The CFL Doesn't Need to Move The Uprights

CFL Commissioner Stewart Johnston and the league's Board of Governors want the public to believe that moving the uprights off the goal line and out of play in 2027 will open up the middle of the end zone, allowing teams to use more of the field to score. They are wrong, intentionally misleading, and being blatantly opaque about all the massive changes coming to the Canadian Football League next year.

Using this video, I watched and catalogued every touchdown catch made within the scoring boundary (end zone) during the 2025 CFL season. I also turned that data into a graphic, similar to a baseball spray chart, to show the location of each one of those 134 catches. Ultimately, what I have put together effectively counters and negates Johnston's claims that the uprights are a hindrance to offences.

 Before we get into the data, some notes:

• Ball must have been caught on or behind goal line. Balls caught outside the goal line and carried across are not counted.

• Does not account for incompletions, drops, or interceptions in the end zone.

• Does not account for thrown two-point converts/attempts.

• All locations (both on graphic and on table) are approximate, not necessarily guaranteed.

• No discernible order to clips in video, except for playoff games are at end. The default order of the table is the order in which these touchdowns appear in the video.

• In several cases, additional game footage was required to see whether or not a ball traveled through the uprights, or to more accurately determine the relative location of a catch. Condensed game highlights were available on YouTube from a variety of sources.

Interactive Table

I counted 134 passing touchdowns from the 2025 regular season and postseason that were caught on or past the goal line.

11/134 (8.2%) were thrown through or directly under the uprights.

CFL end zones are 65 yards (195 feet) wide. CFL uprights are 18.5 feet wide. The width of the uprights accounts for 9.4% of the total goal line. Considering 8.2% of all touchdowns thrown into the end zone in 2025 went through that 18.5-foot area, that’s close enough to consider that number acceptably proportionate.

Distribution:

47/134 left side (35.0%)

37/134 middle (27.6%) - defined as on/between the outer set of hashmarks on the graphic (USports/CJFL width)

50/134 right side (37.3%)

Broken into even thirds of 21.6 yards, the middle third adds approximately six throws (two from left, four from right). That brings the proportions to 33.5% left, 32.0% middle, 34.3% right -- nearly even in every sector.

27/134 (20.1%) were caught between 15-19 yards past the goal line, meaning they would be out of bounds in 2027 due to the end zones (unnecessarily) shrinking from 20 to 15 yards deep. Brownnosers will counter that next season's play calls will factor in that reduction and obviously receivers won't run routes that far beyond the end line. To them, I say that here we have mathematical proof that 20% of the league's scoring happens in the back quarter of the end zone, so what happens to scoring when that space is eliminated? Some may say, "We will still see back corner plays it won’t change much". But if the NHL reduced the size of its nets, you can say “we will still see shooters pick corners to score goals” but the fact the scoring area is shrinking makes those scoring plays less likely to occur overall.

Sidebar: The CFL predicts an increase of 60 touchdowns across the whole season once the fields are changed. It also claims that attempts and completions in that middle zone are significantly lower compared to the left and right sides. But if that is true, how can the league explain the near-even success rate of these catches across its current end zones, as illustrated in my graphic?

In 2026, through 11 weeks of action, there have only been two (2) instances of a quarterback doinking a throw off the uprights for an incompletion. We have also seen zero (0) players run into the goal post. I do not have any data for 2025 doinks or post collisions, but I happily welcome it.

Tendencies that explain the wider spray on right third and lack of spray on left third are due to:

• No notable left-handed QBs in CFL in 2025.
• Planted in the pocket, righties were more easily able to throw across the body to receivers.
• Out of the pocket, righties tended to run right, making throws to the left far more unsuccessful. 

Scoring Team	Situation	Ball On	+EZ Air Yds	TD in 2027?	Through Uprights	Note
MTL	2&5	TOR 26	+11	Yes	No
SSK	1&G	OTT 9	+17	No	Yes
BC	1&10	EDM 34	+5	Yes	No
OTT	2&G	SSK 8	+0	Yes	Under
BC	2&8	EDM 15	+2	Yes	No
WPG	1&10	BC 20	+15	No	Yes
HAM	1&G	SSK 9	+18	No	Yes
OTT	2&G	MTL 10	+14	Yes	No
WPG	2&G	BC 4	+17	No	No
SSK	2&10	HAM 15	+0	Yes	No
TOR	2&G	SSK 5	+1	Yes	No
WPG	2&4	BC 15	+17	No	No
MTL	1&10	EDM 13	+17	No	No
MTL	2&6	EDM 38	+10	Yes	No
WPG	1&G	BC 5	+3	Yes	No
BC	2&G	WPG 7	+1	Yes	No
TOR	2&G	OTT 1	+1	Yes	No
HAM	3&G	MTL 1	+1	Yes	No
HAM	1&G	MTL 5	+1	Yes	No
MTL	2&G	HAM 5	+15	No	Yes
HAM	1&10	TOR 35	+8	Yes	No	Spot
OTT	2&G	EDM 6	+18	No	Yes
MTL	1&10	BC 14	+10	Yes	No	Spot
TOR	2&6	HAM 10	+1	Yes	No
HAM	2&10	TOR 15	+5	Yes	No	Prox
WPG	3&2	CGY 4	+2	Yes	No
TOR	1&G	HAM 5	+1	Yes	No
OTT	1&10	EDM 14	+0	Yes	No
OTT	2&9	HAM 10	+4	Yes	No
CGY	1&10	SSK 21	+4	Yes	No
CGY	1&10	SSK 14	+1	Yes	No
BC	2&G	EDM 7	+5	Yes	No
HAM	1&10	OTT 44	+2	Yes	No	Spot
SSK	1&10	CGY 18	+13	Yes	No
EDM	1&10	BC 31	+3	Yes	No
HAM	2&G	OTT 3	+1	Yes	No
HAM	2&5	OTT 41	+4	Yes	No
WPG	1&G	CGY 4	+1	Yes	No
CGY	1&10	WPG 37	+5	Yes	No
TOR	2&G	MTL 6	+0	Yes	No	Spot
TOR	1&10	MTL 14	+11	Yes	No
CGY	1&10	WPG 42	+3	Yes	No
BC	3&4	SSK 14	+16	No	No
MTL	3&4	TOR 10	+18	No	No
CGY	1&G	WPG 3	+0	Yes	No
WPG	2&1	CGY 8	+12	Yes	No
TOR	2&3	WPG 33	+0	Yes	No
TOR	2&10	WPG 18	+10	Yes	No
SSK	2&G	EDM 8	+6	Yes	No
WPG	1&10	TOR 19	+15	No	No
EDM	1&10	SSK 13	+17	No	Yes
HAM	1&10	BC 1	+16	No	Yes
OTT	2&4	CGY 12	+3	Yes	No
SSK	2&10	MTL 13	+1	Yes	No
OTT	2&10	CGY 15	+14	Yes	No
EDM	1&10	HAM 13	+9	Yes	No
HAM	2&G	EDM 3	+1	Yes	No
SSK	2&8	MTL 14	+10	Yes	No
TOR	2&8	OTT 26	+7	Yes	No
TOR	1&10	OTT 31	+0	Yes	No
OTT	2&G	TOR 32	+18	No	No
CGY	2&G	WPG 8	+14	Yes	No
OTT	1&10	TOR 42	+5	Yes	No
OTT	2&5	TOR 7	+13	Yes	No
HAM	3&2	BC 3	+1	Yes	No
OTT	1&10	TOR 19	+10	Yes	Yes	Spot
MTL	1&10	EDM 19	+6	Yes	No
EDM	2&G	MTL 1	+11	Yes	No
TOR	2&G	OTT 6	+2	Yes	No
OTT	1&10	TOR 11	+4	Yes	No
BC	1&10	HAM 16	+5	Yes	No
WPG	1&10	OTT 22	+14	Yes	No
SSK	2&7	HAM 26	+1	Yes	No
TOR	1&G	EDM 9	+7	Yes	No
BC	1&G	MTL 8	+1	Yes	No
EDM	1&G	TOR 4	+19	No	No
BC	1&10	MTL 29	+6	Yes	No
WPG	1&G	MTL 2	+0	Yes	No
MTL	1&G	WPG 4	+15	No	No	Prox
SSK	2&7	CGY 41	+3	Yes	No
TOR	2&7	BC 15	+2	Yes	No
CGY	1&G	SSK 10	+14	Yes	No
TOR	1&10	BC 40	+0	Yes	No
CGY	2&8	SSK 11	+3	Yes	No
CGY	2&10	EDM 22	+10	Yes	No
TOR	1&10	HAM 28	+4	Yes	No
HAM	2&8	TOR 18	+15	No	No
WPG	1&10	SSK 22	+16	No	No
HAM	1&10	TOR 23	+11	Yes	No
WPG	2&1	SSK 33	+16	No	No
WPG	1&G	SSK 6	+1	Yes	No
HAM	2&5	TOR 8	+3	Yes	No
EDM	2&12	CGY 20	+15	No	No
OTT	1&G	BC 10	+5	Yes	No
EDM	2&7	TOR 20	+5	Yes	No
MTL	2&2	SSK 16	+10	Yes	No
TOR	2&9	EDM 19	+13	Yes	No	Spot
OTT	1&10	BC 12	+6	Yes	No
TOR	2&9	EDM 30	+8	Yes	No
OTT	2&8	WPG 9	+17	No	No
EDM	2&10	HAM 12	+2	Yes	No
CGY	1&G	BC 2	+18	No	No
MTL	2&G	TOR 5	+13	Yes	No
BC	1&10	CGY 11	+1	Yes	No
TOR	2&G	MTL 6	+2	Yes	No
CGY	1&10	MTL 14	+5	Yes	No
TOR	1&G	BC 7	+0	Yes	No
BC	2&5	CGY 14	+8	Yes	No
HAM	1&10	TOR 24	+6	Yes	No
BC	1&10	CGY 10	+0	Yes	No
HAM	1&10	TOR 34	+17	No	No
CGY	1&G	BC 7	+16	No	No
CGY	3&G	BC 6	+15	No	Yes
SSK	2&4	TOR 13	+3	Yes	No
HAM	2&7	CGY 10	+14	Yes	No	Spot
HAM	1&10	CGY 32	+7	Yes	No
WPG	1&10	EDM 35	+12	Yes	No
WPG	1&10	SSK 28	+8	Yes	No
OTT	2&G	MTL 4	+15	No	No
CGY	2&G	TOR 3	+13	Yes	No
CGY	2&G	TOR 7	+5	Yes	No
MTL	2&10	OTT 22	+10	Yes	No
EDM	2&8	BC 12	+16	No	Yes
OTT	2&8	MTL 11	+3	Yes	No
BC	2&10	EDM 17	+1	Yes	No
HAM	1&10	OTT 22	+3	Yes	No
BC	1&G	SSK 7	+8	Yes	No
MTL	1&10	WPG 35	+5	Yes	No
CGY	3&G	BC 2	+2	Yes	No
MTL	2&10	HAM 28	+12	Yes	No
HAM	2&G	MTL 3	+2	Yes	No
SSK	3&G	BC 3	+7	Yes	No	Prox
BC	2&6	SSK 19	+8	Yes	No
SSK	1&G	BC 3	+1	Yes	No

+EZ Air Yards: Distance ball flew in air after crossing goal line and before being caught

Prox: Throw was notably close to the upright (photos provided on interactive table)

Spot: Flight path of throw/location of catch was especially challenging to pinpoint due to available footage.