The Canadian Football League has picked its next commissioner.
Amid calls for the league to focus on media deals ahead of the 2026 expiration of its crucial deal with TSN, they tabbed a key figure who sat across the table for many versions of that deal. That would be Bell Media senior vice president Stewart Johnston, who the CFL announced as its 15th commissioner Wednesday:
Stewart Johnston appointed 15th Commissioner of the Canadian Football League.
Details: https://t.co/XGbn1FTcr3 pic.twitter.com/HPDJBpERAs
— CFL (@CFL) April 2, 2025
Johnston had just shifted to the SVP, content role at Bell Media following four years as their SVP, sales and sports. However, his time with that company and TSN dates back much longer than that. He was vice president of programming at TSN from 2006 to 2010, including the December 2006 deal for TSN to gain exclusive rights to CFL games beginning in the 2008 season. He was then named TSN president in 2010 and held that role through 2021, adding oversight of Bell Media sales and marketing in 2017.
Thus, Johnston has been across the table for not just the initial CFL on TSN deal, but every subsequent extension of it. That includes the 2019 deal that runs through next year. So he’s certainly aware of the key workings of the CFL.
For Johnston, this is a move from one company where he’d worked for decades to a league he’d been working closely with for most of that time. He posted about his move from Bell to the CFL on LinkedIn on Wednesday.
For the CFL, this pick shows the importance of their next Canadian media rights deal. That’s crucial to the league, as the TSN contract has been a great source of stability and has often come close to covering player salaries, especially after jumps from an estimated average of $15 million per year in the first deal to an estimated average of $43 million per year beginning in 2014 and an estimated $50 million annually under the current 2019-signed deal. (Figures are in Canadian dollars.)
Johnston succeeds former player and businessman Randy Ambrosie, who had held the commissioner role since 2017 but announced his retirement in October. As per Dan Ralph of The Canadian Press, part of the timing of Ambrosie’s retirement was ensuring a new commissioner would have enough time to prepare for media rights negotiations:
Ambrosie’s October retirement announcement was surprising, particularly after his 2023 Grey Cup address, where he said he had no immediate plans to step down. It was widely expected he would remain at least through 2026, when the broadcast deals expire.
By retiring sometime in 2025, Ambrosie felt he was giving his successor enough time to acclimate to the role and prepare for negotiations on new TV deals. In May 2022, the CFL and CFL Players’ Association agreed to a seven-year collective bargaining agreement, though it can be reopened once the new broadcast contracts are signed.
From the outside, TSN and Bell Media seem like the most likely candidates to retain the CFL’s Canadian rights. Competitor Rogers’ recent 12-year, $11 billion (CAD; $7.7 billion USD at the moment) renewal of NHL rights for Sportsnet means they’ll likely stay focused on hockey.
The CFL has some of the biggest Canadian sports rights outside of the NHL, so the league has been key to keeping TSN’s subscriber numbers and per-subscriber fees up. Last year, Bell also addressed some of the long-standing complaints about cable-only CFL games by putting some games, including the Grey Cup championship, on their CTV broadcast network. Johnston certainly will have familiarity with what TSN will want and need.
There also don’t seem to be a lot of viable competitors for the CFL package. Sportsnet generally hasn’t shown interest, and while the CBC broadcast CFL games through 2007, it generally can’t compete with private corporations in terms of rights fees. And while some U.S. tech companies have started gaining some live sports rights in Canada, including DAZN and Amazon, there hasn’t been much reporting that any of them are interested in an exclusive CFL deal.
It’s possible the CFL will opt for multiple partners, or there will be a sublicensing deal. So it’s not assured that the CFL/TSN status quo will remain going forward.
There is a U.S. and international component to CFL broadcasting as well, but that’s much more important for exposure than finances. Currently, the league has a deal with CBS Sports Network for some U.S. games, with the remainder on their free CFL+ streaming service. That deal runs through 2026 as well. The league site currently says viewers outside North America will be able to access the whole 2025 season through CFL+; they have had some other deals in the past, but it looks like they’re going to be streaming-only for now.
Given the importance of the CFL’s next Canadian media deal, it seems to make a lot of sense to bring in not just a highly respected television executive but one who knows the ins and outs of their most likely TV partner.
