CFL to change when it begins its season and adopt new playoff format in 2027.

Next year, the CFL’s regular season will kick off the Victoria Day weekend in May, its earliest start ever.

The ’26 campaign opens June 4 with the Montreal Alouettes visiting the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

But the bigger change revolves around the CFL playoffs format, which will see eight of the league’s nine teams making the post-season and three rounds before the Grey Cup game rather than two (division semifinal, final).

Starting next season, the first- and second-place teams in each division will square off in first-round playoff games. The winners earn a bye to the Grey Cup semifinals and home-field advantage. The losers move to the second playoff round (elimination games).

Teams outside of the top-two divisional finishers will be seeded from No. 5 to No. 9, with the final seed not qualifying for post-season play.

The fifth and sixth seeds will host the seventh and eighth seeds for play-in games that will be held the same weekend as the divisional contests. The play-in winners advance to the second round while the losers are eliminated.

The following weekend, the division showdown losers will host the play-in victors. The winners go on to the Grey Cup semifinals while the losers are eliminated.

The division showdown victors will host the elimination game winners, with matchups based on regular-season records. The winners advance to the Grey Cup game, which will be held Nov. 7.

The CFL and CFL Players’ Association both agreed upon the changes.

The 2027 #CFL draft will be held April 13 with rookie camps opening April 21. Training camps will open three days later.

This report by The #Canadian Press was first published April 28, 2026

Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press

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#Massachusetts woman accused of killing her children amid custody dispute.

Massachusetts State Police issued an arrest warrant Saturday charging Janette MacAusland, 49, of Wellesley, with two counts of murder in the deaths of her children, 7-year-old Kai and 6-year-old Ella. MacAusland is being held in Vermont, where she is expected to appear Monday in Bennington County Superior Court on a fugitive from justice charge as authorities seek to have her returned to Massachusetts.

The investigation began Friday night when Wellesley Police received a call from a Vermont police department requesting a well-being check on family members at a home in Wellesley. Police found the children dead.

Probate court records show Samuel MacAusland filed for divorce in October after nine years of marriage and sought custody of the children and the home. Janette MacAusland later filed a counter claim also seeking custody and the home. On April 16, they filed a joint motion agreeing to have a neutral third party investigate and make recommendations about custody, and a guardian was appointed on April 21.

Information about the criminal case, including whether MacAusland is being represented by an attorney, was not available Sunday. Attorneys representing both MacAuslands could not be reached for comment.

The children were in kindergarten and second grade at Schofield Elementary School, where counselors will be on site Monday to provide support. In a statement Saturday night, Superintendent David Lussier asked the community to keep the family in their thoughts and prayers.

“This is an unimaginable loss that will be deeply felt not just at Schofield but across our entire community,” he said.

Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire.

Holly Ramer, The Associated Press

Iga Swiatek was forced to retire from her Madrid Open clash with Ann Li on Saturday due to a viral illness, sending the American 31st seed in the round of 16 of the WTA 1000 tournament.

A champion in the Spanish capital in 2024, Swiatek rebounded from a one-set deficit to level the contest but put an end to proceedings while down 0-3 in the decider.

The Polish six-time Grand Slam champion appeared to be struggling and asked for the doctor after getting broken early in the third set.

Following a conversation with the trainers and getting her vitals checked, Swiatek tried to break Li back but when her opponent held for a 3-0 advantage, the fourth seed realised she was unable to continue the match.

She revealed after the match that she has been fighting a virus for the last two days and was hoping she could still find a way to win despite feeling “terrible”.

“I heard there is something going on between players, that the virus is somewhere on site. I’m sure I’ll be fine in a couple of days, but I had zero energy and zero stability and just felt really bad physically, and yesterday even worse,” said Swiatek.

It is Swiatek’s earliest ever exit in five appearances in Madrid.

“I knew that it’s going to be hard, but I still wanted to try,” she added.

“On the court before the tournament I felt like I’m playing great, so actually it’s sad for me that I can’t play, because I was feeling really good with my game, and I was moving forward in the process, so, this was positive. But for me the tournament has just started and I couldn’t even compete today, so it’s disappointing.”

Earlier in the day, 15th-seeded Iva Jovic squandered a lead and fell 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to Canadian 24th seed Leylah Fernandez, who will be Li’s opponent in the last 16.
Wins for Andreeva and Zverev

Ninth-seeded Russian Mirra Andreeva overcame an inspired Dalma Galfi 6-3, 6-2 in a match that was much closer than the scoreline suggests.

The Hungarian qualifier ranked 117 in the world broke early in both sets but was unable to maintain her advantage as Andreeva recovered to improve her clay-court record this season to 9-1 and set-up a last-16 showdown with another Hungarian, Anna Bondar.

“In the first set I found myself on the back foot a little bit,” said Andreeva, who turns 19 on Wednesday.

“She started well, hitting a lot of winners, being very solid and consistent. So I told myself that, ‘If she wants to beat me to today, that’s the level she has to play the whole match’. And I told myself, ‘It’s okay, even if now I don’t feel like I’m playing my best, slowly I’ll get there and figure out’.

In ATP action, defending champion Casper Ruud raced into the third round with a 6-0, 6-1 demolition of home favourite Jaume Munar in just 65 minutes.

The 12th-seeded Norwegian will next take on Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

Second-seeded Alexander Zverev recovered from a “terrible” second set to begin his campaign with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 performance against recent Bucharest champion Mariano Navone.

“First set was almost perfect, and then I lost focus completely, and then the second set was terrible,” admitted Zverev, who previously clinched the trophy in Madrid in 2018 and 2021.

“But that’s what happens sometimes, first match of a tournament. I definitely have to focus a bit better, but the level was there. I mean, the first set and the third set was great tennis, and I just have to focus on that.”

Zverev will next square off with Terence Atmane, who overcame excruciating cramps to triumph in an all-French duel 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/5) over 30th seed Ugo Humbert.

Carson Beck and Drew Allar make it 4 quarterbacks selected in the first 3 rounds of the NFL draft.

The Arizona Cardinals took the polarizing Miami quarterback with the 65th overall pick on Friday night. He’ll join a quarterback room that includes veterans Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew and play for rookie coach Mike LaFleur.

“I’m super excited, super grateful, super blessed,” said Beck, who spent five seasons at Georgia before transferring to Miami. “I took a visit out there and loved the staff, loved Coach LaFleur.”

Beck was only the third QB selected in a draft that’s considered thin at the sport’s most important position. Fernando Mendoza went No. 1 to Las Vegas and Ty Simpson was selected 13th by the Los Angeles Rams.

No quarterbacks were picked in a second round that saw 22 defensive players taken.

Drew Allar became the fourth quarterback selected when the Pittsburgh Steelers took him at No. 76. He doesn’t have to leave the state after an injury-riddled college career at Penn State.

Pittsburgh set an NFL record with 320,000 fans in attendance on the first day Thursday night, breaking the mark set by Detroit in 2024 when a crowd of 275,000 came out.

The selection of Allar drew a mixed reaction from Steelers fans watching the draft at Acrisure Stadium. Allar is returning from a broken ankle that ended his college career last October.

The hometown faithful waving yellow Terrible Towels in the draft theater roared in approval when Pittsburgh chose Iowa guard Gennings Dunker later in the third round. Dunker, who sports a red mullet and a mustache, became a fan favorite at the combine where he displayed his athleticism.

Defense was the priority in the second round. Twenty-two of the 32 picks were defensive players and the Philadelphia Eagles acquired 2024 Pro Bowl edge rusher Jonathan Greenard from Minnesota.

Eight teams made their first selections of the draft on Friday night after sitting out Round 1, with the 49ers kicking off the second day by taking Mississippi wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling. San Francisco traded down twice to end up with the 33rd pick.

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#FIFA’s last-minute ticket release leaves fans waiting in queue for hours. With just 50 days to go before the World Cup kickoff, #FIFA released a ticket drop on April 22, that was pitched as a “last-minute sale” with available tickets to each of the 104 World Cup matches.

Almost instantly online, many people began questioning why #FIFA still had available tickets to all of its games, with less than two months to go before kickoff.

“I’ve been unsuccessful during the first couple phases of the ticket release and its left me really jaded by the whole process,” says Rob Fielder, author of multiple soccer books including “The Complete History of the World Cup.”
‘Almost there. Don’t move!’

CTV National News logged onto FIFA’s tickets website ahead of the 11am ET ticket release. We were promptly added to the online “queue” and the words “almost there” appeared, written in bold at the top of the page.

The web page also confirmed that our “position in the queue is secured. Don’t move!”

Four hours later we were still, “almost there” while still waiting in queue, a red line showed that we’d passed the halfway point of the queue.

With a deadline to publish this report looming, and unable to simply sit there and wait for who knows how long, we logged off and left the queue, leaving FIFA’s “last-minute sale” without the faintest chance to buy a pricey pair of seats to any of the matches.

“We’re seeing a chaotic approach to ticketing, ticket prices and ticket releases,” says Fielder.
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On social media this week, soccer fans have voiced their frustration with FIFA’s ticket play. With some claiming that FIFA’s phased approach to ticket sales is creating an artificial scarcity, to drive up ticket prices.

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