Hamilton Tiger-Cats are CFL champions at taking care of players and their families, union report card says

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats, among the CFL's top teams last season, have earned the distinction of being its best franchise off the field.

Hamilton, which finished atop the East Division in 2025, received five As and five Bs in the CFL Players' Association's second annual team report cards, which were released Wednesday.

The top grades came in football operations, facilities/equipment, strength and conditioning, team travel and training camp while Bs were for coaching staff, ownership/business operations, therapy/medical staff, nutrition/diet and treatment of families.

"My club ranked highly last year and still elected to make improvements," a player remarked anonymously about the Ticats. "This club is the class of the CFL and goes beyond the call of duty.

"They even hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the players AND their families."

The Grey Cup-champion Saskatchewan Roughriders also earned five As (coaching staff, football operations, strength and conditioning, team travel and training camp). They received Bs for all but treatment of families, securing a C, while also earning criticism for community appearances.

"Issues with community appearance money," one player remarked. "Appearances were not offered at the rate expected, very slow.

"Great improvements in nutrition, coaching, family events, strength training, so many improvements. Strength and conditioning staff really levelled up."

The CFLPA distributed its 78-question survey online to all players on CFL rosters (active and practice rosters and injured list), with 381 sharing their experiences. Last year, 495 participated in the evaluation, which consisted of 58 questions.

The survey included multiple choice, rating, and open-ended questions in each category. Scores were