History UsefulNotes / CanadianFootballLeague

'''Prior Names:''' Edmonton Eskimos (1949–2020); Edmonton Football Team (2020–2021)\\

'''Prior Names:''' Regina Rugby Club (1910–1923); Regina Roughriders (1924–1947)\\

->'''Year Established:''' 1946[[note]]Original franchise folded in 1987; current incarnation founded in 1996[[/note]]\\

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.

->'''Year Established:''' 2014[[note]]claims history of the Ottawa Rough Riders (1876–1996) and Ottawa Renegades (2002–2005)[[/note]]\\

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 2002-05 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.

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.

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. The 2023 Grey Cup champions are the Montreal Alouettes.

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.

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.

->'''Year Established:''' 1946[[note]]Franchise inactive from 1987–95; current incarnation founded in 1996[[/note]]\\
'''Prior Names:''' Montreal Concordes (1982–1985)\\

'''Home Stadium:''' Percival Molson Memorial Stadium (23,420 capacity) [since 1997]\\

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.

->'''Year Established:''' 1946\\

'''Colours: Red, white, blue'''\\

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