Canadian Football League (1958-Today)

Background

The Canadian Football League traces its history back to the formation of amateur rugby football associations in the late 19th century.  Clubs began competing for The Grey Cup, which crowned Canada’s best amateur rugby side, in 1909.  During the first half of the 20th century, the rules of the game began to evolve away from rugby and into the modern sport of Canadian Football, which is played 12-on-12 on a 110-yard field, with the offensive team receiving only three downs (rather than the American four) to advance the ball ten yards for a first down or achieve a score.  By 1954, the sport was fully professional, with amateur clubs dropping away.   Today’s Canadian Football League formally began play in 1958, although some clubs trace their lineage back to the 19th century.

The Canadian franchises of the CFL have been remarkably resilient, with the exception of the recent history of the sport in Ottawa, where two clubs have folded since 1996.  However, from 1993 to 1995, the CFL under then-Commissioner Larry Smith embarked on a highly ambitious and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to expand into the United States.  The CFL’s American adventure found clubs playing as far south as San Antonio, Texas and Shreveport, Louisiana.  One team – the Baltimore CFL Colts/Stallions (1994-1995) proved enormously successful on the field and at the box office – but this was the exception rather than the rule.  None of the American teams lasted more than two seasons and by 1996 the American chapter of the CFL’s history was all over.

Canadian Football League Franchise List

Canadian Football League Shop

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borders wars

The Era of American Expansion in the CFL

By Ed Willes

 

End Zones and Border Wars is the story of the Canadian Football League’s ill-fated period
of expansion into the United States during the early to mid-
1990s. It was a time filled with intriguing characters, from John
Candy to Nick Mileti to Pepper Rodgers, the coach who loved everything
about the Canadian game except the rules and the teams. With
a cast of investors who are hopeful but unfamiliar with the game,
bizarre stories emerge, from the Las Vegas Posse practising in the
parking lot of the Riviera to the Shreveport Pirates camping out
above a barn full of circus animals.

 

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