Section 3: Playing Area
The Field — Significantly Larger Than NFL
The CFL field is the largest playing surface in professional gridiron football:
- Length: 110 yards (100.58 meters) between goal lines — 10 yards longer than NFL/NCAA
- Width: 65 yards (59.44 meters) — nearly 12 yards wider than NFL/NCAA's 53⅓ yards
- End zones: 20 yards deep — TWICE as deep as NFL/NCAA's 10-yard end zones
- Total playing surface: 150 yards × 65 yards = 9,750 square yards (vs NFL's 6,400 square yards)
- Impact: The wider, longer field with deeper end zones creates more space, favoring passing offenses and speed players. It is one of the defining characteristics of Canadian football.
Goal Posts
- Location: On the goal line, not at the back of the end zone. The NFL moved goal posts to the end line in 1974; the CFL kept them on the goal line.
- Width: 18 feet 6 inches between the uprights — same as NFL
- Crossbar height: 10 feet — same as NFL
- Impact: With goal posts on the goal line, they become an obstacle during play in the end zone. Passes and players can ricochet off the posts. If a kick hits the post and bounces through, it counts as good.
Dead Line
The CFL has a unique field marking:
- Dead line: A line 20 yards behind each goal line, marking the back of the end zone. In the NFL, this is simply the end line. In the CFL, a ball carrier in the end zone who is tackled or goes out of bounds behind the dead line results in either a safety (if it's their own end zone) or a rouge (if it's the defending end zone).
Hash Marks
- Width: 51 feet apart (17 yards from each sideline) — wider than both NFL (23.58 yards from sideline) and NCAA (13.33 yards from sideline)
- Impact: The wider hashes create even more "short field" than NCAA and affect play design