Biggest Fixtures Ahead of the CFL Season Restart in August 

The Canadian Football League have given the go ahead for the 2021 season to begin on the 5th of August. The regular season is due to end on the 20th of November and there will be 14 regular season games played over 16 weeks.  

Training camp is scheduled to begin on the 10th of July and speaking about the announcement, the CFLPA said, “We are now in the best possible position to play football in 2021. We are pleased the CFL board of governors did the right thing by voting in favour of a good and fair agreement that makes it possible for games to be played, with strong player safety standards in place, as soon as August 5”. 

There are nine teams in the CFL and they are split into two divisions, East and West. The West division has an extra team, so if four teams from the West division qualify for the CFL playoffs, the team with the worst overall record moves over to the East division. Now the CFL fixtures and odds have been released, we can take a closer look at some of the games to catch the eye. 

Winnipeg Blue Bombers are the defending champions having won the 107th Grey Cup in November 2019. They will begin the defence of the cup against Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the team they defeated in the 107th Grey Cup and this is always a great way to begin the season. The Tiger-Cats are the favorites with the bookmakers to win the Grey Cup this season and they will be keen to make a big statement in the opening game of their campaign against the current holders.  

Toronto Argonauts vs Calgary Stampeders is another opening round game to capture the attention of fans. The Stampeders are tipped to do well this season having failed at the Division Semi-Finals stage in 2019. However, despite being out in the betting to win the 2021 CFL, the Argonauts could make life tough for the Stampeders in this game and should not be underestimated. This is key game at the beginning of the season for both teams and could have an impact on their aspirations going forward. 

The Argonauts then face the Blue Bombers in the second round of games and it will be interesting to see how each team approaches the game based on their first result. The final game of Week 2 is between the Tiger-Cats and Saskatchewan Roughriders, both of which are tipped to do well this season.  

Moving to October and another of the highly anticipated games of the 2021 CFL season is between the Tiger-Cats and Argonauts in a Thanksgiving Classic. This will be the second meeting of the teams but there is something special about playing on this date and the result could have implications for the playoff positions. The Argonauts will be hoping to cause a shock by winning the game but the Tiger-Cats are likely to begin as the favorites.