2025 CFL schedule

[B.C.FAN]

The 2025 schedule has finally been released.

The Lions have 5 Saturday home games, including a 7 p.m. home opener on June 7. The other Saturday games are all 4 p.m. starts.

There is one Sunday 4 p.m. game and 3 Friday night games in the fall.

The home preseason game is on Victoria Day Monday, May 19.

https://www.bclions.com/2025schedule/

[SammyGreene]

Nice to see we avoid a Thursday home game this year.

Highlights for me:

- Extra division games this year are Elks (at home) and Riders. They bookend the schedule.

- we are done with the Bombers by June 21 which is a back end of a home-and-home. The first meeting will be the Bombers season opener after a week 1 bye for them.

- we are the last team to have a bye week (Week 9 BC Day Weekend).

- we don't see VA and the Stamps until Sept. 19 at McMahon. Lions follow with a bye week before Stamps are here Oct. 4.

[don corleone]

Always seems more complicated then it should be. Doesn't seem as if they consider travel as much as they maybe should.

Short week for the Lions including travel to Winnipeg for game 2 deserves an MBT rant and more back to back games than I care for.

Quite a bit to take in at one glance. Even Hambone and his assistants will need a little time.

[Hambone]

Slightly more balanced than last year. I'm still waffling on renewing but that's all to do with the travel & accommodation costs. At most I'll make 8 of the 10 home dates which is normal. I never attend the preseason game and can see already that I'll miss the season opener due to my nephew's wedding on the Island. I long ago accepted that odds were next to zero that I'd avoid a conflict that weekend given BC started the last 2 seasons on the road. They were due to start at home this year.

Last year they had only 4 home games prior to Labour Day weekend and then 5 the rest of the way starting with TD Pacific on LD weekend. This year they have 5 pre-LD and 4 post-LD. Much nicer balance. Last year they had that ugly stretch where they had 5 road games and 2 home games (including TDP in Vic) between home dates vs SSK on July 13 and TOR on Sept 13. Then they finished up with 4 of 5 at home including that Argo tilt.

I used to be not much of a fan of the 4pm starts but have come to like them. Gives a chance to take in the game and still have plenty of time post game to grab a bite to eat and enjoy a few pops.

Overall it's 2 thumbs up to this year's schedule. I do wonder if the Victoria Day preseason game will impact the always successful FanFest in Kamloops. Maybe it works out for the better as the Sat that weekend is the only feasible time for it. Typically they get the Sunday off after FanFest then be back practicing Monday.

[SammyGreene]

This will still take some getting used to. The face of the franchise from one to the other 3 months later. Clever video

[cromartie]

I thought Hamilton did a nice job with theirs.

[David]

I was interested to note that the "Concert Kick-Off" game is at 7:00pm this year, for the first time.

I wonder if it's either easier to book musical artists at that time (or more of a selling feature for big-name acts than a matinee) or if it's easier to get fans hyped for an evening concert and game, putting less pressure on always "topping last year."


DH

[don corleone]

I'd like to understand the logic behind playing Winnipeg in weeks 2 and 3 and not playing them again for the rest of the year yet sure to be competing against them in the standings. A head to head matchup between division rivals late in the year would be a good draw imo.

Would be a great start for the Lions to sweep that series.

[Hambone]

I was interested to note that the "Concert Kick-Off" game is at 7:00pm this year, for the first time.

I wonder if it's either easier to book musical artists at that time (or more of a selling feature for big-name acts than a matinee) or if it's easier to get fans hyped for an evening concert and game, putting less pressure on always "topping last year."


DH

Possibly a combination of TV network desires and team wishes. I can't speak to the 7pm thing for the opening concert but am thinking it's related to TV. June 7 happens to be when the 3rd round of the RBC Canadian open which TSN carries. It's being held in Toronto area. Having the first half of the season opening double header start at 7pm EDT would all but eliminate TSN having a PGA/CFL overlap.

One thing I did notice is that they cut back on the Sunday games. There are only 5 other than the LDC in Regina. Those 5 don't start until June 29, when school is out, and end on the last weekend before Aug long weekend. They do however start the year with Saturday double headers Weeks 1-3 and have something like 14 in total plus 1 Sat triple header opening weekend of NFL regular season. FNF double headers used to be frequent. This year they have only 3 with none before Week 15.

[Hambone]

I'd like to understand the logic behind playing Winnipeg in weeks 2 and 3 and not playing them again for the rest of the sure to be competing against them in the standings. A head to head matchup between division rivals late in the year would be a good draw imo.

Would be a great start for the Lions to sweep that series.

The way we've fared with WPG lately maybe it will be good to get the pain over with early. Lol.

At least it isn't set up like the last 2 years when BC faced the Bombers 3 times with 2 of the 3 games being played in Winnipeg both years.

I agree though doesn't seem to make sense to be done with an opponent in the first 3 weeks. In Winnipeg's case it's even more bizarre. They wrap up the season series with BC before they face another opponent. They have 4 sets of back to backs; BCL, CGY, TOR and finally the etched in stone LDC/Banjo Bowl with SSK.

[David]

So the big off-season news was VA being traded to Calgary following all of the "Nathan - VA" drama and the CFL doesn't deem it important enough to get these two QBs facing off against each other until September?!?

Talk about a missed opportunity for Week 1! This could have sold a lot of tickets in Cowtown.


DH

[Toppy Vann]

The Bombers back to back and facing VA in Sept are a bit surprising and kind of disappointing.

[don corleone]

So the big off-season news was VA being traded to Calgary following all of the "Nathan - VA" drama and the CFL doesn't deem it important enough to get these two QBs facing off against each other until September?!?

Talk about a missed opportunity for Week 1! This could have sold a lot of tickets in Cowtown.


DH

Lions play Calgary weeks 16 and 18. Could be big games but obviously no way to build a rivalry.

Each team once in the first half of the season and again in the second doesn't seem like rocket science to figure out. The idea is supposed to be to create fan interest.

Also don't like how they have painted themselves into a corner with the must have matchups on Labour Day etc. Sask / Edm would sell out just as well. I notice no Grey Cup rematch until week 9 this year. Exhibition games with no starters suck as well.

[Hambone]

So the big off-season news was VA being traded to Calgary following all of the "Nathan - VA" drama and the CFL doesn't deem it important enough to get these two QBs facing off against each other until September?!?

Talk about a missed opportunity for Week 1! This could have sold a lot of tickets in Cowtown.


DH

Pros and cons to that. Do it week 1 and it's like whatever drama and hype that might come with the matchup is over almost before the season even began. To do it in Calgary Wk 1 would mean BC starts the season on the road for the 3rd straight year.

Now it could certainly happen earlier but unless one team or the other happens to play themselves out of playoff contention by Wk 15 (game 14 for BC, game 13 for CGY) the matchup will have the added intrigue of being in the middle of the stretch drive for playoff positioning.

Also when such an offseason transaction happens I think it's a much bigger deal for the fans of the player's former team to face him than it is for the fans of his new team to see him face his old team. I don't think Stamps fans will be as intrigued about VA playing against BC as Lions fans will be. Having said that I was in Calgary for the start of the 2023 season as BC opened up there. Next night I was in The National, one of the most popular bars on The Red Mile. Hamilton was in Winnipeg for Bo's first game as a Ticat. I thought there'd be keen interest to watch that game. I think all of the TVs had the Jays game on. Finally after the Ticat game was well underway I asked the bartender if he could put the game on the TV I was sitting in front of.

[Hambone]

So the big off-season news was VA being traded to Calgary following all of the "Nathan - VA" drama and the CFL doesn't deem it important enough to get these two QBs facing off against each other until September?!?

Talk about a missed opportunity for Week 1! This could have sold a lot of tickets in Cowtown.


DH

Lions play Calgary weeks 16 and 18. Could be big games but obviously no way to build a rivalry.

Each team once in the first half of the season and again in the second doesn't seem like rocket science to figure out. The idea is supposed to be to create fan interest.

Also don't like how they have painted themselves into a corner with the must have matchups on Labour Day etc. Sask / Edm would sell out just as well. I notice no Grey Cup rematch until week 9 this year. Exhibition games with no starters suck as well.

Don't tell that to the fans of the teams involved in the LDCs and rematches. Attendance figures say those dates are hugely important. The fans of the 4 prairie teams live for those 2 weeks.

2022 had an unbalanced schedule that saw EDM & CGY play each other 4 times. CGY had 30479 for the LDC and 22739 for the earlier game at McMahon. Similarly EDM had 26946 for the LDC rematch and 21023 for the earlier game. Last year they played 3 times with 2 in Calgary. LDC drew 28467 and the later game drew 21185.

In 2024 the Riders sold out the LDC but were 4000 short of a sellout when they hosted the Bombers in July. In 2023 the Riders hosted Winnipeg for their home opener. They drew 28299 for that and 33350 for the LDC.

It might be easy to build a totally balanced schedule if all 9 teams were the only tenants in their stadiums. Everybody other than Edmonton shares with multiple tenants be they MLS, CPL, CJFL, or USports.