Let's Go CFL Camping!
By Chris Lawton
As Christina Rosetti noted, ‘There is no time like spring, when life’s alive in everything’. It’s a time of great promise. Of life bursting forth anew, of renewal. All around us life is blooming, the sun is shining, the weather is warming and there is the promise of glories to come in the summer. One place that is tied into the glorious return of things at this time of year is the CFL which is busily gearing back up for action.
Of course, every year once the Grey Cup has been played, and the dust has settled on another season you hear the plaintive cry of CFL fans in chorus asking. “Is it June yet?”. Before we know it, yes it will be, and that will mean the start of the 2025 CFL regular season. With the opening weekend of games slated to be played between the 6th and 8th of June. The kickoff classic lifting the lid on a new season will be between the Ottawa RedBlacks and Saskatchewan Roughriders. Two teams that made the playoffs last year but who will want to get further this time around.
The cyclical nature of sport means that last year’s Grey Cup game is already long in the rear view for CFL teams who are focused on reaching the ultimate prize this November. To that end the cycle of the season is already under way. Rookie min camps have opened. With full camps to follow on shortly. Teams will be looking to build that championship roster. The Draft has been and gone, roster additions and cuts are being made.
The CFL QB Internship Program welcomes 2025 class!
— CFL (@CFL) May 7, 2025
Quarterbacks from across the country will join their professional counterparts on the field for the 2025 #CFL QB Internship. The program runs through CFL Rookie Camps and Training Camps until the end of May.
🗞️:… pic.twitter.com/ilsDMy0U0r
It’s an exciting time of year. A chance for fans of all the teams to start believing something good could happen for them. The teams will be busy now camps have started too because after the rookie camps opening, the following dates are key too:
May the 10th – Rosters reduced to 85 players.
May the 11th – full training camps open.
May the 13th – Rosters reduced to 75 players.
Preseason week 1 – Monday May the 19th Calgary Stampeders at BC Lions (9PM BST).
May 31st – Training camps close.
June 5th Canada (June 6th 2 am BST) season kick off Ottawa at Saskatchewan.
Summer pro football with talented players, fun games, inviting fans, what’s not to love? And for those NFL and college ball fans that bemoan a lack of football at this time of year the CFL offers a great ‘football fix’.
It is the perfect time to look at the 3 Down game and find yourself a CFL team or player(s) to follow. One of the joys of a nine-team league is that whatever team you support, you feel part of the wider community from all the teams and can keep abreast of what is happening all across the league pretty well. These things often go better however if you have one team that is your team, and to help you select who that might be you can check out our guide to the teams here.
So, Is it June yet?
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