonauts prior to the 2015 season, acquiring the team from BC Lions owner David Braley and ending the last remaining cross-ownership situation in professional football.
This was the eighth season in which The Sports Network maintained an exclusive partnership with the CFL for television rights.
[21] The Hamilton Tiger-Cats ended their longtime relationship with former flagship radio station CHML, the team's home continuously since 1984 and intermittently since 1950, and began a joint venture with crosstown rival CKOC.
On November 27, 2015, two days before the 103rd Grey Cup game, the CFL introduced its newest logo, its fourth in league history: A silver football-shaped design, with three laces signifying the three downs used in Canadian football on top, 'CFL' in block letters in the centre, and a half maple-leaf on the bottom.
Shamawd Chambers, who missed the majority of the 2015 season with a knee injury, received the Dick Suderman Trophy as Most Valuable Canadian.