TSN's Luke Willson rips CFL 'rats' for attempting to silence him, then removes post

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When he was a Super Bowl-winning tight end with the Seattle Seahawks, Luke Willson never shied away from taking a big hit.

As a prominent football analyst getting better with each set of downs, it seems, the Canadian isn’t shy about the cheap shots coming his way for his work on TSN’s CFL coverage.

Even when they come with ridiculous consequences from those attempting to silence him.

In fact, Willson is going on the offensive for those pushing back at his criticisms of the CFL, the type of commentary never before heard so pointedly and vocally on the network.

“I believe that the board of governors have rats within (the CFL), both on air and behind the scenes,” Willson said in a post on X on Saturday that quickly sizzled on the social media site among the league’s observers. “They want me gone. I am like a roach. Tough to kill.”

While Willson didn’t elaborate on those who would like to see him muted, the pushback has been strong, even if much of it is from league apologists.

And then, within hours on Saturday, it became real.

It didn’t take long for what appeared to be the enemy within to emerge, as by mid-Saturday afternoon Willson’s post from X had been removed. The popular broadcaster posted a gif of a person getting his wrist slapped with a caption “oops.” In a reply to that post, Willson acknowledged that he had been asked to delete his criticisms.

It’s all just silliness, really, and if, in fact, TSN made Willson remove his opinion, it’s a terrible (if unsurprising) bit of censorship of a dude who has brought considerable attention — good and bad — to both the CFL and his network’s coverage this season. And depending on how it all went down, it showed how deeply TSN and the CFL are in bed together.

The fact is that the LaSalle, Ont. native has been a fresh voice on the CFL shows, building on the terrific insight he brings to TSN’s NFL coverage. The criticism has been predictable in that many of Willson’s more vocal opposition centres on a belief that he has an NFL bias.

Of course, those accusations just make Willson laugh. As they should as well to anyone who has listened to his full body of work on CFL coverage this season.

What initially prompted Willson’s latest social media tirade was news on Friday that both the Toronto Argos will be playing a significant portion of their “home” schedule on the road in 2026 to make room for the World Cup that will see games played at BMO Field.

“The MLSE stuff with the schedule yesterday really put things into perspective for me,” Willson wrote. “That bothers me to no end. Why would you not play the games in Ontario? (I would vote London.) Instead, it’s screw the fans, screw the brand, make the quick buck, let’s go to Regina, Winnipeg and your arch-rivals stadium.

“As I reflected on that, I need to realize that the CFL doesn’t give one single damn about growing the game. It’s evident in almost everything they do.”

Willson echoed those comments in a Friday appearance on TSN Radio’s Overdrive program.

“Under no circumstance am I surprised the World Cup is bumping anything,” Willson said. “There are so many options that would be really cool.”

Given the long and cozy rights partnership that the CFL has had with TSN, it’s not a stretch to call Willson’s comments explosive. And not that he’s worried. Quite the opposite, in fact.

In the past, Willson has been critical of some of the play in the league and attendance issues, particularly in Toronto and Edmonton. In his now deleted Saturday post, Willson inferred that fans in those cities are starting to get fed up.

“You now have a league that has minimal time in the facilities, a coaches salary cap, and extreme cheap labour,” Willson wrote on the now-removed post. “It’s the front office’s dream. When they can achieve this, they don’t really need in-person fans. They just need the TV deal.

“Many markets are starting to realize this, Edmonton, Toronto, I’ve been told Calgary as well (haven’t been there.) The people are simply done supporting such grotesque behaviour towards them.”

How this plays out will be fascinating given the abhorrence of rights-holders to have their personalities speak out about the property in such an unvarnished way.