| 1961 CFL season | |
| Duration: | June – October, 1961 |
| Conf1: | East |
| Conf1 Champ: | Hamilton Tiger-Cats |
| Conf2: | West |
| Conf2 Champ: | Winnipeg Blue Bombers |
| Finals: | 49th Grey Cup |
| Finals Date: | December 2, 1961 |
| Finals Venue: | Exhibition Stadium, Toronto |
| Finals Champ: | Winnipeg Blue Bombers |
| Prevseason Year: | 1960 |
| Nextseason Year: | 1962 |
| Seasonslist: | List of Canadian Football League seasons |
| Seasonslistnames: | CFL |
The 1961 CFL season is considered to be the eighth season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the fourth Canadian Football League season.
The season was notable for being the first in which all CFL teams played each other during the regular season. In the previous three seasons the Eastern and Western sections, despite being formally unified in a single "League," they had maintained separate regular season schedules and playoff schedules.
The Western Canada Intercollegiate Rugby Union merged with the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union.
The WIFU changed its name to become the Western Football Conference.
The CFL season schedule was partially interlocked to allow teams of the Eastern Football Conference to play regular season games against the teams of the Western Football Conference. Beginning this season, teams played opponents in their own conference three times and opponents in the other conference once, meaning the length of the regular season remained unchanged in both conferences (i.e. sixteen games for Western teams and fourteen games for Eastern teams). The format remained as such until 1974 when the Eastern Conference extended its schedule to sixteen games.
A third consecutive year of interleague exhibition matches were scheduled with teams in the National Football League. As in 1959 and 1960, both CFL teams lost, with the Toronto Argonauts falling to the St. Louis Cardinals, 36–7, on August 2, and the Montreal Alouettes losing to the Chicago Bears, 34–16, on August 5). The Hamilton Tiger-Cats had a better idea for success: challenge the nascent American Football League to a duel. The Tiger-Cats faced off against their cross-border "rivals", the Buffalo Bills, on August 8. The Tiger-Cats defeated the Bills, 38–21, giving the Canadian league its first win over an American team since 1941. The AFL, embarrassed over the loss, declined to play another international game, and with the CFL consistently losing to NFL teams, the CFL ended international competition.
The 49th edition of the Grey Cup went to overtime for the first time at Toronto's CNE Stadium. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers won championship over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 21–14.
The CFL made rule changes for the 1962 season, permitting four defensive backs per team to have unlimited blocking during rushing plays, as long as they are lined up outside the ends. Additionally the tackle-eligible play became illegal.
Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points
| Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 16 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 360 | 251 | 26 | |
| Edmonton Eskimos | 16 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 334 | 257 | 21 | |
| Calgary Stampeders | 16 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 300 | 311 | 14 | |
| 16 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 211 | 314 | 11 | ||
| 16 | 1 | 13 | 2 | 215 | 393 | 4 |
| Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 340 | 293 | 20 | |
| Ottawa Rough Riders | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 359 | 285 | 16 | |
| Toronto Argonauts | 14 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 255 | 258 | 15 | |
| 14 | 4 | 9 | 1 | 213 | 225 | 9 |
Note: All dates in 1961
| Game | Date | Away | Home | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | November 11 | Edmonton Eskimos 8 | Calgary Stampeders 10 | |
| 2 | November 13 | Calgary Stampeders 17 | Edmonton Eskimos 18 | |
| Calgary won the total-point series by 27–26 | ||||
| Game | Date | Away | Home | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | November 18 | Winnipeg Blue Bombers 14 | Calgary Stampeders 1 | |
| 2 | November 22 | Calgary Stampeders 14 | Winnipeg Blue Bombers 43 | |
| Winnipeg wins the best of three series 2–0 | ||||
| Game | Date | Away | Home | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | November 18 | Hamilton Tiger-Cats 7 | Toronto Argonauts 25 | |
| 2 (OT) | November 25 | Toronto Argonauts 2 | Hamilton Tiger-Cats 48 | |
| Hamilton won total-point series by 55–27 | ||||
| December 249th Annual Grey Cup Game | ||
|---|---|---|
| Eastern Champion | ||
| Winnipeg Blue Bombers 21 (OT) | Hamilton Tiger-Cats 14 | |
| The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are the 1961 Grey Cup Champions | ||
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