1986 CFL season

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The 1986 CFL season ran from June 24 to November 9. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats were the East champions and the Edmonton Eskimos were the West champions. The Grey Cup, the league’s championship game, was the 74th edition and was played on November 30 at BC Place in Vancouver. Hamilton defeated Edmonton 39–15, earning their first Grey Cup title since 1972. Mike Kerrigan (QB) was the Grey Cup Offensive MVP, Grover Covington (DE) was the Defensive MVP, and Paul Osbaldiston (K/P) was the Grey Cup Most Valuable Canadian.

Key points from the season:
- All nine teams played 18 regular-season games.
- A revised playoff rule allowed a fourth-place team to qualify if it had more points than the third-place team in the other division; that team stayed in its own division for the playoffs. This rule was only used in 1986.
- The Concordes changed their name to the Montreal Alouettes on the 40th anniversary of the original team.
- The Sports Network began live coast-to-coast coverage of the first round of the 1986 CFL Draft.
- Winnipeg and Montreal played the first CFL preseason game in Saint John, New Brunswick (Winnipeg won 35–10).
- Roster rules: teams carried 35 players, with 13 imports, 19 non-imports, and 3 quarterbacks; the designated-import rule was eliminated.
- End zones were shortened from 25 yards to 20 yards.
- The amateur Canadian Football Association changed its name to Football Canada in June.
- CTV stopped broadcasting CFL games after 1986; the league-run Canadian Football Network began in 1987.