2007 CFL season The 2007 CFL season was the 54th season of modern Canadian professional football . Officially , it was the 50th season of the league , and many special events were held to commemorate the event . Regular - season play began on June 28 , 2007 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto , Ontario and concluded on Saturday , November 3 , 2007 . The playoffs began on Sunday , November 11 , 2007 , and ended with the championship game , the 95th Grey Cup , at the Rogers Centre in Toronto , on November 25 , 2007 , with the Saskatchewan Roughriders as champion . CFL News in 2007 . Schedule . On February 14 , 2007 , the CFL announced the game schedule for the 2007 season , introducing a 19 - week schedule that included 18 regular - season games and one bye week for each team . Bye weeks were taken consecutively by each division beginning with the East in Week 8 , creating two weeks of divisional rivalry games . The year ' s regular - season schedule kicked off on Canada Day weekend and included the CFL ' s annual traditional rivalries — highlighted by the Labour Day and Thanksgiving Classics . The Canadian Football Hall of Fame game returned to Ivor Wynne Stadium on induction weekend and featured the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Hamilton Tiger - Cats on September 15 . The regular - season concluded with a triple - header on Saturday , November 3 , as teams finalized post - season positioning before the Division Semi - Finals began eight days later on Sunday , November 11 . The CFL ' s Division Championships qualified the season ' s two Grey Cup competing teams one week later on November 18 . The 2007 season officially concluded with the 95th Grey Cup on Sunday , November 25 , returning to Toronto for the first time since 1992 . Television . On February 28 , 2007 , the CFL announced details of the 2007 broadcast schedule which included all 77 games broadcast across the country by partners TSN , CBC or RDS . The year ' s regular season schedule saw 50 games aired on TSN , which were also carried live on TSN Broadband , 22 games on CBC and a minimum of 16 Montreal Alouettes ' games on RDS . Coverage of the entire post - season , including the 95th Grey Cup in Toronto , Ontario , returned to CBC and RDS in the fall . The 2007 season would be the CBC ' s final season as a CFL broadcaster for the foreseeable future , as the CFL and TSN begin an exclusive 5 - year deal with the 2008 CFL season . TSN ' s 50 - game CFL broadcast schedule became available for the first time ever on multiple TSN distribution platforms . All 50 games aired live on TSN and TSN Broadband , with a minimum of 35 broadcasts produced and televised in High Definition on TSN HD . The majority of HD telecasts aired Friday nights during the 11th season of Wendy ' s Friday Night Football . TSN ' s broadcast schedule got underway on June 28 with a season opening double - header featuring BC at Toronto followed by Winnipeg at Edmonton . Additional highlights included two Grey Cup rematches featuring Montreal vs . BC ( Aug . 31 and Sept . 9 ) , the traditional Labour Day Classic Weekend with Winnipeg at Saskatchewan ( Sept . 2 ) and the Hall of Fame Game featuring Winnipeg at Hamilton ( Sept . 15 ) . The first of 22 CFL on CBC regular - season games aired on Saturday , June 30 when the Hamilton Tiger - Cats played the Calgary Stampeders at McMahon Stadium . CBC ' s regular - season line - up featured the first - ever CFL on CBC triple - header as well as the traditional double - headers , the Labour Day and Thanksgiving Day Classics . League Attendance . The CFL ' s average attendance for 2007 was 29 , 167 , which is the highest average since the 1983 CFL season . CFL in Ottawa . The Ottawa franchise did not play in the 2007 season . The CFL indicated that there was not enough time for a potential new owner to get the franchise up and running until 2009 at the earliest . Salary Management System . 2007 was the first year the new salary cap and salary management system was enforced . The cap was set at $ 4 . 05 million and it demonstrated its successful implementation as six clubs were under the salary expenditure cap while two teams exceeded and were penalized . The Saskatchewan Roughriders were fined , as were the Montreal Alouettes , who also lost a first round draft pick at the 2008 CFL Canadian Draft . selection . New Commissioner . On March 12 , 2007 , Mark Cohon was named the CFL ' s 12th commissioner . The son of McDonald ' s of Canada founder George Cohon succeeded Tom Wright . Born in Chicago , Illinois , Cohon moved to Toronto , Ontario when he was two years old . Cohon is a graduate of Chicago ' s Northwestern University with a Bachelors of Science majoring in communication studies and was a business consultant to environmental and youth organizations in Toronto before becoming President and chief executive officer of AudienceView Ticketing , a company which sells ticketing systems and services to sports , arts and entertainment events . In 2006 , he was appointed new chair of the Ontario Science Centre . He was appointed to the Board of Trustees in 2003 . Rule Changes . The " Ricky Williams Rule " . Outgoing CFL commissioner Tom Wright , stated that a rule will be introduced before the start of next season that would prevent a player under suspension in the National Football League from signing with a CFL club . Some columnists dubbed this " The Ricky Williams Rule " because the running back joined the Toronto Argonauts after the NFL suspended him for the 2006 season for failing its substance abuse program for the fourth time . Illegal Movement . This rule will penalize offensive linemen 5 yards for abrupt snap down into 2 or 3 point stance . This rule is aimed at eliminating a tactic by offensive linemen , solely designed to draw the defence offside . Kick from Scrimmage . On a kick from scrimmage going out of bounds in flight between the 20 - yard lines , the receiving team will have the option of taking possession at the point the ball went out of bounds in flight , or having a 10 - yard penalty applied against the kicking team at the point of the last scrimmage , with the down repeated . This forces the kicking team on punts and field goal attempts to land the ball in the field of play . Blocking on Kick Returns . Players on the return team will once again be allowed to block oncoming tacklers from the sides . This was the rule until 2006 , when the CFL outlawed blocks on the back of the side , leading to the temporary demise of the kick return touchdown . In 2006 , there were only three touchdowns from kick returns , compared to eighteen in 2005 . In addition to fewer touchdowns being scored , shorter kick returns lead to offences having to cover a larger portion of the field to score a touchdown , leading to more field goals and fewer touchdowns . With the long kick returns coming back in 2007 , it was expected that games would be higher scoring and more exciting . Records and Milestones . Winnipeg Blue Bombers slotback , Milt Stegall passed Mike Pringle and George Reed for the most career touchdowns with 137 on July 27 . By the end of the season he had 144 career touchdowns and , with 14 , 695 career receiving yards , was trying to pass Allen Pitts all - time league record of 14 , 891 receiving yards . Toronto Argonauts slotback , Derrell Mitchell surpassed Paul Masotti as the franchise ' s all - time leading receiver on July 26 . Winnipeg Blue Bombers running back , Charles Roberts passed Leo Lewis to become the franchise ' s all - time leading rusher on September 2 . BC running back , Joe Smith broke former Lion great Cory Philpot ' s franchise single season rushing record on October 28 . Regular season . " Note : GP = Games Played , W = Wins , L = Losses , T = Ties , PF = Points For , PA = Points Against , Pts = Points " " Teams in bold finished in playoff positions . X – clinched playoff berthY – clinched first place " Grey Cup Playoffs . The Saskatchewan Roughriders are the 2007 Grey Cup Champions , defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23 – 19 at Toronto ' s Rogers Centre . It was the first Grey Cup for the Roughriders since they won it in 1989 ending an 18 - year drought . The Roughriders ' James Johnson ( DB ) was named the Grey Cup ' s Most Valuable Player and Andy Fantuz ( SB ) was named as the Grey Cup ' s Most Valuable Canadian .