By that time, the sport as played in Canada had diverged markedly from its rugby origins with the introduction of the Burnside rules, and started to become more similar to the American game.

As a result, the Big Four and WIFU formed a new umbrella organization, the Canadian Football Council (CFC) to modernize the operations and management of the professional game.

Initially, the two unions remained autonomous, and there was no intersectional play between eastern (Big Four) and western (WIFU) teams except at the Grey Cup final.

The league remained stable with nine franchises—the BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Eskimos, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Toronto Argonauts, Ottawa Rough Riders and Montreal Alouettes—from its 1958 inception until 1981.

Despite all American teams having the advantage of not being bound to the CFL's minimum Canadian player quotas, only the Stallions proved to be an on-field and off-field success.

[11] In June 2006 the league announced the launch of CFL Broadband, an internet streaming service designed to provide fans with another media platform, in addition to TSN and CBC broadcasts, to watch games live.

A 2006 survey conducted at the University of Lethbridge confirmed that the CFL was the second most popular sports league in Canada, with the following of 19% of the total adult Canadian population compared to 30% for the NHL.

[23] In Mark Cohon's last year as commissioner he negotiated a new five-year collective bargaining agreement (from 2014 through the 2018 season) between the CFL and the Canadian Football League Players' Association (CFLPA).

[38][39] Having spent nine seasons as a player with the Calgary Stampeders, Toronto Argonauts and Edmonton Eskimos from 1985 to 1993, Ambrosie is the first commissioner to have played in the league since Larry Smith left the position in 1997.

[45] On January 14, 2019, the league held a draft of LFA and Mexican university players[46] where wide receiver Diego Viamontes was the first pick, selected by the Edmonton Eskimos.

[48][49] Throughout early 2019, Ambrosie actively travelled Europe forming partnerships between the CFL and top-level European American football leagues and associations, specifically Germany (GFL), Austria (AFL), France (FFFA), the Nordic countries (NL, VL, SS and NAFL) and Italy (IFL).

[55] In February 2020, the CFL expanded its global alliance system, welcoming the Japanese X-League, generally regarded the third-best professional gridiron league in the world.

[58] The Alouettes found new ownership in January 2020 in Crawford Steel executives Sid Spiegel and Gary Stern, whose holding company S and S Sportsco would oversee the team.

The league returned in 2021, playing a shortened 14-game schedule which began that August, with the season concluding with the Grey Cup game in December for the first time since 1972.

[64] On August 29, 2022, Gary Stern of the Montreal Alouettes stepped away from day-to-day operations with the club and resigned from his role with the Canadian Football League's board of governors, effective immediately.

As the country's single largest annual sporting event, the Grey Cup has long served as an unofficial Canadian autumn festival generating national media coverage and a large amount of revenue for the host city.

Television coverage on CBC, CTV and Radio-Canada of the 1983 Grey Cup attracted a viewing audience of 8,118,000 people[citation needed] as Toronto edged B.C.

[100] Until the end of the 2007 season, CBC and RDS were the exclusive television broadcasters for all playoff games, including the Grey Cup, which regularly draws a Canadian viewing audience in excess of 4 million.

[102] In June 2024, Bell Media announced that CTV would broadcast TSN-produced 2024 season coverage on digital terrestrial television, including a late-season package of exclusive 3 p.m.

ET games beginning on September 7, continuing with playoff coverage of the East Division, and concluding with a simulcast of the 111th Grey Cup; returning the CFL to over-the-air television for the first time since 2007.

The private, commercial CTV network was created in 1961 in part because Toronto businessman John W. H. Bassett had won the television rights to the Eastern Football Conference, and needed an outlet to air the games.

[120] It offered to pick up another package in 2019 on the condition that the league change its schedule to not directly compete with the NFL regular season,[121] something that the CFL stated needs to be negotiated with the players' union.

[143]: 33  In 2019, Mike Reilly and Bo Levi Mitchell were the highest paid players in the CFL after signing contracts in February 2019 for average yearly salaries of over $700,000.

[149] Players in the CFL carry nationality designations referring to their country of origin: Nationals ("a Canadian citizen at the time of signing his first contract, was classified as a non-import prior to May 21, 2019, was physically resident in Canada for an aggregate period of five years prior to reaching the age of 18, or played football for a minimum of three years at a U Sports institution, was draft eligible in 2021 at a minimum, and has graduated with a degree at that institution"), Americans (non-National and non-Global players, almost exclusively used for United States citizens), and Globals (any player who does not hold Canadian or American citizenship and does not qualify as a National in any other way).

[139][151][152] Every year, the practice squad roster is temporarily increased in size to 15 following the start of the National Football League's season to accommodate for the influx of cut NFL players.

Notes Potential CFL expansion markets are the Maritimes, Quebec City, Saskatoon, Kitchener, London, and Windsor, all of which have been lobbying for Canadian Football League franchises in recent years.

[178] On March 15, 2023, TSN reporter Dave Naylor revealed that Schooner Sports and Entertainment (SSE) "is no longer involved in pursuing a team for Atlantic Canada".

[179] In 2008, the federal government rejected a proposal that could have paved the way for a CFL franchise in Quebec City, saying Ottawa is not in the business of subsidizing professional sports.

[180] The following year in May 2009, Christina Saint Marche, a British businesswoman, announced her interest in operating a team in Quebec City—stating that there would be a natural rivalry with the Montreal Alouettes.

[181] During the 2010 Grey Cup state of the league news conference, Cohon noted that the Alouettes hold the rights for the entire province of Quebec and that any expansion would have to be negotiated with them first.