From 3DN about TSN broadcasts this year....

 

"The CFL on TSN is taking a renewed approach to its broadcasts for 2025.

 

The network’s panel will travel to all nine stadiums over the course of the upcoming season, sources told 3DownNation, including visits to Regina and Montreal in Week 1. Kate Beirness is returning to host the panel with Henoc Muamba and Davis Sanchez filling the main roles alongside her.

 

Paul LaPolice will also frequently appear on the panel, though he will also perform colour commentary for one game per week. As previously reported, longtime panelist and Hall of Fame quarterback Matt Dunigan is no longer with the network.

 

As for Milt Stegall, who has been with the network since 2009, there is no timeline for his return after the death of his eldest son, Chase. The 20-year-old died unexpectedly at DePaul University on Monday where he was a member of the school’s soccer team.

 

“Our CFL on TSN family is absolutely devastated over Chase’s passing. If you know Milt, you know that his family is everything to him, and we cannot imagine the pain he is going through right now,” said producer Chris Edwards in a statement to 3DownNation. “Milt is our brother and we are going to give him our love and support him in any way we can, and in whatever way he needs.”

 

During a broadcast teeing up the 2025 season on Tuesday, TSN dedicated its coverage this year to Chase’s memory.

 

TSN plans to flesh out the panel by rotating in active players, though it doesn’t appear as though this will happen every week. Players will generally make panel appearances during bye weeks, though there may also be opportunities for in-studio appearances when players are in town to play the Argonauts or Tiger-Cats.

 

Friday Night Football, a longtime network staple, will have a brand new presentation featuring fresh animations, graphics, and music. One source called the scope of the production “bigger.”

 

The play-by-play personnel at the network has remained unchanged for 2025, featuring Rod Smith, Dustin Nielson, Marshall Ferguson, and occasionally Farhan Lalji. Colour commentary will be performed by Glen Suitor, Duane Forde, and LaPolice."

5 hours ago, wbbfan said:

I’m not talking nfl retreads, realistically that isn’t likely no matter what with the cap even if it went up.  
 I’m talking young minds from down south. The cfl is so far behind the 3/4 levels of us football in innovation now it’s really sad. 

The systems flat lining of innovation up here is going to exacerbate the leagues demographic problem. 

 

We can't attract those coaches anymore. It used to be an assistant or HC job in the CFL was a prestigious one, Just below the NFL. Now, coaches in the US would rather coach D3 or NAIA before coming up here. The low dollar, low salary, high taxes & cost of living & lack of mrdical & pension benefits just kill coaching opportunities for young guys wanting to come up here & make a career in the CFL. Not to mention the expansion of coaching staffs in the NFL & opportunities in the UFL make it nearly impossible to find quality US assistants. 

Edited June 29, 2025Jun 29 by SpeedFlex27

1 hour ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

We can't attract those coaches anymore. It used to be an assistant or HC job in the CFL was a prestigious one, Just below the NFL. Now, coaches in the US would rather coach D3 or NAIA before coming up here. The low dollar, low salary, high taxes & cost of living & lack of mrdical & pension benefits just kill coaching opportunities for young guys wanting to come up here & make a career in the CFL. Not to mention the expansion of coaching staffs in the NFL & opportunities in the UFL make it nearly impossible to find quality US assistants. 

So … don’t find from other leagues and don’t hire anyone who doesn’t have head coaching experience ?

1 hour ago, Mike said:

So … don’t find from other leagues and don’t hire anyone who doesn’t have head coaching experience ?

3 hours ago, Mike said:

So … don’t find from other leagues and don’t hire anyone who doesn’t have head coaching experience ?

I honestly don't know what the solution is. I know that as Wbbfan says, we no longer are the innovative league we used to be. 

Edited June 29, 2025Jun 29 by SpeedFlex27

2 hours ago, 17to85 said:

I thought passport photos were private. How'd you get that?

12 hours ago, JohnnyAbonny said:

Our coach was a ST coordinator with no prior head coaching experience.

 

He wasn't passed over for a HC position for 10 years or more. And he had more time to work with than Killam will ever have in Edmonton. 

Thought this was interesting.

 

Elks are in big trouble.  

1 hour ago, kelownabomberfan said:

Elks are in big trouble.  

My partially qualified opinion…

BC is ok because they can host every 3-4 Grey Cups.

Calgary and Edmonton are both in real trouble.  Like there’s no way they aren’t burning $5 million a year on operations.  Need stadiums and play in really tough CFL markets in this era.

Montreal loses a lot of money on operations and has no ability to make that back on hosting Grey Cups anymore.

Toronto is as usual.

Ottawa needs to win soon or they will be in trouble too.

I don’t believe the earlier schedule has been positive for league revenue.  If anything it’s harming them at the gate.

2 hours ago, kelownabomberfan said:

Elks are in big trouble.  

Most of the league is either in trouble or right in the verge of being in trouble. Ham and bc are ok because their owners can eat it / buy fans and won’t sweat losses. We are rock solid of course. 
 The rest, at best treading water. 
 

Even at that, if bc/ham had a sudden ownership turnover they’d be in serious trouble quickly. 
 For us, we obviously have deep coffers now. And a strong fan base. But we did at the turn of the 90s to. If we had an extended competitive collapse, the eventual fan base exodus would be a massive problem for the league. The riders are half way down the toilet already. If the top draws in the league barely got 20k the tsn deal would plummet and total gate average would be serious trouble. 
 

The league is at a crossroads. New tsn deal soon, bunch of teams on the fringe, already failed to capitalize on a younger generation the new commish has his work cut out for him, and the board. 

Montreal has a rich owner as well.

3 hours ago, TBURGESS said:

Thought this was interesting.

 

Yea, if only the BC crowd would stay beyond the pregame concert they would really be on to something.

30 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

Most of the league is either in trouble or right in the verge of being in trouble. Ham and bc are ok because their owners can eat it / buy fans and won’t sweat losses. We are rock solid of course. 
 The rest, at best treading water. 
 

Even at that, if bc/ham had a sudden ownership turnover they’d be in serious trouble quickly. 
 For us, we obviously have deep coffers now. And a strong fan base. But we did at the turn of the 90s to. If we had an extended competitive collapse, the eventual fan base exodus would be a massive problem for the league. The riders are half way down the toilet already. If the top draws in the league barely got 20k the tsn deal would plummet and total gate average would be serious trouble. 
 

The league is at a crossroads. New tsn deal soon, bunch of teams on the fringe, already failed to capitalize on a younger generation the new commish has his work cut out for him, and the board. 

Bombers have an advantage in that about 1/3 of attendees don't even watch the game. My niece couldn't name a player other than Willie Jefferson but goes to 5 games a year.

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

Most of the league is either in trouble or right in the verge of being in trouble. Ham and bc are ok because their owners can eat it / buy fans and won’t sweat losses. We are rock solid of course. 
 The rest, at best treading water. 
 

Even at that, if bc/ham had a sudden ownership turnover they’d be in serious trouble quickly. 
 For us, we obviously have deep coffers now. And a strong fan base. But we did at the turn of the 90s to. If we had an extended competitive collapse, the eventual fan base exodus would be a massive problem for the league. The riders are half way down the toilet already. If the top draws in the league barely got 20k the tsn deal would plummet and total gate average would be serious trouble. 
 

The league is at a crossroads. New tsn deal soon, bunch of teams on the fringe, already failed to capitalize on a younger generation the new commish has his work cut out for him, and the board. 

Depends what the viewer numbers are, if they can increase the viewers of broadcast and streaming services, they could potentially make more revenue through other venues.  Somehow league revenues have gone up, when game attendance appears to have fallen off a cliff.

Edited June 30, 2025Jun 30 by Fatty Liver

2 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

Montreal has a rich owner as well.

They do, but not one willing to eat losses, buy fans, improve the stadium/invest seriously in the team. Hamilton and bc have owners with deep pockets and real passion for the team and league. That’s the difference. 
 
The old Olympic stadium is going through a massive rebuild that’s going to turn the stadium back into a top notice facility. But the ALs aren’t involved or seemingly even interested. 
 

1 hour ago, Super Duper Negatron said:

Bombers have an advantage in that about 1/3 of attendees don't even watch the game. My niece couldn't name a player other than Willie Jefferson but goes to 5 games a year.

It’s true, the vibe at the rum hut is next level. I’ve got a couple cousins who never cared for any sports and both love going to games and hanging out at the rum hut. Ones become a pretty good bomber fan. 
 

They could legit sell 5-10k standing only tickets in the concourse area and still fill the seats. 
 

My uncle was never more than a casual tv fan when times were good. He’s had season tickets the last few years now. And was getting 5 packs back to 18. The game day experience in the stadium is phenomenal. And yes, being a great team helps too. 
 

49 minutes ago, Fatty Liver said:

Depends what the viewer numbers are, if they can increase the viewers of broadcast and streaming services, they could potentially make more revenue through other venues.  Somehow league revenues have gone up, when game attendance appears to have fallen off a cliff.

They would have to completely flip the value proposition of the league to do that. Which would be a gigantic change, for what in the end would leave us in a similar financial situation. 
 

Don’t get me wrong, we desperately need to grow the streaming and tv side of the market and that’s the future. But the league is a gate driven gate dependant entity. And the viewership product is miles away from being where it would need to be. 
 

Imo is mostly smoke and mirrors from short term windfalls. Like the modest epsn us tv deal. 
 

To take the next step the league needs tsn to create what the nhl has on tv. (Atleast last I saw and perceive, I don’t watch hockey) the CFL is in a position where if it isn’t growing, it’s dying. 

NHL had the lowest finals ratings in the last several years. Not sure they the one you want to be copying. 

29 minutes ago, Goalie said:

NHL had the lowest finals ratings in the last several years. Not sure they the one you want to be copying. 

The nhl season and post season is egregiously long. I feel like they always taper down into the finals. But again not a hockey guy. 
 The presentation, pre game, none game related coverage (trade deadline, draft, free agency) is very much what I think the cfl needs. 
 

the current presentation is more like a cheap Canadian sitcom about people the announcers working an ESPN the ocho type sport. 
 

In my experience, the NHLs presentation doesn’t confuse selling the steak with selling sizzle. 

https://3downnation.com/2025/07/01/montreal-alouettes-sign-former-all-star-receiver-alexander-hollins-one-other/

 

Interesting move by the Als. Wonder if Mack is out for an extended period of time.

20 hours ago, wbbfan said:

The nhl season and post season is egregiously long. I feel like they always taper down into the finals. But again not a hockey guy. 
 The presentation, pre game, none game related coverage (trade deadline, draft, free agency) is very much what I think the cfl needs. 
 

the current presentation is more like a cheap Canadian sitcom about people the announcers working an ESPN the ocho type sport. 
 

In my experience, the NHLs presentation doesn’t confuse selling the steak with selling sizzle. 

Don’t think many ppl stick around for intermissions on hockey. Nobody cares about the panel. It’s about the game really and prob the best way to promote the cfl is by saying it’s truly one of the last family friendly leagues in existence. Doesn’t cost thousands for a family of 4 to go to a game. Not sure cfl has a problem tho, they have a couple of markets have sucked for a decade problem and one that is what it is and has been for years now problem. Sask? They kind of bandwagon ish. Plus Regina and Saskatoon are not that big. That’s a good trip to go to a game from Saskatoon to Regina. Regina isn’t that big actually so yeah if ppl not driving in, they suffer. Toronto is what it is  and the Alberta teams have sucked for a bit now  

 

 

 

Edited July 1, 2025Jul 1 by Goalie

Not sure how often this is going to be updated. Seems like teams change this list pretty often especially certain times of the year.

 

9 minutes ago, Jpan85 said:

Not sure how often this is going to be updated. Seems like teams change this list pretty often especially certain times of the year.

 

Woah. Making the whole list available is something I never expected. 

It's a long list, but off the top of my mind, Deven Thompson, WR/KR, would be an exceptional get. That guy is insanely explosive and a much better WR than you usually see from that kind of outlier athlete. Zay Paige, another diminutive kr/wr type. 

Denzel Mims is an incredible athlete with great size who was very productive in the NCAA. He went in the 2nd round to the Jets. He could be a real killer in the CFL as a SB. 

Garmon Randolph is a huge end who projects similarly to WJ, and was even a TE in high school. 

Shaka Toney is another great athlete with pretty good pass-rush skills. 

 

Bunch of guys in or through the XFL, and NFL TCs. Not as many early college career kids, it's a pretty mature list.  

5 hours ago, Jpan85 said:

Not sure how often this is going to be updated. Seems like teams change this list pretty often especially certain times of the year.

FWIW, 3DN says it will be updated daily.

55 minutes ago, bigg jay said:

FWIW, 3DN says it will be updated daily.

Really? That’s insane.