The 2013 CFL season was the 60th season of modern-day

Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...

. Officially, it was the 56th season of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

. The pre-season began on June 12, 2013 and the regular season began on June 27, 2013.

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina ( ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 Canadian census, ...

hosted the 101st Grey Cup on November 24, with the Cup won by the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

CFL news in 2013

Salary cap

According to a new collective bargaining agreement, the 2013

salary cap In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Seve ...

was set at $4,400,000. As per the agreement, the cap is fixed and does not vary with league revenue performance. The minimum team salary was set at $4,000,000, with individual minimum salaries set at $45,000.

Season schedule

The 2013 season schedule was released on March 5, 2013, with the regular season opening on June 27 at the new

Investors Group Field Princess Auto Stadium (formerly IG Field) is an outdoor stadium in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The stadium, which opened in 2013, is located on the University of Manitoba campus next to University Stadium (Winnipeg), University Stadium. The stadium is h ...

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

. This was the first time Winnipeg had opened the regular season since

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and the first brand new Canadian stadium in the CFL since Toronto's

SkyDome Rogers Centre (originally SkyDome) is a retractable roof stadium in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated at the base of the CN Tower near the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989 on the former Railway Lands, it is home to ...

opened in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

(the

Alamodome The Alamodome is a 64,000-seat domed indoor multi-purpose stadium in San Antonio, Texas. It is located on the southeastern fringe of downtown San Antonio. The facility opened on May 15, 1993, having been constructed at a cost of $186 milli ...

opened in 1993 with the now defunct San Antonio Texans playing there in 1995). For the second time in three years, the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...

and

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home game ...

did not play in their Labour Day Classic matchup, due to scheduling conflicts for both teams. Following the previous year's experiment, the league held all division matchups not only in the last week, but for the final four weeks in total, hoping for a tight playoff race. There were 15 double headers, with one on a Thursday, three on Fridays, nine on Saturdays, one on a Sunday, and the traditional

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

contests on a Monday.

Bye weeks

For the second consecutive year, the teams' bye weeks occurred in the sixth and seventh weeks of the season, earlier than the usual eighth and ninth week setup that had been in place since

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. These began over the August Civic Holiday, suggesting that this was done to accommodate for fans' vacation plans.

Stadium changes

The

played 2013 home games at

Alumni Stadium Alumni Stadium is a college football stadium on the lower campus of Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. It is about west of downtown Boston, just inside the Boston city limits near the border with Newton, Massachusetts, Newton. It i ...

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...

, with the exception of Touchdown Atlantic (see below). The team's previous venue,

Ivor Wynne Stadium Ivor Wynne Stadium (formerly Civic Stadium) was a Canadian football stadium located at the corner of Balsam and Beechwood avenues, two blocks west of Gage Avenue North in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The stadium was the home of the Hamilton Tiger ...

, was demolished during the offseason, and its replacement,

Tim Hortons Field Hamilton Stadium (originally Tim Hortons Field) is a multi-purpose stadium in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Completed in 2014 with a capacity of 22,500, it was built as a replacement on the same site as the previous stadium, name ...

, would not be ready until at least

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

. For the first time in decades, the Tiger-Cats did not host the Labour Day Classic and instead traveled to Vancouver to face the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions playe ...

that weekend. Because Ontario University Athletics (of which Alumni Stadium's primary tenants, the Guelph Gryphons, are a member) also has a tradition of playing football games on Labour Day, finding a suitable venue within Southern Ontario would have been impossible. The Toronto at Hamilton matchup was instead played as the nightcap in the 2013 Thanksgiving Day Classic. The

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division (CFL), West division. They play thei ...

finally took residence at the new

. The stadium was supposed to have been readied in 2012, but construction delays pushed back the opening to the 2013 season. The

hosted the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...

at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

Varsity Stadium Varsity Stadium is an outdoor collegiate stadium located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the "Varsity Centre & Arena", a sports complex at the University of Toronto's St. George Campus. Athletic events have been hosted on the site ...

for their preseason game, the first Argonauts game at Varsity Stadium in 55 years.

Return of Touchdown Atlantic

After a one-year hiatus in 2012, Touchdown Atlantic returned for the 2013 season with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats hosting the

on September 21, 2013. This was the third regular season instalment of the game and the second to feature the Tiger-Cats. This was the first appearance for the Alouettes and it was also the first matchup to feature division opponents.

Media

On March 21, 2013, the CFL announced it had renewed its exclusive contract with TSN to televise all CFL games through 2018; the contract included the national radio rights to the Grey Cup, which would air on TSN Radio and The Team. The contract had originally been set to expire at the end of the 2013 season. As with the previous contract, the league had no games broadcast on terrestrial television, prolonging an absence dating to

and making it the largest league in North America without over-the-air television broadcasts. On June 21, 2013, the CFL announced it had renewed its distribution deal with NBC Sports Network for United States broadcasts and that

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

would also pick up five additional games for live broadcast.

ESPN3 ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an internet, online streaming media, streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) an ...

continued to serve as the league's online broadcaster.

Rule changes

On April 10, 2013 the CFL Board of Governors approved 2 new rules. The first stated that coaches would be allowed to challenge the result of a field goal attempt or

extra point Extra, Xtra, or The Extra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * The Extra (1962 film), ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * The Extra (2005 film), ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * Extra (newspaper), ...

attempt. The second rule gave coaches more flexibility on when they can use their timeouts. Coaches could now use both of their time outs at any point during regulation time of a game, as long as they didn't use more than one after the three-minute warning was sounded in the second half of the game. In the past coaches were only allowed to use one time out per half.

Coaching changes

Immediately following the close of the 2012 CFL season it seemed probable that there would be no head coaching changes in the off-season. However, after a disappointing 6–12 regular season the

fired George Cortez. The expectations on the Ticats were very high after the off-season acquisitions of Henry Burris and Andy Fantuz which Cortez failed to live up to. The Tiger-Cats replaced Cortez with Kent Austin. Austin, who won the 95th Grey Cup with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, had been the offensive coordinator at the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (Epithet, byname Ole Miss) is a Public university, public research university in University, near Oxford, Mississippi, United States, with a University of Mississippi Medical Center, medical center in Jackson, Miss ...

and the head coach of

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

for 3 years each. In mid-January, 2013, the

lost their head coach Marc Trestman to the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

of the NFL. Trestman won two Grey Cups in five seasons as the head coach of the Alouettes from 2008 to 2012. On February 19 the Alouettes announced that Dan Hawkins would be the new head coach. Hawkins had been the head coach of

Willamette University Willamette University is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college with locations in Salem, Oregon, Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United ...

, Boise State and

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

from 1993 to 2010. Dan Hawkins was fired on August 1, 2013, after a 2–3 start to the season. Longtime general manager Jim Popp was interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Tim Burke was fired on November 12, 2013 after the

finished last in the league with a dismal 3–15 record.

Trade deadline

The deadline for teams to complete trades was Wednesday October 9 at 3:59pm EDT.

Regular season

Structure

Teams played eighteen regular season games, playing two of the three divisional opponents three times, the other four times, and teams from the opposing division twice. Teams were awarded two points for a win and one point for a tie. The top three teams in each division qualified for the playoffs, with the first place team gaining a bye to the divisional finals. A fourth place team in one division could qualify ahead of the third place team in the other division (the "Crossover"), if they earned more points in the seaso

If two or more teams in the same division were equal in points, the following tiebreakers applied

*a) Most wins in all games *b) Head to head winning percentage (matches won divided by all matches played) *c) Head to head points difference *d) Head to head points ratio *e–g) Tiebreakers b–d applied sequentially to all divisional games *h–i) Tiebreakers c–d applied sequentially to all league games *j) Coin toss Notes: *1. If two clubs remained tied after other club(s) are eliminated during any step, tie breakers reverted to step a). *2. Tiebreakers did not apply to the Crossover. To cross over a team must have more points than the third place team.

Standings

''Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points'' ''Teams in bold are in playoff positions.'' * Saskatchewan finished 2nd in the West Division because they won the season series over BC (2-1).

Weekly results

2013 average attendance

* Saskatchewan 37,503 * Edmonton 32,095 * Winnipeg 30,637 * Calgary 29,262 * BC 28,310 * Montreal 23,004 * Toronto 21,926 * Hamilton 13,298

CFL playoffs

The Calgary Stampeders were first to clinch a playoff berth, in Week 12 of the schedule. Toronto and BC followed in Week 14, followed by Saskatchewan and Hamilton in Week 15, and the final playoff spot was clinched by Montreal in Week 17. Three of the four home playoff hosts were determined in Week 17. The Saskatchewan Roughriders are the 2013

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

Champions, winning their fourth title on home turf at

Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field Taylor Field, known in its latter years as Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field for Naming rights, sponsorship reasons, was an open-air stadium located in Regina, Saskatchewan. It was the home field of the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Rough ...

by defeating the

, 45–23. Roughriders' running back Kory Sheets was named the

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

, while Roughriders' slotback, Chris Getzlaf was named the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Canadian.

Playoff bracket

*-Team won in Overtime.

Award winners

CFL Player of the Week

''Source''

CFL Player of the Month

''Source''

2013 CFL All-Stars

Offence

*QB – Ricky Ray, Toronto Argonauts *RB – Jon Cornish, Calgary Stampeders *RB – Kory Sheets, Saskatchewan Roughriders *R – S. J. Green, Montreal Alouettes *R – Fred Stamps, Edmonton Eskimos *R – Marquay McDaniel, Calgary Stampeders *R – Weston Dressler, Saskatchewan Roughriders *OT – Stanley Bryant, Calgary Stampeders *OT – Jovan Olafioye, BC Lions *OG –

Brendon LaBatte Brendon LaBatte (born September 12, 1986) is a Canadian former professional Canadian football, football Guard (American football), guard. He was drafted sixth overall by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the 2008 CFL Draft. He played CIS Football with ...

, Saskatchewan Roughriders *OG – Chris Van Zeyl, Toronto Argonauts *OC – Jeff Keeping, Toronto Argonauts

Defence

*DT – Khalif Mitchell, Toronto Argonauts *DT – Almondo Sewell, Edmonton Eskimos *DE – Alex Hall, Saskatchewan Roughriders *DE – Charleston Hughes, Calgary Stampeders *LB – Chip Cox, Montreal Alouettes *LB – Adam Bighill, BC Lions *LB – Henoc Muamba, Winnipeg Blue Bombers *CB – Geoff Tisdale, Montreal Alouettes *CB – Pat Watkins, Toronto Argonauts *DB – Jerald Brown, Montreal Alouettes *DB – Ryan Phillips, BC Lions *S – Tyron Brackenridge, Saskatchewan Roughriders

Special teams

*K – Rene Paredes, Calgary Stampeders *P – Rob Maver, Calgary Stampeders *ST –

Larry Taylor Samuel Lawrence Taylor (June 26, 1942 – August 19, 2019) was an American bass guitarist, best known for his work as a member of the blues rock band Canned Heat. Before joining Canned Heat, he had been a session musician, session bassist for T ...

, Calgary Stampeders

2013 CFL Western All-Stars

Offence

*QB – Darian Durant, Saskatchewan Roughriders *RB – Jon Cornish, Calgary Stampeders *RB – Kory Sheets, Saskatchewan Roughriders *R – Weston Dressler, Saskatchewan Roughriders *R – Chris Getzlaf, Saskatchewan Roughriders *R – Marquay McDaniel, Calgary Stampeders *R – Fred Stamps, Edmonton Eskimos *OT – Stanley Bryant, Calgary Stampeders *OT – Jovan Olafioye, BC Lions *OG –

, Saskatchewan Roughriders *OG – Jon Gott, Calgary Stampeders *OC – Brett Jones, Calgary Stampeders

Defence

*DT –

Tearrius George Tearrius George (born December 3, 1982) is a former gridiron football defensive end who played for the Calgary Stampeders and Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. He was signed by the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent ...

, Saskatchewan Roughriders *DT – Almondo Sewell, Edmonton Eskimos *DE – Alex Hall, Saskatchewan Roughriders *DE – Charleston Hughes, Calgary Stampeders *LB – Adam Bighill, BC Lions *LB – Solomon Elimimian, BC Lions *LB – Juwan Simpson, Calgary Stampeders *CB – Cord Parks, BC Lions *CB – Dante Marsh, BC Lions *DB – Dwight Anderson, Saskatchewan Roughriders *DB – Ryan Phillips, BC Lions *S – Tyron Brackenridge, Saskatchewan Roughriders

Special teams

*K – Rene Paredes, Calgary Stampeders *P – Rob Maver, Calgary Stampeders *ST –

, Calgary Stampeders

2013 CFL Eastern All-Stars

Offence

*QB – Ricky Ray, Toronto Argonauts *RB – C. J. Gable, Hamilton Tiger-Cats *RB – Will Ford, Winnipeg Blue Bombers *R – Andre Durie, Toronto Argonauts *R – Bakari Grant, Hamilton Tiger-Cats *R – S. J. Green, Montreal Alouettes *R – Chad Owens, Toronto Argonauts *OT – Josh Bourke, Montreal Alouettes *OT – Glenn January, Winnipeg Blue Bombers *OG – Chris Van Zeyl, Toronto Argonauts *OG – Greg Wojt, Hamilton Tiger-Cats *OC – Jeff Keeping, Toronto Argonauts

Defence

*DT – Bryant Turner, Winnipeg Blue Bombers *DT – Khalif Mitchell, Toronto Argonauts *DE – John Bowman, Montreal Alouettes *DE – Brandon Boudreaux, Hamilton Tiger-Cats *LB – Chip Cox, Montreal Alouettes *LB – Robert McCune, Toronto Argonauts *LB – Henoc Muamba, Winnipeg Blue Bombers *CB – Geoff Tisdale, Montreal Alouettes *CB – Pat Watkins, Toronto Argonauts *DB – Jerald Brown, Montreal Alouettes *DB – Billy Parker, Montreal Alouettes *S – Mike Edem, Montreal Alouettes

Special teams

*K – Sean Whyte, Montreal Alouettes *P – Josh Bartel, Hamilton Tiger-Cats *ST – Marc Beswick, Hamilton Tiger-Cats

2013 Gibson's Finest CFL Awards

* CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award – Jon Cornish (RB),

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium a ...

* CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award – Jon Cornish (RB),

* CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award – Chip Cox (LB),

* CFL's Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman Award –

(OG), Saskatchewan Roughriders * CFL's Most Outstanding Rookie Award – Brett Jones (OL),

* John Agro Special Teams Award – Rene Paredes (K),

* Tom Pate Memorial Award – Kyries Hebert (LB),

* Jake Gaudaur Veterans' Trophy – Shea Emry (LB),

* Annis Stukus Trophy – Corey Chamblin, Saskatchewan Roughriders * Commissioner's Award – Dwayne Mandrusiak, Edmonton Eskimos Equipment Manager * Hugh Campbell Distinguished Leadership Award - no recipient

References

{{Authority control Canadian Football League seasons 2013 in Canadian football