CFL 2026: New Season Brings New Looks

By Chris Lawton

The CFL is back and off to a great start with a Thursday night football spectacle that saw the Montreal Alouettes win 30-27 in overtime against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. There will be more on that and the other game results from the opening weekend on our CFL pages here at Touchdown Towers shortly.

It did occur to us, however, that whilst we have given you a guide to the teams for 2026, got you set for the season and explained CFL Fantasy, there is one area we didn’t cover. For a lot of sports fans, it’s all about the swag. There are detailed histories of the different stylings teams have presented over the years. Whilst fan sites tend to go into more depth, even the league has got involved in the past. So, let’s take a look at any new uniform developments before the season gets underway.

There have been two new uniforms unveiled by CFL teams for the 2026 season so far. The Calgary Stampeders revealed new red-and-white uniforms on April 29, created in partnership with New Era. Whilst the BC Lions unveiled a new away uniform dubbed the “Pacific Frost” very recently, featuring a white jersey, metallic silver helmet, silver pants, and orange accents on the numbers. Let’s take a look at each one in turn.

Calgary's New Red & White Look

The Stamps new uniforms continue to exclusively showcase Calgary’s traditional red-and-white colours, but with some notable design changes. They will have “an all-new on-field appearance, with redesigned home and away uniforms for the 2026 season”. Calgary’s home and away jerseys now feature significantly altered shoulder striping, a familiar Western-style number font, the team logo underneath the front collar and a CGY wordmark on the back of the neck. The pants now include the same CGY wordmark on the front of the hip and a single stripe down the side. The jerseys and pants will complement the existing version of red helmets.

The Stamps will appear in their new look this weekend for the first time in the 2026 regular season, when they host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Calgary will still wear its existing black uniforms for the Labour Day Classic against the Edmonton Elks at McMahon Stadium, though.

Whilst some fans were happy with the red and white ‘vibe’ of this new look, the biggest complaint I have seen ‘on the socials’ is that the removal of the black accent colours from the primary jerseys and pants strips the team of its signature look from its greatest championship eras. This follows a similar feeling about New Era’s designs across the league, where the solid single-colour socks and pants, combined with a lack of striping, make the uniforms feel a bit too plain. But really, that’s just griping about the detail. If Calgary were to go on to win big in these, I am sure they would become beloved.

The Lions Get Frosty

The only other team to announce a change so far is the Leos, when they announced the launch of their new ‘Pacific Frost’ road jerseys. This follows a theme for the road jersey as in 2023 the Lions did a nod to the past with ‘blackout’ home jerseys and a weather theme on the road with their fog grey away look. Judging by the immediate responses to both the Pacific Frost look is going to be much more popular than the fog grey!

The team says in a press release that it combines “our club’s rich history with a major focus on our exciting future as British Columbia’s team.”

The jersey base is white, with no striping on the sleeves and a white collar. Numbers on the front, back and sleeves are silver with orange outlines, and a silver “BC LIONS” wordmark sits above the number on the chest. Player names on the back are one colour in orange.

The Lions also rolled out a new away helmet on Wednesday to go with the new jerseys. Both the shell of the helmet and the facemask are metallic silver, with the Lions’ primary logo on either side. There is no striping down the middle of the shell.

The pants that go with the jersey are silver with a single orange stripe down each side. Silver pants and helmets hold a special place in Lions fans’ hearts, as they won Grey Cup championships in 1994 and 2000 wearing those uniform elements.

The Lions also added that “Hall of Famers and Lion legends that include Lui Passaglia, Geroy Simon, Brent Johnson, and the Flutie brothers (Darren & Doug), all shone in silver”. It’s a smart bit of marketing to connect the current era to the franchise’s Hall of Fame credentials.

I think Lions fans might like this crisp, clean look almost as much as their famous gunmetal uniforms. As with Calgary above, should they have success in these jerseys, then expect them to become much beloved.

So now you are up to speed on the new looks coming to the league. Let’s get ready to see them in action and who has the biggest impact in 2026.

CHRIS LAWTON

CFL ANALYST

Chris originally started following the NFL with the ‘first wave’ of fans when it was shown on Channel 4 in the 1980’s. He has been a keen supporter of the Miami Dolphins since 1983. Chris first encountered the CFL in 2016 and instantly fell in love with the Canadian game. He has been writing about the CFL 2017. Chris has a degree in history, postgraduate degree in librarianship and can be found on twitter as @CFLfanUK

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