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Founding of the Canadian Football League
The CFL was officially founded on January 19, 1958, making it the second oldest professional gridiron football league in North America still in operation, although most of its teams long predate the modern formation of the league. The CFL is the second-most popular major sports league in Canada, after the National Hockey League. -
First Game
The CFL officially opened its operations on Thursday, August 14, as 18,206 spectators watched the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeat the Edmonton Eskimos 29–21 in pre-season action at Winnipeg. A regular season game was played in the United States, at Philadelphia's Municipal Stadium on September 14 as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeated the Ottawa Rough Riders by a score of 24–18. -
Montreal Folds
The league remained stable with nine franchises—the BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Eskimos, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Toronto Argonauts, Ottawa Rough Riders and Montreal Alouettes—from its 1958 inception until 1981. After the 1981 season, the Alouettes folded and were replaced the same year by a new franchise named the Concordes. -
United States Expansion
In 1993, the league admitted its first United States-based franchise, the Sacramento Gold Miners. After modest success, the league then expanded further in the U.S. in 1994 with the Las Vegas Posse, Baltimore Stallions, and Shreveport Pirates. For the 1995 campaign, the American teams were split off into their own South Division, and two more teams, the Birmingham Barracudas, and Memphis Mad Dogs, were added; at the same time, the Posse folded and the Gold Miners relocated to become the San Anto -
All-Canadian Format
The CFL returned to an all-Canadian format in 1996 with nine teams; however, the Ottawa Rough Riders, in existence since 1876, folded after the 1996 season. Toronto and recently revived Montreal also were struggling; Montreal's woes were solved by moving to Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, a much smaller venue than the cavernous Olympic Stadium. -
NFL Loan
In 1997, the NFL provided a $3-million USD interest-free loan to the financially struggling CFL. In return, the NFL was granted access to CFL players entering a defined two-month window in the option year of their contract. This was later written into the CFL's collective bargaining agreement with its players. The CFL's finances have since stabilized and they eventually repaid the loan. The CFL–NFL agreement expired in 2006. Both leagues have been attempting to reach a new agreement, but the CFL -
Attendance Record
In 2005, the league set an all-time attendance record with a total attendance of more than 2.3 million. With the absence of Ottawa from 2006 onwards, league attendance has hovered around the 2 million mark. -
Team Expansion
In 2008 the CFL granted a conditional expansion franchise to play in Ottawa. With the East Division Ottawa Redblacks beginning play in 2014, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers moved back to the West Division. -
Corporate Sponsors
In the last 2 months, the CFL signed three new league-wide corporate partners in the categories of home improvement retailer (Lowe’s), beer (Great Western Brewery), and, most recently, clothing retailer (Mark’s). -
Espn TV Deal
A minimum of 17 regular season games and the Eastern and Western Finals will be televised live on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNEWS. The 102nd Grey Cup will be televised live exclusively on ESPN2. All other CFL games will be available to fans live on ESPN3 across computers, smartphones, tablets and connected devices. -
CFL Demographics
This season's television ratings show that CFL's audience is growing overall, and continuing to grow younger. Average viewership in the coveted 18-34 age group was 163,000, up 13 per cent on a comparable basis from a year earlier. Total audience, all ages, was up 5 per cent, the league said.
