History UsefulNotes / CanadianFootballLeague

Introduced in 2014, the [=RedBlacks=] are the CFL's third team in Canada's capital city. The first, the Ottawa Rough Riders, was one of the oldest teams in the CFL, they were founded in 1876 and folded in 1996. The second team, the Renegades, only lasted from 2002-2005 before folding. The league initially did not recognize the [=RedBlacks=] or the Renegades as a continuation of the Rough Riders; however, the league, as of 2017, now groups the three Ottawa teams as a singular entity for record-keeping with two periods of inactivity (from 1997 to 2001 and from 2006 to 2013). The [=RedBlacks=] own the intellectual property rights of the Rough Riders (although Saskatchewan vetoed reviving the old team's identity) and honour the 10 numbers retired by their predecessor. With the [[DevelopmentHell issues regarding the redevelopment of Ottawa's football stadium]] and the area around it having been worked out, the way was cleared for the [=RedBlacks=] to return the CFL to Ottawa. The new stadium, TD Place (formerly named Frank Clair Stadium, after an Ottawa Rough Riders legend), at the redeveloped Lansdowne Park, opened with the [=RedBlacks=]' first home game on July 18, 2014; they won against the Toronto Argonauts. After a 2-16 inaugural campaign, the [=RedBlacks=] [[TookALevelInBadass clinched the Eastern Division in only their second year of existence]], marking the first time any club from Ottawa reached the Grey Cup game in over three decades, and would go on to win it all the season after, beating the heavily favoured Calgary Stampeders in overtime with their star quarterback, the aforementioned, former Stampeder Henry Burris.

'''Colours:'''Dark blue, light blue\\

'''Grey Cup Appearances:'''24; 1911, 1912, 1920, 1971, 1982, 1987

->'''Year Established: 1950'''\\

* '''BC Lions:''' AKA the Leos. The team was formed in 1954 and is based out of Vancouver. They have long had to compete with hockey for fans' attention and have often lost miserably on this front. Starting in the 2000s they have seen a large insurgence of viewers. They have no inherent major rival, since the other four teams of the Western Division are all preoccupied with each other (even during years when Winnipeg was in the Eastern Division). However, They have taken the place of Montreal's "rival" in rivalry matchups when Ottawa did not have a team. Despite being left out of much of the major drama this way and overshadowed by hockey, BC has a lot of accomplishments, including being the first Western team to win a Grey Cup in their own stadium (and the ''only'' one until 2013) and the only Canadian team to beat a US team -- fan favourite Baltimore -- in the Grey Cup during the American experiment. Since 2016, the Lions are currently the only CFL team to regularly play in a stadium with a fixed or retractable roof.
* '''Calgary Stampeders:''' AKA the Stamps. Founded in 1935, this team was originally called the Calgary Broncs. Their main rival is Edmonton. There was a rivalry with Saskatchewan when quarterback Henry Burris left the Riders to return to the the Stamps; Burris was traded away in 2012, eliminating this reason for heat with Rider fans. However, the sheer number of former Saskatchewan residents in Calgary (thus Riders fans at [=McMahon=] Stadium) and the memory of previous venom often leads to ''friction'' when the teams play in Calgary. A fight in the stands ''will'' erupt during most games. They are the only team to achieve a perfect season, going undefeated in the regular season, before winning the Grey Cup in 1948.
* '''Edmonton Elks:''' Formerly the Eskimos (and originally the Esquimaux). They were founded in 1949. Although Toronto has the most Grey Cup wins in the overall history of Canadian football, Edmonton has the most Grey Cup wins in the modern era, and is thus a very popular team; the Elks also hold the longest Grey Cup winning streak, winning it five times from 1978 to 1982. The Elks' main rival is Calgary. Just as the NHL has the "Battle of Alberta" tradition, so too does the CFL. The highlight of the Battle of Alberta is a set of back to back games in September. Most seasons they play on Labour Day in Calgary, and the following week in Edmonton. Similar to [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague the former Washington Redskins (known in the 2020 and 2021 seasons as the "Washington Football Team" and known as the Washington Commanders since 2022)]], the Esks had drawn controversy over their politically incorrect name, and on July 21, 2020, the team announced that they would [[https://www.cfl.ca/2020/07/21/edmonton-football-team-discontinues-use-name-eskimos/ discontinue the use of the "Eskimos" name]] and adopted the working name "Edmonton Football Team". In June 2021, the former Eskimos officially became the Elks, a name used by the team's predecessor club in 1922, and introduced a new primary logo based on the new nickname, with the long-time "double-E" monogram initially relegated to secondary status; however, the iconic logo was brought back on the helmets by popular demand in March 2022.
* '''Saskatchewan Roughriders:''' AKA the Riders. Founded in 1910 and based in Saskatchewan's provincial capital of Regina. Not usually a successful team, it took the team over a half-century since their founding to clinch their first Grey Cup, though there have been seasonal exceptions. The Riders are nevertheless known for their ''absolutely devoted fans'', to the point of being called the Canadian counterpart of the Green Bay Packers.[[note]]Much like the Packers, the Roughriders play in their league's smallest market and are a community-owned team. The teams' fanbases even share an affinity for unusual headgear: a good number of Packers fans wear foam blocks shaped like cheese wedges, while some Riders fans wear actual hollowed-out watermelons. Others wear a foam or plastic analogue instead.[[/note]] The number of Saskatchewan residents who moved to Alberta for work meant that Roughriders merchandise like jackets, hats and flags have been nearly as common in cities like Edmonton and Calgary as merchandise of those cities' own teams. Their major rival is Winnipeg, sometimes crossing division lines, especially after an incident in which a Winnipeg player recalled a provincial stereotype in an interview and referred to the Saskatchewan population as "banjo-pickin' inbreds"[[note]]After the media took an interest, he [[BackhandedApology apologised for incorrectly implying most Saskatchewaners know the banjo.]][[/note]]. However, much like Toronto, they also hate nearly every other team in the league for some grudge or another. For many years, the Riders were one of two similarly-named teams in the CFL. From the 1950s (when Canada's Eastern and Western leagues merged into the modern CFL) through 1996, the 'Riders co-existed with the Ottawa Rough Riders.
* '''Winnipeg Blue Bombers:''' AKA the Bombers. They last won the Grey Cup in back-to-back seasons, with a win in 2021. They were founded in 1930. Though Winnipeg played Hamilton for the Grey Cup on numerous occasions before the division lines were enforced for the playoffs, their main rival is actually Saskatchewan, regardless of divisional alignment. The Bombers are the team the CFL traditionally uses to balance divisions -- if there are four other Eastern teams, Winnipeg goes back to its traditional roots in the Western Division. When the East is down to three teams (during one of Montreal or Ottawa's hiatuses), Winnipeg moves to the East. The Bombers have played for the Grey Cup 28 times, the most of any Canadian football team, amateur or professional, are the third most-decorated team with 12 wins, and are the first team based outside of Ontario or Quebec to win the Grey Cup.

* '''Hamilton Tiger-Cats:''' AKA the Ti-Cats. Created in 1950 from a merger of two teams. [[note]]The Wild Cats and the Tigers, thus Tiger Cats.[[/note]] Throughout the twentieth century, either The Ti-Cats or one of the two teams from before the merger won the Grey Cup at least once per decade. Their rival is Toronto, being not only from the same province, but a close drive apart; Hamilton largely sustains the rivalry with an image of [[SlobsVersusSnobs the working-class Hamilton people standing up to the stuck-up big-city upper class]]. Their stadium (Tim Hortons Field, which opened in 2014 on the site of the Ti-Cats' former Ivor Wynne Stadium) is notable for being smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood, giving home games a feel similar to a block party. The Ti-Cats hold the dubious distinction of being the only active CFL team not to win the Grey Cup in the 21st century, last winning the Cup in 1999; Winnipeg formerly held the longest Grey Cup drought, breaking their own nearly three-decade long drought against the Ti-Cats in the 2019 Grey Cup. Up until 2021, Hamilton had also held the longest Grey Cup hosting drought; however, Hamilton has hosted the Grey Cup twice in a three year-span, with the 2023 Grey Cup awarded due to COVID restrictions cancelling the 2021 pregame festivities.
* '''Toronto Argonauts:''' AKA the Argos. They were founded in 1873, and are one of the oldest North American sports teams still existing and the oldest North American football team. With 18 Grey Cups, the Argos are the most-decorated team in Canadian football. They may have near-equal animosity towards the entire Eastern Division, but their main rival is nearby Hamilton. Their team name is an ArtifactTitle (they were originally owned by the Argonaut Rowing Club) but has proven popular despite that; they've never once changed it. Since moving to the formerly [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueSoccer MLS-specific]] BMO Field in 2016, the Argonauts are the only CFL team to play on a (mostly) natural grass field; however, since BMO Field wasn't originally designed for Canadian football, the end zones are artificial turf and are only 18 yards deep rather than the regulation 20 yards.
* '''Ottawa [=RedBlacks=] ('Rouge et Noir' in French):''' Introduced in 2014, the [=RedBlacks=] are the CFL's third team in Canada's capital city. The first, the Ottawa Rough Riders, was one of the oldest teams in the CFL, they were founded in 1876 and folded in 1996. The second team, the Renegades, only lasted from 2002-2005 before folding. The league initially did not recognize the [=RedBlacks=] or the Renegades as a continuation of the Rough Riders; however, the league, as of 2017, now groups the three Ottawa teams as a singular entity for record-keeping with two periods of inactivity (from 1997 to 2001 and from 2006 to 2013). The [=RedBlacks=] own the intellectual property rights of the Rough Riders (although Saskatchewan vetoed reviving the old team's identity) and honour the 10 numbers retired by their predecessor. With the [[DevelopmentHell issues regarding the redevelopment of Ottawa's football stadium]] and the area around it having been worked out, the way was cleared for the [=RedBlacks=] to return the CFL to Ottawa. The new stadium, TD Place (formerly named Frank Clair Stadium, after an Ottawa Rough Riders legend), at the redeveloped Lansdowne Park, opened with the [=RedBlacks=]' first home game on July 18, 2014; they won against the Toronto Argonauts. After a 2-16 inaugural campaign, the [=RedBlacks=] [[TookALevelInBadass clinched the Eastern Division in only their second year of existence]], marking the first time any club from Ottawa reached the Grey Cup game in over three decades, and would go on to win it all the season after, beating the heavily favoured Calgary Stampeders in overtime with their star quarterback, the aforementioned, former Stampeder Henry Burris.
* '''Montreal Alouettes:''' AKA the Als. The Alouettes are the current Grey Cup Champions as of Nov 19, 2023. The original franchise was founded in 1946 (and ''yes'', their name comes from the famed French children's[=/=]work song "Alouette"; ''alouette'' is French for "lark") and folded in 1982, then was immediately relaunched with new owners as the Montreal Concordes. They restored the Alouettes name in 1986, and folded ''again'' after that season. They were later recreated from the ex-Baltimore Stallions in 1996, after Baltimore was left as the sole US based team, and Baltimore gained the NFL Ravens. To simplify record keeping, the original Alouettes, the Concordes, and the current team are considered by the league to be one continuous franchise which was dormant from 1987 to 1995, while the Stallions are considered a separate franchise. Under GM Jim Popp and quarterbacks Tracy Ham & Anthony Calvillo, one of the strongest teams in the league from their 1996 return until the early 2010s. Their historical rival is Ottawa, though when Ottawa's not running, they'll claim Toronto, Edmonton, and/or BC just so they have someone -- though they aren't ''that'' desperate, since they turned down [[UnknownRival an upstart prospective Quebec City team]] that tried to declare them its rivals before even officially trying to join the league. In May 2019, then-team owner Robert Wetenhall sold the Als franchise back to the CFL, citing his advanced age and recent losses both on and off the field; the CFL took over operations of the team as they searched for a new owner. On January 6, 2020, the team was purchased by the owners of Crawford Steel, Sid Spiegel and Gary Stern. However, Spiegel died on July 28, 2021 before seeing the team he bought play a single snap, since the 2020 season was cancelled outright and the start of the 2021 season was delayed to August, and in late August 2022, Stern abruptly resigned from his position as team CEO. In March 2023, ownership of the Als was transferred for the third time in only five years to Pierre Karl Péladeau, President and CEO of Quebecois telecom and media company Quebecor. They have a very interesting home stadium history. After playing most of their early seasons at [=McGill=] University's historic Percival Molson Stadium (built in 1914), they moved to the quirky Autostade in 1967. Built for Expo 67, the Autostade was made up of 19 separate, identical sections arranged in a bowl shape. In 1976 they relocated to the cavernous Olympic Stadium (the Big O). When a Music/{{U2}} concert at Olympic forced them to move a 1997 playoff game to Molson, a sellout crowd and the more intimate atmosphere prompted them to move to Molson permanently the next year (with occasional games at Olympic [[note]]It has been used for playoff games, including the Grey Cup.[[/note]]). As a nod to U2's unintended role in franchise history, they play "Sunday Bloody Sunday" before every Sunday home game.

In recent years, especially after the success of the Ottawa [=RedBlacks=], the CFL has explored the idea of adding a tenth team to the league, bring both divisions to five teams a piece. One-off games have been played in Quebec (Quebec City), Nova Scotia (Halifax and Wolfville) and New Brunswick (Moncton), and all were well attended. An attempt was actually made back in 2009 to start up a team in Quebec City, the largest metropolitan area in Canada without a CFL team, being slightly more populous than either Winnipeg or Hamilton, but the management of the Montreal Alouettes replied that any attempt to form another Quebec team would need to go through them and nothing has been heard since. Other issues with a potential Quebec City expansion are the city being almost exclusively Francophone (compared to Montreal, which is about one-fifth Anglophone), and the possible language and cultural barriers related to that, plus it being the home of Université Laval's hugely popular university football team (whose home games will typically outdraw the lowest-attended CFL team in any given season). Laval likely wouldn't be all that thrilled to share a market with a CFL team, and any CFL team would probably have to borrow Laval's stadium until a new one could be built.

A CFL expansion team, the ''Atlantic Schooners'' (meant to represent all four Atlantic provinces), was awarded to Halifax in 1984, but never came to fruition. This came after the prospective franchise's owners lacked the funds needed to build a new stadium using land purchased in neighbouring Dartmouth. The Schooners are still included in official things that don't require an actual team, however; for example, when the Grey Cup rolls around, there's a party in the host city for each team [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and one for the Schooners]]. In 2017, a Halifax-based group, Maritime Football Limited, made a credible pitch to the CFL for a prospective team in the Maritimes, and two days prior to the 2018 Grey Cup game, the league and Maritime Football announced that they would revive the Schooners identity, and Maritime Football would subsequently rebrand as Schooners Sports and Entertainment (SSE). However, like the previous attempt in the early 80s, stadium funding has thrown a monkey wrench into the CFL's and SSE's expansion plans for the Maritimes; the COVID-19 Pandemic also didn't help.

As of the 2023 CFL season, the roster of CFL teams consists of:

!!!Western Division

!!!Eastern Division

West of Montreal, other locations often rumoured for CFL expansion include Saskatoon (Saskatchewan), London (Ontario), Windsor (Ontario), and Victoria (BC). The Regina-based Roughriders argue that Saskatchewan, with a provincial population just barely above one million, is not populous enough to support a team in Saskatoon. For London and Windsor, the Argos, Ti-Cats, and [=RedBlacks=] would likely veto a fourth team in Southern Ontario. Also, Windsor is on the Canada[=/=]US border next to UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}}, and a Windsor CFL team would almost certainly be overshadowed by the NFL's Lions (despite their near-perennial bottom-dweller status) and the [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootball Big Ten's]] [[UsefulNotes/PowerFiveConferences Michigan Wolverines]] and Michigan State Spartans; some past proposals for a Windsor CFL team would have put the team in the Lions' former home of the Pontiac Silverdome at least for playoff games, before the stadium was abandoned in 2013 and ultimately demolished in 2018. Victoria is unlikely to land a CFL team due to its relative isolation from mainland Canada on Vancouver Island, and much like the Als for Quebec and the Riders for Saskatchewan, the Vancouver-based BC Lions would likely claim territorial rights on the entire BC province. Aside from Victoria's close proximity to Vancouver, the BC capital is also relatively close (as the crow flies) to UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} and the NFL's Seahawks and Pac-12's (soon to be Big Ten) Washington Huskies.

[[caption-width-right:1000:Red is the Western Conference, Blue is the Eastern Conference.]]

* '''Memphis Mad Dogs:''' After Memphis was passed over for NFL expansion in favour of Jacksonville, Florida (Jaguars) and Charlotte, North Carolina (Panthers) in 1993, [=FedEx=] founder Fred Smith was awarded a CFL expansion franchise in 1995[[note]]The proposed NFL expansion team was originally named the ''Hound Dogs'' due to the involvement of the Music/ElvisPresley estate, but the name was changed to ''Mad Dogs'' after Presley's estate was no longer involved when the NFL expansion bid failed[[/note]]. The Mad Dogs' home field, the Liberty Bowl Stadium, could not fit the Canadian field ''at all'' due to being a completely enclosed stadium; the stadium had to use "yards" measuring only 33 inches and the end zones were an odd pentagon shape less than 12 yards deep. Much like fellow DeepSouth city Birmingham, the Mad Dogs drew well early in the season, but attendance tanked once the high school and college seasons started, and switching to Sunday games didn't help. Two years after the Mad Dogs' folding, Memphis finally got a long-desired NFL team...sort of. The Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans) relocated from Houston after the 1996 NFL season, intending to play two seasons in Memphis while what would become Nissan Stadium was built in the team's intended home of Nashville[[note]]Vanderbilt Stadium, which was then the largest stadium in Nashville, was deemed too small, and the university's refusal to allow alcohol sales initially led Bud Adams against playing games there; however, the abysmal attendance in Memphis forced Adams to move to Nashville earlier than planned. Neyland Stadium in Knoxville was deemed too large due to the NFL's TV blackout rules at the time.[[/note]]. Since Memphians weren't interested in supporting a team that would end up leaving in only two years, and Nashvillains likewise weren't interested in driving over 200 miles (320 km) west one way to see "their" team[[note]]Not helping matters was that Interstate 40, the main corridor between Memphis and Nashville, was under reconstruction at the time, nearly doubling the normally 3 hour commute between the two cities[[/note]], the Oilers' stay in Memphis was cut short by one year due to low attendance that was almost as bad as their final year in Houston.

The CFL season now starts in mid-June and ends with the CFL championship game, the Grey Cup, by the end of November. This avoids playing more games in winter conditions, since all but one team (the BC Lions), play in an open-air stadium. This also avoids getting overshadowed by the NHL regular season and for the CFL's American fans, NCAA bowl games and the NFL playoffs. After a two-game preseason, each team plays an 18-game regular season schedule over 21 weeks in a modified double round robin format, with each team playing six teams twice and two divisional opponents thrice. At the end of the regular season, six teams advance to the CFL playoffs. The top team in each division earns an automatic berth - as well as home field advantage - in their respective divisional finals. In the divisional semifinals, the second place team hosts the either the third place team within their own division or the fourth place team from the opposing division, provided they have a better record than the native third place team. (If they have identical records the tie breaker goes to the divisional team.) [[note]]While an intra-divisional Grey Cup is possible with the crossover rule, no crossover team has advanced to the Grey Cup championship as of 2023; also, since the crossover's introduction in 1996, no Eastern Division team has crossed over into the Western Division.[[/note]] The winners of the divisional semifinals advance to their respective divisional finals, and the winners of divisional finals play for the Grey Cup.

The 2020 season was outright cancelled due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic. The league attempted to secure a C$30 million loan from the federal government, as the CFL is more dependent on gameday revenue compared to the other major North American leagues[[note]]While TV broadcast rights are a significant source of revenue for the CFL, it's not enough to offset playing behind closed doors due to the smaller Canadian TV market, and the CFL in the US is mostly relegated to niche status on the [[Creator/{{ESPN}} ESPN+]] streaming service and one game per week and the Grey Cup on the main ESPN channels[[/note]], to play an abbreviated season in a central hub city without spectators, but the request was rejected. Also, the CFL's 2020 season cancellation was the first time in over 100 years that the Grey Cup was not contested; the Grey Cup was not contested between 1916 and 1918 due to UsefulNotes/WorldWarI and in 1919 due to a rules dispute among the various organizing bodies for Canadian football and coincidentally UsefulNotes/TheSpanishFlu pandemic. The CFL returned in 2021 with fans in the stands, although the regular season was shortened to 14 games and started later in August, pushing the 108th Grey Cup to mid-December.

West of Montreal, other locations often rumoured for CFL expansion include Saskatoon (Saskatchewan), London (Ontario), Windsor (Ontario), and Victoria (BC). The Regina-based Roughriders argue that Saskatchewan, with a provincial population just barely above one million, is not populous enough to support a team in Saskatoon. For London and Windsor, the Argos, Ti-Cats, and [=RedBlacks=] would likely veto a fourth team in Southern Ontario. Also, Windsor is on the Canada[=/=]US border next to UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}}, and a Windsor CFL team would almost certainly be overshadowed by the NFL's Lions (despite their near-perennial bottom-dweller status) and the [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootball Big Ten's]] [[UsefulNotes/PowerFiveConferences Michigan Wolverines]] and Michigan State Spartans; some past proposals for a Windsor CFL team would have put the team in the Lions' former home of the Pontiac Silverdome at least for playoff games, before the stadium was abandoned in 2013 and ultimately demolished in 2018. Victoria is unlikely to land a CFL team due to its relative isolation from mainland Canada on Vancouver Island, and much like the Als for Quebec and the Riders for Saskatchewan, the Vancouver-based BC Lions would likely claim territorial rights on the entire BC province. Aside from Victoria's close proximity to Vancouver, the BC capital is also relatively close (as the crow's flies) to UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} and the NFL's Seahawks and Pac-12's (soon to be Big Ten) Washington Huskies.

* '''Edmonton Elks:''' Formerly the Eskimos (and originally the Esquimaux). They were founded in 1949. Although Toronto has the most Grey Cup wins in the overall history of Canadian football, Edmonton has the most Grey Cup wins in the modern era, and is thus a very popular team; the Elks also hold the longest Grey Cup winning streak, winning it five times from 1978 to 1982. Just as the NHL has the "Battle of Alberta" tradition, so too does the CFL. The highlight of the Battle of Alberta is a set of back to back games in September. Most seasons they play on Labour Day in Calgary, and the following week in Edmonton. The Elks’ main rival is Calgary. Similar to [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague the former Washington Redskins (known in the 2020 and 2021 seasons as the "Washington Football Team" and known as the Washington Commanders since 2022)]], the Esks had drawn controversy over their politically incorrect name, and on July 21, 2020, the team announced that they would [[https://www.cfl.ca/2020/07/21/edmonton-football-team-discontinues-use-name-eskimos/ discontinue the use of the "Eskimos" name]] and adopted the working name "Edmonton Football Team". In June 2021, the former Eskimos officially became the Elks, a name used by the team's predecessor club in 1922, and introduced a new primary logo based on the new nickname, with the long-time "double-E" monogram initially relegated to secondary status; however, the iconic logo was brought back on the helmets by popular demand in March 2022.

* '''Hamilton Tiger-Cats:''' AKA the Ti-Cats. Created in 1950 from a merger of two teams. [[note]]The Wild Cats and the Tigers, thus Tiger Cats.[[/note]] Throughout the twentieth century, either The Ti-Cats or one of the two teams from before the merger won the Grey Cup at least once per decade. Their rival is Toronto, being not only from the same province, but a close drive apart; Hamilton largely sustains the rivalry with an image of [[SlobsVersusSnobs the working-class Hamilton people standing up to the stuck-up big-city upper class]]. Their stadium (Tim Hortons Field, which opened in 2014 on the site of the Ti-Cats' former Ivor Wynne Stadium) is notable for being smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood, giving home games a feel similar to a block party. The Ti-Cats hold the dubious distinction of being the only active CFL team not to win the Grey Cup in the 21st century, last winning the Cup in 1999; Winnipeg formerly held the longest Grey Cup drought, breaking their own nearly three-decade long drought against the Ti-Cats in the 2019 Grey Cup. Up until 2021, Hamilton had also held the longest Grey Cup hosting drought; however, the Ti-Cats has hosted the Grey Cup twice in a three year-span, with the 2023 Grey Cup awarded due to COVID restrictions cancelling the 2021 pregame festivities.

* '''Winnipeg Blue Bombers:''' AKA the Bombers. They last won the Grey Cup in back-to-back seasons, with a win in 2021. They were founded in 1930. Though Winnipeg played Hamilton for the Grey Cup on numerous occasions before the division lines were enforced for the playoffs, their main rival is actually Saskatchewan, regardless of divisional alignment. The Bombers are the team the CFL traditionally uses to balance divisions -- if there are four other Eastern teams, Winnipeg goes back to its traditional roots in the Western Division. When the East is down to three teams (during one of Montreal or Ottawa's hiatuses), Winnipeg moves to the East. The Bombers have played for the Grey Cup 27 times, the most of any Canadian football team, amateur or professional, are the third most-decorated team with 12 wins, and are the first team not based in Ontario or Quebec to win the Grey Cup.

* '''Hamilton Tiger-Cats:''' AKA the Ti-Cats. Created in 1950 from a merger of two teams. [[note]]The Wild Cats and the Tigers, thus Tiger Cats.[[/note]] Throughout the twentieth century, either The Ti-Cats or one of the two teams from before the merger won the Grey Cup at least once per decade. Their rival is Toronto, being not only from the same province, but a close drive apart; Hamilton largely sustains the rivalry with an image of [[SlobsVersusSnobs the working-class Hamilton people standing up to the stuck-up big-city upper class]]. Their stadium (Tim Hortons Field, which opened in 2014 on the site of the Ti-Cats' former Ivor Wynne Stadium) is notable for being smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood, giving home games a feel similar to a block party. The Ti-Cats hold the dubious distinction of being the only active CFL team not to win the Grey Cup in the 21st century, last winning the Cup in 1999; Winnipeg formerly held the longest Grey Cup drought, breaking their own nearly three-decade long drought against the Ti-Cats in the 2019 Grey Cup. Up until 2021, Hamilton had also held the longest Grey Cup hosting drought; however, the Ti-Cats are scheduled to host the 2023 Grey Cup, since COVID-19 canceled the pre-game festivities for the 2021 game.

West of Montreal, other locations often rumoured for CFL expansion include Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; London, Ontario; Windsor, Ontario; and Victoria, British Columbia. The Regina-based Roughriders argue that Saskatchewan, with a provincial population just barely above one million, is not populous enough to support a team in Saskatoon. For London and Windsor, the Argos, Ti-Cats, and [=RedBlacks=] would likely veto a fourth team in Southern Ontario. Also, Windsor is on the Canada[=/=]US border next to UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}}, and a Windsor CFL team would almost certainly be overshadowed by the NFL's Lions (despite their near-perennial bottom-dweller status) and the [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootball Big Ten's]] [[UsefulNotes/PowerFiveConferences Michigan Wolverines]] and Michigan State Spartans; some past proposals for a Windsor CFL team would have put the team in the Lions' former home of the Pontiac Silverdome at least for playoff games, before the stadium was abandoned and left to deteriorate in 2013 and ultimately demolished in 2018. Victoria is unlikely to land a CFL team due to its relative isolation from mainland Canada on Vancouver Island and much like the Als for Quebec and the Riders for Saskatchewan, the Vancouver-based BC Lions would likely claim territorial rights on the entire province. Aside from Victoria's close proximity to Vancouver, the BC capital is also relatively close to UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} and the NFL's Seahawks and Pac-12's (soon to be Big Ten) Washington Huskies.

The Grey Cup game is a major annual event in Canada, and the Grey Cup trophy is considered to be a major symbol of Canadian sport, although it's not as well known as UsefulNotes/TheStanleyCup outside of Canada. Like its more famous hockey counterpart, the Grey Cup is named for a British nobleman who served as [[UsefulNotes/CanadianPolitics Canada's Governor General]][[note]]In case you're wondering, this is not the same Earl Grey who became associated with the tea: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Grey,_2nd_Earl_Grey Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey]] lent the name to the tea whereas the cup is named after his grandson, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Grey,_4th_Earl_Grey Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey]].[[/note]] and was originally commissioned as an amateur trophy; however, it became solely contested by the CFL's predecessor leagues[[note]]The Interprovincial Rugby Football Union, which became the East Division, and the Western Interprovincial Football Union, which became the West Division[[/note]] by 1954, is reused every year, the name of winning players, coaches, and executives are engraved upon it, and the players get to spend a day with the Grey Cup, which sometimes results in the Cup getting involved in misadventures. It is also customary for players of the winning team to chug champagne (or some other alcohol, commonly beer, either Molson or Labatt) from the Cup's chalice. Similar to the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl, the Grey Cup game is hosted at a predetermined nominally neutral site every year; however, with six teams out of nine in the playoffs, it is not uncommon for a team to play for the Grey Cup in their home stadium, with Hamilton being the most recent team to play for the Grey Cup in their home stadium in the 2021 edition; however, Saskatchewan was the most recent team to ''win'' the Grey Cup at home, doing so in 2013 in their former home of Taylor Field[[note]]When Montreal last hosted the Grey Cup in 2008, it was held in the larger Stade Olympique rather than the Als' usual home of Stade Molson[[/note]]. This is in marked contrast to the NFL, which had not seen a team compete in the Super Bowl in its own stadium until Super Bowl LV (hosted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and often sees teams whose stadium hosts the game not even make the playoffs; in the rare instances where the Super Bowl host ''does'' make it to the postseason, they are more often than not an early out.

* '''Toronto Argonauts:''' AKA the Argos, they are the 2022 Grey Cup champions. They were founded in 1873, and are one of the oldest North American sports teams still existing and the oldest North American football team. With 18 Grey Cups, the Argos are the most-decorated team in Canadian football. They may have near-equal animosity towards the entire Eastern Division, but their main rival is nearby Hamilton. Their team name is an ArtifactTitle (they were originally owned by the Argonaut Rowing Club) but has proven popular despite that; they've never once changed it. Since moving to the formerly [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueSoccer MLS-specific]] BMO Field in 2016, the Argonauts are the only CFL team to play on a (mostly) natural grass field; however, since BMO Field wasn't originally designed for Canadian football, the end zones are artificial turf and are only 18 yards deep rather than the regulation 20 yards.

* '''Montreal Alouettes:''' AKA the Als. The original franchise was founded in 1946 (and ''yes'', their name comes from the famed French children's[=/=]work song "Alouette"; ''alouette'' is French for "lark") and folded in 1982, then was immediately relaunched with new owners as the Montreal Concordes. They restored the Alouettes name in 1986, and folded ''again'' after that season. They were later recreated from the ex-Baltimore Stallions in 1996, after Baltimore was left as the sole US based team, and Baltimore gained the NFL Ravens. To simplify record keeping, the original Alouettes, the Concordes, and the current team are considered by the league to be one continuous franchise which was dormant from 1987 to 1995, while the Stallions are considered a separate franchise. Under GM Jim Popp and quarterbacks Tracy Ham & Anthony Calvillo, one of the strongest teams in the league from their 1996 return until the early 2010s. Their historical rival is Ottawa, though when Ottawa's not running, they'll claim Toronto, Edmonton, and/or BC just so they have someone -- though they aren't ''that'' desperate, since they turned down [[UnknownRival an upstart prospective Quebec City team]] that tried to declare them its rivals before even officially trying to join the league. In May 2019, then-team owner Robert Wetenhall sold the Als franchise back to the CFL, citing his advanced age and recent losses both on and off the field; the CFL took over operations of the team as they searched for a new owner. On January 6, 2020, the team was purchased by the owners of Crawford Steel, Sid Spiegel and Gary Stern. However, Spiegel died on July 28, 2021 before seeing the team he bought play a single snap, since the 2020 season was cancelled outright and the start of the 2021 season was delayed to August, and in late August 2022, Stern abruptly resigned from his position as team CEO. In March 2023, ownership of the Als was transferred for the third time in only five years to Pierre Karl Péladeau, President and CEO of Quebecois telecom and media company Quebecor. They have a very interesting home stadium history. After playing most of their early seasons at [=McGill=] University's historic Percival Molson Stadium (built in 1914), they moved to the quirky Autostade in 1967. Built for Expo 67, the Autostade was made up of 19 separate, identical sections arranged in a bowl shape. In 1976 they relocated to the cavernous Olympic Stadium (the Big O). When a Music/{{U2}} concert at Olympic forced them to move a 1997 playoff game to Molson, a sellout crowd and the more intimate atmosphere prompted them to move to Molson permanently the next year (with occasional games at Olympic [[note]]It has been used for playoff games, including the Grey Cup.[[/note]]). As a nod to U2's unintended role in franchise history, they play "Sunday Bloody Sunday" before every Sunday home game.

West of Montreal, other locations often rumoured for CFL expansion include Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; London, Ontario; Windsor, Ontario; and Victoria, British Columbia. The Regina-based Roughriders argue that Saskatchewan, with a provincial population just barely above one million, is not populous enough to support a team in Saskatoon. For London and Windsor, the Argos, Ti-Cats, and [=RedBlacks=] would likely veto a fourth team in Southern Ontario. Also, Windsor is on the Canada[=/=]US border next to UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}}, and a Windsor CFL team would almost certainly be overshadowed by the NFL's Lions (despite their near-perennial bottom-dweller status) and the [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootball Big Ten's]] [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootballPower5Conferences Michigan Wolverines]] and Michigan State Spartans; some past proposals for a Windsor CFL team would have put the team in the Lions' former home of the Pontiac Silverdome at least for playoff games, before the stadium was abandoned and left to deteriorate in 2013 and ultimately demolished in 2018. Victoria is unlikely to land a CFL team due to its relative isolation from mainland Canada on Vancouver Island and much like the Als for Quebec and the Riders for Saskatchewan, the Vancouver-based BC Lions would likely claim territorial rights on the entire province. Aside from Victoria's close proximity to Vancouver, the BC capital is also relatively close to UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} and the NFL's Seahawks and Pac-12's (soon to be Big Ten) Washington Huskies.

West of Montreal, other locations often rumoured for CFL expansion include Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; London, Ontario; Windsor, Ontario; and Victoria, British Columbia. The Regina-based Roughriders argue that Saskatchewan, with a provincial population just barely above one million, is not populous enough to support a team in Saskatoon. For London and Windsor, the Argos, Ti-Cats, and [=RedBlacks=] would likely veto a fourth team in Southern Ontario. Also, Windsor is on the Canada[=/=]US border next to UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}}, and a Windsor CFL team would almost certainly be overshadowed by the NFL's Lions (despite their near-perennial bottom-dweller status) and the [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootball Big Ten's]] [[UsefulNotes/UniversityOfMichigan Michigan Wolverines]] and Michigan State Spartans; some past proposals for a Windsor CFL team would have put the team in the Lions' former home of the Pontiac Silverdome at least for playoff games, before the stadium was abandoned and left to deteriorate in 2013 and ultimately demolished in 2018. Victoria is unlikely to land a CFL team due to its relative isolation from mainland Canada on Vancouver Island and much like the Als for Quebec and the Riders for Saskatchewan, the Vancouver-based BC Lions would likely claim territorial rights on the entire province. Aside from Victoria's close proximity to Vancouver, the BC capital is also relatively close to UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} and the NFL's Seahawks and Pac-12's (soon to be Big Ten) Washington Huskies.

West of Montreal, other locations often rumoured for CFL expansion include Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; London, Ontario; Windsor, Ontario; and Victoria, British Columbia. The Regina-based Roughriders argue that Saskatchewan, with a provincial population just barely above one million, is not populous enough to support a team in Saskatoon. For London and Windsor, the Argos, Ti-Cats, and [=RedBlacks=] would likely veto a fourth team in Southern Ontario. Also, Windsor is on the Canada[=/=]US border next to UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}}, and a Windsor CFL team would almost certainly be overshadowed by the NFL's Lions (despite their near-perennial bottom-dweller status) and the [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootball Big Ten's]] [[UsefulNotes/UniversityOfMichigan Michigan Wolverines]] and Michigan State Spartans; some past proposals for a Windsor CFL team would have put the team in the Lions' former home of the Pontiac Silverdome at least for playoff games, before the stadium was abandoned and left to deteriorate in 2013 and ultimately demolished in 2018. Victoria is unlikely to land a CFL team due to its relative isolation from mainland Canada on Vancouver Island and much like the Als for Quebec and the Riders for Saskatchewan, the Vancouver-based BC Lions would likely claim territorial rights on the entire province. Aside from Victoria's close proximity to Vancouver, the BC capital is also relatively close to UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} and the NFL's Seahawks and Pac-12's Washington Huskies.

The CFL season now starts in mid-June and ends with the CFL championship game, the Grey Cup, by the end of November. This avoids playing more games in winter conditions, since all but one team (the BC Lions), play in an open-air stadium. This also avoids getting overshadowed by the NHL regular season and for the CFL's American fans, NCAA bowl games and the NFL playoffs. After a two-game preseason, each team plays an 18-game regular season schedule over 21 weeks in a modified double round robin format, with each team playing six teams twice and two divisional opponents thrice. At the end of the regular season, six teams advance to the CFL playoffs. The top team in each division earns an automatic berth - as well as home field advantage - in their respective divisional finals. In the divisional semifinals, the second place team hosts the either the third place team within their own division or the fourth place team from the opposing division, provided they have a better record than the native third place team. (If they have identical records the tie breaker goes to the divisional team.) [[note]]While an intra-divisional Grey Cup is possible with the crossover rule, no crossover team has advanced to the Grey Cup championship as of 2022; also, since the crossover's introduction in 1996, no Eastern Division team has crossed over into the Western Division.[[/note]] The winners of the divisional semifinals advance to their respective divisional finals, and the winners of divisional finals play for the Grey Cup.

* '''Montreal Alouettes:''' AKA the Als. The original franchise was founded in 1946 (and ''yes'', their name comes from the famed French children's[=/=]work song "Alouette") and folded in 1982, then was immediately relaunched with new owners as the Montreal Concordes. They restored the Alouettes name in 1986, and folded ''again'' after that season. They were later recreated from the ex-Baltimore Stallions in 1996, after Baltimore was left as the sole US based team, and Baltimore gained the NFL Ravens. To simplify record keeping, the original Alouettes, the Concordes, and the current team are considered by the league to be one continuous franchise which was dormant from 1987 to 1995, while the Stallions are considered a separate franchise. Under GM Jim Popp and quarterbacks Tracy Ham & Anthony Calvillo, one of the strongest teams in the league from their 1996 return until the early 2010s. Their historical rival is Ottawa, though when Ottawa's not running, they'll claim Toronto, Edmonton, and/or BC just so they have someone -- though they aren't ''that'' desperate, since they turned down [[UnknownRival an upstart prospective Quebec City team]] that tried to declare them its rivals before even officially trying to join the league. In May 2019, then-team owner Robert Wetenhall sold the Als franchise back to the CFL, citing his advanced age and recent losses both on and off the field; the CFL took over operations of the team as they searched for a new owner. On January 6, 2020, the team was purchased by the owners of Crawford Steel, Sid Spiegel and Gary Stern. However, Spiegel died on July 28, 2021 before seeing the team he bought play a single snap, since the 2020 season was cancelled outright and the start of the 2021 season was delayed to August, and in late August 2022, Stern abruptly resigned from his position as team CEO. In March 2023, ownership of the Als was transferred for the third time in only five years to Pierre Karl Péladeau, President and CEO of Quebecois telecom and media company Quebecor. They have a very interesting home stadium history. After playing most of their early seasons at [=McGill=] University's historic Percival Molson Stadium (built in 1914), they moved to the quirky Autostade in 1967. Built for Expo 67, the Autostade was made up of 19 separate, identical sections arranged in a bowl shape. In 1976 they relocated to the cavernous Olympic Stadium (the Big O). When a Music/{{U2}} concert at Olympic forced them to move a 1997 playoff game to Molson, a sellout crowd and the more intimate atmosphere prompted them to move to Molson permanently the next year (with occasional games at Olympic [[note]]It has been used for playoff games, including the Grey Cup.[[/note]]). As a nod to U2's unintended role in franchise history, they play "Sunday Bloody Sunday" before every Sunday home game.

The CFL season now starts in mid-June and ends with the CFL championship game, the Grey Cup, by the end of November. This avoids playing more games in winter conditions, since all but one team (the BC Lions), play in an open-air stadium. This also avoids getting overshadowed by the NHL regular season and for the CFL's American fans, NCAA bowl games and the NFL playoffs. After a two-game preseason, each team plays an 18-game regular season schedule over 21 weeks in a modified double round robin format, with each team playing six teams twice and two divisional opponents thrice. At the end of the regular season, six teams advance to the CFL playoffs. The top team in each division earns an automatic berth - as well as home field advantage - in their respective divisional finals. In the divisional semifinals, the second place team hosts the either the third place team within their own division or the fourth place team from the opposing division, provided they have a better record than the native third place team. (If they have identical records the tie breaker goes to the divisional team.) [[note]]While an intra-divisional Grey Cup is possible with the crossover rule, no crossover team has advanced to the Grey Cup championship as of 2023; also, since the crossover's introduction in 1996, no Eastern Division team has crossed over into the Western Division.[[/note]] The winners of the divisional semifinals advance to their respective divisional finals, and the winners of divisional finals play for the Grey Cup.

The CFL season now starts in mid-June and ends with the CFL championship game, the Grey Cup, by the end of November. This avoids playing more games in winter conditions, since all but one team (the BC Lions), play in an open-air stadium. This also avoids getting overshadowed by the NHL regular season and for the CFL's American fans, NCAA bowl games and the NFL playoffs. After a two-game preseason, each team plays an 18-game regular season schedule over 21 weeks in a modified double round robin format, with each team playing six teams twice and two divisional opponents thrice. At the end of the regular season, six teams advance to the CFL playoffs. The top team in each division earns an automatic berth - as well as home field advantage - in their respective divisional finals. In the divisional semifinals, the second place team hosts the either the third place team within their own division or the fourth place team from the opposing division, provided they have a better record than the native third place team. (If they have identical records the tie breaker goes to the divisional team.) [[note]]While an intra-divisional Grey Cup is possible with the crossover rule, no crossover team has advanced to the Grey Cup championship as of 2022; also, since the crossover's introduction in 1996, no Eastern Division team has crossed over into the Western Division.[[/note]] The winners of the divisional semifinals advance to their respective divisional finals, and the winners of divisional finals play for the Grey Cup.

* '''Montreal Alouettes:''' AKA the Als. The original franchise was founded in 1946 (and ''yes'', their name comes from the famed French children's[=/=]work song "Alouette") and folded in 1982, then was immediately relaunched with new owners as the Montreal Concordes. They restored the Alouettes name in 1986, and folded ''again'' after that season. They were later recreated from the ex-Baltimore Stallions in 1996, after Baltimore was left as the sole US based team, and Baltimore gained the NFL Ravens. To simplify record keeping, the original Alouettes, the Concordes, and the current team are considered by the league to be one continuous franchise which was dormant from 1987 to 1995, while the Stallions are considered a separate franchise. Under GM Jim Popp and quarterbacks Tracy Ham & Anthony Calvillo, one of the strongest teams in the league from their 1996 return until the early 2010s. Their historical rival is Ottawa, though when Ottawa's not running, they'll claim Toronto, Edmonton, and/or BC just so they have someone -- though they aren't ''that'' desperate, since they turned down [[UnknownRival an upstart prospective Quebec City team]] that tried to declare them its rivals before even officially trying to join the league. In May 2019, then-team owner Robert Wetenhall sold the Als franchise back to the CFL, citing his advanced age and recent losses both on and off the field; the CFL took over operations of the team as they searched for a new owner. On January 6, 2020, the team was purchased by the owners of Crawford Steel, Sid Spiegel and Gary Stern. However, Spiegel died on July 28, 2021 before seeing the team he bought play a single snap, since the 2020 season was cancelled outright and the start of the 2021 season was delayed to August, and in late August 2022, Stern abruptly resigned from his position as team CEO. In March 2023, ownership of the Als was transferred for the third time in only five years to Pierre Karl Péladeau, President and CEO of Quebecois telecom and media company Quebecor. They have a very interesting home stadium history. After playing most of their early seasons at [=McGill=] University's historic Percival Molson Stadium (built in 1914), they moved to the quirky Autostade in 1967. Built for Expo 67, the Autostade was made up of 19 separate, identical sections arranged in a bowl shape. In 1976 they relocated to the cavernous Olympic Stadium (the Big O). When a Music/{{U2}} concert at Olympic forced them to move a 1997 playoff game to Molson, a sellout crowd and the more intimate atmosphere prompted them to move to Molson permanently the next year (with occasional games at Olympic). As a nod to U2's unintended role in franchise history, they play "Sunday Bloody Sunday" before every Sunday home game.

* '''Montreal Alouettes:''' AKA the Als. The original franchise was founded in 1946 and folded in 1982, was immediately relaunched with new owners as the Montreal Concordes. They restored the Alouettes name in 1986, and folded ''again'' after that season. They were later recreated from the ex-Baltimore Stallions in 1996, after Baltimore was left as the sole US based team, and Baltimore gained the NFL Ravens. To simplify record keeping, the original Alouettes, the Concordes, and the current team are considered by the league to be one continuous franchise which was dormant from 1987 to 1995, while the Stallions are considered a separate franchise. Under GM Jim Popp and quarterbacks Tracy Ham & Anthony Calvillo, one of the strongest teams in the league from their 1996 return until the early 2010s. Their historical rival is Ottawa, though when Ottawa's not running, they'll claim Toronto, Edmonton, and/or BC just so they have someone -- though they aren't ''that'' desperate, since they turned down [[UnknownRival an upstart prospective Quebec City team]] that tried to declare them its rivals before even officially trying to join the league. In May 2019, then-team owner Robert Wetenhall sold the Als franchise back to the CFL, citing his advanced age and recent losses both on and off the field; the CFL took over operations of the team as they searched for a new owner. On January 6, 2020, the team was purchased by the owners of Crawford Steel, Sid Spiegel and Gary Stern. However, Spiegel died on July 28, 2021 before seeing the team he bought play a single snap, since the 2020 season was cancelled outright and the start of the 2021 season was delayed to August, and in late August 2022, Stern abruptly resigned from his position as team CEO. In March 2023, ownership of the Als was transferred for the third time in only five years to Pierre Karl Péladeau, President and CEO of Quebecois telecom and media company Quebecor.

In recent years, especially after the success of the Ottawa [=RedBlacks=], the CFL has explored the idea of adding a tenth team to the league, bring both divisions to five teams a piece. One-off games have been played in Quebec City, Quebec; Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Moncton, New Brunswick and all were well attended. An attempt was actually made back in 2009 to start up a team in Quebec City, the largest metropolitan area in Canada without a CFL team, being slightly more populous than either Winnipeg or Hamilton, but the management of the Montreal Alouettes replied that any attempt to form another Quebec team would need to go through them and nothing has been heard since.

* '''Memphis Mad Dogs:''' After Memphis was passed over for NFL expansion in favour of Jacksonville, Florida (Jaguars) and Charlotte, North Carolina (Panthers) in 1993, [=FedEx=] founder Fred Smith was awarded a CFL expansion franchise in 1995[[note]]The proposed NFL expansion team was originally named the ''Hound Dogs'' due to the involvement of the Music/ElvisPresley estate, but the name was changed to ''Mad Dogs'' after Presley's estate was no longer involved when the NFL expansion bid failed[[/note]]. The Mad Dogs' home field, the Liberty Bowl Stadium, could not fit the Canadian field ''at all'' due to being a completely enclosed stadium; the stadium had to use "yards" measuring only 33 inches and the end zones were an odd pentagon shape less than 12 yards deep. Much like fellow DeepSouth city Birmingham, the Mad Dogs drew well early in the season, but attendance tanked once the high school and college seasons started, and switching to Sunday games didn't help. Two years after the Mad Dogs' folding, Memphis finally got a long-desired NFL team...sort of. The Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans) relocated from Houston after the 1996 NFL season, intending to play two seasons in Memphis while what would become Nissan Stadium was built in the team's intended home of Nashville[[note]]Vanderbilt Stadium, which was the then the largest stadium in Nashville, was deemed too small and the university's refusal to allow alcohol sales initially led Bud Adams to not playing games there; however, the abysmal attendance in Memphis forced Adams to move to Nashville earlier than planned. Neyland Stadium in Knoxville was deemed too large due to the NFL's TV blackout rules at the time.[[/note]]. Since Memphians weren't interested in supporting a team that would end up leaving in only two years, and Nashvillains likewise weren't interested in driving over 200 miles (320 km) west one way to see "their" team[[note]]Not helping matters was that Interstate 40, the main corridor between Memphis and Nashville, was under reconstruction at the time, nearly doubling the normally 3 hour commute between the two cities[[/note]], the Oilers' stay in Memphis was cut short by one year due to low attendance that was almost as bad as their final year in Houston.

* '''Memphis Mad Dogs:''' After Memphis was passed over for NFL expansion in favour of Jacksonville, Florida (Jaguars) and Charlotte, North Carolina (Panthers) in 1993, [=FedEx=] founder Fred Smith was awarded a CFL expansion franchise in 1995[[note]]The proposed NFL expansion team was originally named the ''Hound Dogs'' due to the involvement of the Music/ElvisPresley estate, but the name was changed to ''Mad Dogs'' after Presley's estate was no longer involved when the NFL expansion bid failed[[/note]]. The Mad Dogs' home field, the Liberty Bowl Stadium, could not fit the Canadian field ''at all'' due to being a completely enclosed stadium; the stadium had to use "yards" measuring only 33 inches and the end zones were an odd pentagon shape less than 12 yards deep. Much like fellow DeepSouth city Birmingham, the Mad Dogs drew well early in the season, but attendance tanked once the high school and college seasons started, and switching to Sunday games didn't help. Two years after the Mad Dogs' folding, Memphis finally got a long-desired NFL team...sort of. The Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans) relocated from Houston after the 1996 NFL season, intending to play two seasons in Memphis while what would become Nissan Stadium was built in the team's permanent home of Nashville. Since Memphians weren't interested in supporting a team that would end up leaving in only two years, and Nashvillains likewise weren't interested in driving over 200 miles (320 km) west to see "their" team[[note]]Not helping matters was that Interstate 40, the main corridor between Memphis and Nashville, was under reconstruction at the time, nearly doubling the normally 3 hour commute between the two cities[[/note]], the Oilers' stay in Memphis was cut short by one year.

As of the upcoming 2023 CFL season, the roster of CFL teams consists of:

As of the 2022 CFL season, the roster of CFL teams consists of:

* '''Ottawa [=RedBlacks=] ('Rouge et Noir' in French):''' Introduced in 2014, the [=RedBlacks=] are the CFL's third team in Canada's capital city. The first, the Ottawa Rough Riders, was one of the oldest teams in the CFL, they were founded in 1876 and folded in 1996. The second team, the Renegades, only lasted from 2002-2005 before folding. The league initially did not recognize the [=RedBlacks=] or the Renegades as a continuation of the Rough Riders; however, the league, as of 2017, now groups the three Ottawa teams as a singular entity for record-keeping with two periods of inactivity (from 1997 to 2001 and from 2006 to 2013). The [=RedBlacks=] own the intellectual property rights of the Rough Riders (although the Sask Riders vetoed reviving the old team's identity) and honour the 10 numbers retired by their predecessor. With the [[DevelopmentHell issues regarding the redevelopment of Ottawa's football stadium]] and the area around it having been worked out, the way was cleared for the [=RedBlacks=] to return the CFL to Ottawa. The new stadium, TD Place (formerly named Frank Clair Stadium, after an Ottawa Rough Riders legend), at the redeveloped Lansdowne Park, opened with the [=RedBlacks=]' first home game on July 18, 2014; they won against the Toronto Argonauts. After a 2-16 inaugural campaign, the [=RedBlacks=] [[TookALevelInBadass clinched the Eastern Division in only their second year of existence]], marking the first time any club from Ottawa reached the Grey Cup game in over three decades, and would go on to win it all the season after, beating the heavily favoured Calgary Stampeders in overtime with their star quarterback, the aforementioned, former Stampeder Henry Burris.

A CFL expansion team, the ''Atlantic Schooners'' (meant to represent all four Atlantic provinces), was awarded to Halifax in 1984, but never came to fruition. This came after the prospective franchise's owners lacked the funds needed to build a new stadium using land purchased in neighbouring Dartmouth. The Schooners are still included in official things that don't require an actual team, however; for example, when the Grey Cup rolls around, there's a party in the host city for each team [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and one for the Schooners]]. In 2017, a Halifax-based group, Maritime Football Limited, made a credible pitch to the CFL for a prospective team in the Maritimes, and two days prior to the 2018 Grey Cup game, the league and Maritime Football announced that they would revive the Schooners identity, and Maritime Football would subsequently rebrand as Schooners Sports and Entertainment (SSE). The Schooners could launch as early as the 2023 season assuming stadium plans in Halifax go through, although SSE has indicated that the team would likely start play in Moncton while the Halifax stadium is under construction. However, like everything else, COVID-19 has thrown a monkey wrench into the CFL's and SSE's expansion plans for the Maritimes.

* '''Birmingham Barracudas:''' AKA the Cudas. The Cudas started off strong in attendance; however, attendance plummeted once the high school and college football seasons started. Team owner Art Williams tried to convince the league to let him play on Sundays, figuring that Alabamians weren't loyal to any one NFL team, considering the three closest teams to Birmingham at the time, the Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, were perennial bottom-dweller teams; however, this backfired. After their lone 1995 season, Williams attempted to sell the team to a group of investors who would move the team to Shreveport to replace the Pirates, but the sale fell through since the league wanted out of the States.

* '''Montreal Alouettes:''' AKA the Als. The original franchise was founded in 1946 and folded in 1982, was immediately relaunched with new owners as the Montreal Concordes. They restored the Alouettes name in 1986, and folded ''again'' after that season. They were later recreated from the ex-Baltimore Stallions in 1996, after Baltimore was left as the sole US based team, and Baltimore gained the NFL Ravens. To simplify record keeping, the original Alouettes, the Concordes, and the current team are considered by the league to be one continuous franchise which was dormant from 1987 to 1995, while the Stallions are considered a separate franchise. Under GM Jim Popp and quarterbacks Tracy Ham & Anthony Calvillo, one of the strongest teams in the league from their 1996 return until the early 2010s. Their historical rival is Ottawa, though when Ottawa's not running, they'll claim Toronto, Edmonton, and/or BC just so they have someone -- though they aren't ''that'' desperate, since they turned down [[UnknownRival an upstart prospective Quebec City team]] that tried to declare them its rivals before even officially trying to join the league. In May 2019, then-team owner Robert Wetenhall sold the Als franchise back to the CFL, citing his advanced age and recent losses both on and off the field; the CFL took over operations of the team as they searched for a new owner. On January 6, 2020, the team was purchased by the owners of Crawford Steel, Sid Spiegel and Gary Stern. However, Spiegel died on July 28, 2021 before seeing the team he bought play a single snap, since the 2020 season was cancelled outright and the start of the 2021 season was delayed to August, and in late August 2022, Stern abruptly resigned from his position as team CEO.

* '''Saskatchewan Roughriders:''' AKA the Riders. Founded in 1910 and based in Saskatchewan's provincial capital of Regina. Not usually a successful team, it took the team over a half-century since their founding to clinch their first Grey Cup, though there have been seasonal exceptions. The Riders are nevertheless known for their ''absolutely devoted fans'', to the point of being called the Canadian counterpart of the Green Bay Packers.[[note]]Much like the Packers, the Roughriders play in their league's smallest market and are a community-owned team. The teams' fanbases even share an affinity for unusual headgear: a good number of Packers fans wear foam blocks shaped like cheese wedges, while some Riders fans wear actual hollowed-out watermelons, although some do wear a foam or plastic analogue instead.[[/note]] The number of Saskatchewan residents who moved to Alberta for work meant that Roughriders merchandise like jackets, hats and flags have been nearly as common in cities like Edmonton and Calgary as merchandise of those cities' own teams. Their major rival is Winnipeg, sometimes crossing division lines, especially after an incident in which a Winnipeg player recalled a provincial stereotype in an interview and referred to the Saskatchewan population as "banjo-pickin' inbreds"[[note]]After the media took an interest, he [[BackhandedApology apologised for incorrectly implying most Saskatchewaners know the banjo.]][[/note]]. However, much like Toronto, they also hate nearly every other team in the league for some grudge or another. For many years, the Riders were one of two similarly-named teams in the CFL. From the 1950s (when Canada's Eastern and Western leagues merged into the modern CFL) through 1996, the 'Riders co-existed with the Ottawa Rough Riders.

* '''Edmonton Elks:''' Formerly the Eskimos (and originally the Esquimaux). They were founded in 1949. Although Toronto has the most Grey Cup wins in the overall history of Canadian football, Edmonton has the most Grey Cup wins in the modern era, and is thus a very popular team; the Elks also hold the longest Grey Cup winning streak, winning it five times from 1978 to 1982. Just as the NHL has the "Battle of Alberta" tradition, so too does the CFL. The highlight of the Battle of Alberta is a set of back to back games in September. Most seasons they play on Labour Day in Calgary, and the following week in Edmonton. The Elks’ main rival is Calgary. Similar to the former Washington Redskins (known in the 2020 and 2021 seasons as the "Washington Football Team" and known as the Washington Commanders since 2022), the Esks had drawn controversy over their politically incorrect name, and on July 21, 2020, the team announced that they would [[https://www.cfl.ca/2020/07/21/edmonton-football-team-discontinues-use-name-eskimos/ discontinue the use of the "Eskimos" name]] and adopted the working name "Edmonton Football Team". In June 2021, the former Eskimos officially became the Elks, a name used by the team's predecessor club in 1922, and introduced a new primary logo based on the new nickname, with the long-time "double-E" monogram initially relegated to secondary status; however, the iconic logo was brought back on the helmets by popular demand in March 2022.