Line #28 UsefulNotes/CanadianFootballLeague


1	[[quoteright:1000:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cfl_2016_logosvg.png]]
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3	The professional Canadian Football League (CFL) plays UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball under the only slightly different Canadian rules. Though the CFL is [[OlderThanTheyThink considerably older]] than the UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague (if one counts its predecessor, the Canadian Rugby Union; the CFL itself was established in 1958), and its rules remain closer to those originally developed for gridiron football (so much that several games over the past century between American and Canadian teams have been contested under essentially the same rules), there has been a substantial AdaptationDisplacement making U.S.-style football far better known worldwide.
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5	Among the main differences are 12 men per side versus 11, 3 downs per series versus 4[[note]]The American game originally also had 3 downs, but added fourth down in 1912.[[/note]], the neutral zone being a full yard wide rather than just a football's length (meaning that quickness is more important for Canadian offensive linemen than it is in the U.S. game; also, if third down is within a yard of the first down marker or the goal line, the offence will more often than not attempt to convert), a 110 x 65 yard field with 20-yard end zones (Originally 25 yards but shortened in the 1980s, and virtually all of the American teams had end zones only 15 yards [or less] deep due to the constraints of putting the Canadian field into American stadiums) versus 100 x 53⅓ yards with 10-yard end zones, goal posts placed on the goal line rather than the end line[[note]]The American game originally had the goal posts on the goal line, even when the end zones were added in 1912, but in 1927 at the college level, the goal posts were moved to the end line for player safety and to make kicking less prominent. The NFL, then following college rules, initially also followed suit, but in 1933, the league developed its own rule set, moving the goal posts back to the goal line to encourage more scoring opportunities as well as discouraging tie games until 1974, when the goal post was moved to the end line for good and introduced sudden death overtime during preseason and regular season games to settle ties at the end of regulation, although preseason overtime would be abolished by 2021 for their meaninglessness in the eyes of many fans and most players[[/note]], unlimited backfield players in motion, and the fact that any kick that goes into the end zone and isn't returned (including missed field goals) counts for one point (a "single" or "rouge"). Since the 2000 season, overtime in the CFL uses the "Kansas Playoff" format used in American high school and college football rather than using the NFL's modified sudden-death format; from 1986 to 1999, the CFL used two five-minute halves without sudden death.[[note]]In the CFL, overtime scrimmages start at the 35-yard line and since the 2010 season, a two-point try must be attempted after ''every'' touchdown. Overtime is not played in preseason games, limited to two procedures during the regular season, and continues until a winner is determined in the postseason.[[/note]] These rules open up the passing game considerably and result in several otherwise unmemorable NFL players being able to do very well in the CFL, as well as the inverse. Several former all-time leaders for combined passing yards in all North American professional football leagues played exclusively in the CFL (the most recent among them being Anthony Calvillo), and quarterbacks like Doug Flutie and Jeff Garcia have done extremely well in the CFL despite average careers in the US [[note]]Additionally, there is just one player that played with the CFL at some point in their career who is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Quarterback [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Moon Warren Moon]] (who after playing a few very good years with the Edmonton Eskimos, went on to an outstanding NFL career)[[/note]]. CFL supporters in Canada tend to point to this as evidence of a more exciting game while NFL supporters point out that there is a significant difference in skill between the two leagues. At any rate, the NFL and CFL have always had a good relationship, and were more or less on equal footing until the 1980's, when broadcasting rights to NFL games became ridiculously lucrative.
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7	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 as well as NCAA bowl games and the NFL playoffs for the CFL's American fans. 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.
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9	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.
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11	As a side note, since many Grey Cups were televised by the [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/CBC CBC]], they are archived much better than early Super Bowls. Kinescopes of games going back to 1956 can be seen on [=YouTube=] in their entirety, whereas tapes of most of the first four Super Bowls are lost. (For that matter, the best-archived NFL games of the 1960s, including the 1961 NFL championship game and Super Bowl IV, are also CBC recordings of the U.S. network feed.)
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13	In addition to the Grey Cup, one of the highlights of the CFL season is Labour Day Weekend [[note]] Labour is the British and Canadian spelling and is therefore the correct way to refer to those games[[/note]], which traditionally sees rivalry games between Calgary and Edmonton; Saskatchewan and Winnipeg; plus Hamilton and Toronto. Both Calgary-Edmonton and Saskatchewan-Winnipeg normally meet again the following week. Some details of the games are found below.
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15	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 and its teams are 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 was insufficient to offset playing behind closed doors due to the smaller Canadian TV market, and CFL broadcasts in the U.S. are mostly relegated to niche status on the ESPN+ streaming service with one game per week and the Grey Cup on the linear 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 as well as 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.
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17	!!Current Teams
18	As of the 2023 CFL season, the roster of CFL teams consists of:
19	!!!Western Division
20	* '''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.
21	* '''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.
22	* '''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.
23	* '''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.
24	* '''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.
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26	!!!Eastern Division
27	* '''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.
28	* '''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.
29	* '''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.
30	* '''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.
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32
33	!!Potential Expansion
34	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.
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36	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.
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38	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.
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40	!!Defunct Teams
41
42	In the early 1990s, despite the finances of the league itself and its member clubs in dire straits, the CFL expanded into the United States with little to no success.
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44	* '''Ottawa Rough Riders:''' AKA the Red & Black. Ottawa's original CFL franchise that originated way back in 1876, before unceremoniously folding in 1996, despite decades of history and success. Winners of nine Grey Cups, including four from 1968-1976, but never posted a record above .500 after that, even in their 1981 Grey Cup finals run. Troubled ownership under Bernie Glieberman and Horn Chen in the 1990s, and a brief attempt by Glieberman to move the team to ''Shreveport, Louisiana'' didn't help matters, despite steady fan support. Succeeded by the Renegades and more successfully by the [=RedBlacks=], who bought the Rough Riders identity from Chen and recognize that team's 10 retired numbers. Their folding helped calm all of the jokes about the two out of the league's 8/9 teams having the same name, so there's that...
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46	* '''Sacramento Gold Miners:''' AKA the Miners. For a trial period in the early-to-mid 1990s, the CFL also included a few American teams, with Sacramento joining first in 1993 as the league's only American entry (due to the San Antonio Texans folding before ever taking a snap.) Basically a renamed revival of the WLAF's Sacramento Surge, the team benefited from existing team chemistry & dedicated ownership. Despite decent on-field success (including a 9-8-1 record in 1994), the team never made the playoffs, and only exceeded 20,000 in attendance for the 1993 home opener. Unhappy with Hornet Stadium, the team packed its bags to become the ''new'' San Antonio Texans in 1995. Notable players included starting quarterback David Archer and future Hall of Fame running back Mike Pringle.
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48	* '''Baltimore Stallions:''' AKA the CFL Colts and Baltimore Football Club. By far the most successful of the CFL USA teams, going 27-9 overall and reaching the Grey Cup in both the 1994 & 1995 seasons, winning in 1995, the only time (to date) the Grey Cup went south of the Canadian border. The team averaged over 30,000 fans a game throughout their run, and knew to sign CFL veterans on their roster and staff, including Hall of Famers Tracy Ham, Mike Pringle, Elfrid Payton, and coach Don Matthews. The team was sued by the NFL to keep them from going by the name "Baltimore CFL Colts", although this didn't stop Baltimore fans from using the Colts name (the PA announcer would give a pause after "Your Baltimore CFL" to allow the crowd to shout "Colts!" before finishing with "... football team"). By the start of the 1995 season, the team had settled on "Baltimore Stallions". While the American experiment ended in 1995, the Stallions were a strong enough franchise that they might have stayed, had Art Modell not been about to bring the Ravens to town, which caused local media to virtually forget their excellent CFL team even existed. Given that Baltimore didn't have another stadium available to move into (the CFL and NFL seasons overlap) and they wouldn't be able to compete with the Ravens for fan support, the team was moved to Montreal as a revival of the Alouettes; before moving to Montreal, the team had seriously considered moving to Houston to fill the void left by the soon-to-be departing Oilers, whose attendance and popularity was tanking when Bud Adams made the announcement of the Oilers' relocation to Tennessee, but the CFL felt that staying in America was a lost cause.
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50	* '''Las Vegas Posse:''' Often considered the worst of the CFL's American franchises; they were a poorly-managed comedy of errors with a plethora of terrible stories, from their ticket sales (they went from hundreds for season tickets to five bucks a game with very little improvement in attendance) to their stadium (built American-style, not to mention open-air... in a ''desert'' for a league that plays over the ''summer'') to the butchering of the Canadian national anthem in one infamous home game. They suffered so badly that they actually tried to fold mid-season. [[EpicFail The league wouldn't let them.]] The Posse ended up being a warning in hindsight, with many other Vegas-based sports franchises suffering similar woes to theirs, at least until the NHL's Golden Knights were enfranchised in 2017 and the 2020 relocation of the NFL's Oakland Raiders. After a dismal 5-13 season in 1994, a planned relocation to Miami as the ''Manatees'' fell through. However, the Posse were the first pro team for future Hall of Fame quarterback Anthony Calvillo, who lasted 19 years in the league and went on to set the record for most career passing yards at ''any'' level of pro football.
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52	* '''Shreveport Pirates:''' Created as a result of Bernie Glieberman's aborted plans to move the Ottawa Rough Riders to Shreveport (the CFL gave him an expansion team there if he sold the Riders), the team struggled to an 8-28 record in 1994 & 1995, but enjoyed strong fan support in the area, only behind Baltimore in average attendance, including over 30,000 fans in the 1994 season finale. Ownership remained an issue though, and a planned relocation to Norfolk, Virginia fell through, partly due to lawsuits by the city of Shreveport came out regarding defaulting on stadium debts. The team retained a devoted booster club of fans long after their final season. Notable players included quartetback Billy Joe Tolliver, kicker Bjorn Nittmo, and Hall of Fame offensive tackle Uzooma Okeke.
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54	* '''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 all 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.
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56	* '''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 the NFL bid failed and the Presley estate subsequently withdrew its support[[/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 10 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. 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 abysmally low attendance that was almost as bad as their final season in Houston.
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58	* '''San Antonio Texans:''' The league's only officially recognized relocated franchise, they were previously the Sacramento Gold Miners. Among the American clubs, San Antonio was unique that their stadium, the Alamodome, could accommodate the larger Canadian field. Like the Stallions, the Texans were a strong team both on and off the field, and its ownership were committed to playing the 1996 season; however, with Baltimore becoming the revived Alouettes and all of the other American teams folding, the Texans had no choice but to fold as well.
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60	* '''Ottawa Renegades:''' AKA the Gades. Ottawa's first attempt at a new franchise post-Rough Riders, they played from 2002 until 2005. The Renegades never had a winning season, and though they were third in the East with 7-11 records twice, the cross-over rule meant that they never made the playoffs. Financial difficulties before and after the return of infamous former Rough Riders owner Bernie Glieberman did the team in after four seasons, despite strong fan support. Their best known player was quarterback Kerry Joseph, who won the Grey Cup and Most Outstanding Player award with Saskatchewan in 2007. The current Ottawa [=RedBlacks=] are technically the same franchise, but weren't initially recognized as the same team in official records; however, as of 2017, the league groups the Rough Riders, Renegades, and [=RedBlacks=] as a single entity for record keeping.
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Context UsefulNotes / CanadianFootballLeague