The 2014 Canadian Football League season was the 61st season of modern Canadian professional football. It was the 57th season of the league. Vancouver hosted the 102nd Grey Cup on November 30. The league expanded to nine teams with the addition of the Ottawa Redblacks, giving the CFL nine teams for the first time since the 2005 season. As a result of the expansion, the schedule shifted to a 20-week regular season plus three weeks of playoffs (including the Grey Cup); the season started on June 26, 2014.

The collective bargaining agreement between the CFL and the CFL Players' Association (CFLPA) expired on May 29, 2014. With a new and more lucrative television contract with TSN beginning this season, revenue distribution was a major sticking point in CBA negotiations.

Unlike other professional sports leagues in North America, the CFL salary cap is not tied to league revenues. The league had offered to raise the previous $4.4 million (CAD) salary cap to $5 million, with further increases of $50,000 for each subsequent year. The players' union originally countered with a proposal that would have increased the cap to $6.24 million in 2014 with the cap in subsequent years being calculated as a percentage of league revenues, but CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon had said the league would never agree to such a formula. The CFLPA then withdrew its demand for revenue sharing and put forth a proposal that would have increased the cap to $5.8 million with 3% annual increases and a $4.8 million salary floor that would increase with the cap, but this offer was also rejected by the league.

The CFLPA had indicated that it would not play the 2014 season under the terms of the expired agreement. After negotiations broke down on May 21, the CFLPA began preparations for a strike vote. Had the players gone on strike, it would have been only the second work stoppage in CFL history and possibly the first to have caused the cancellation of regular season games. It would also have been the first work stoppage in North American professional sports in almost 20 years to be initiated by players, since all such labour disputes since the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike have been owners' lockouts. The first CFL strike, in 1974, occurred during training camp and was settled before the regular season began.

...
Wikipedia