Canadian Football League

The Canadian Football League (CFL; French: Ligue canadienne de football) is a professional league located entirely in Canada that plays Canadian football. It is considered to be the highest level of play in Canadian football. The league's top trophy, the Grey Cup, was donated by Governor General Earl Grey in 1909 to the team winning the Senior Amateur Football Championship of Canada. Both the trophy and the championship game have become known as the Grey Cup. Since 1954, when the Ontario Rugby Football Union stopped challenging for the Grey Cup, the trophy has been awarded only to professional teams with the championship generally being an East vs. West competition. This is also the year the British Columbia Lions started play as the ninth professional team, so although the CFL was not technically founded until the late 1950's, 1954 is often referred to as the start of the "modern era" of Canadian professional football. It is also considered to be the year the CFL was founded in substance if not in name. The game is very similar to American football but there are several major rule differences.

Major league debate

The CFL is considered to be a major league by many Canadians, often placing it second behind the National Hockey League. However, in other parts of North America it is viewed as a minor league to the National Football League, due to the similar (but distinct) gridiron codes.

Related Topics:
National Hockey League - National Football League

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Due to the disparity between the CFL and NFL's income, the CFL teams are forced to assemble their roster from a smaller talent pool that consists of many players who while they may have been stars in college (such as Pinball Clemons and Damon Allen), they were unable to translate their skills to the NFL and were better suited to the wide open style of the CFL. In the days when sports teams were financed almost entirely by ticket sales the two leagues were on equal footing and the CFL could sign top U.S. college football stars such as Johnny Rodgers and Joe Theismann. In fact, during the 1950's and 1960's exhibition games were played between CFL and NFL teams using a mixture of rules. The last such exhibition game saw the CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeat the NFL's Buffalo Bills. However, since the 1970s the advent of television revenue has allowed the NFL to far outspend the CFL. The CFL also sets a limit on the number of non-Canadian born players on Canadian teams.

Related Topics:
NFL - Pinball Clemons - Damon Allen - College football - Johnny Rodgers - Joe Theismann - 1970s

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Although ice hockey is currently Canada's most popular sport, the CFL is highly popular in Quebec and west of Ontario, and its franchises there enjoy a greater level of support than Ontario teams. The Edmonton Eskimos regularly boast the league's highest average attendance, drawing about 40,000 people per game. Football has been gaining in popularity in Quebec with the recent success of the Alouettes, and Quebec university football teams now lead the country in attendance and on the field, with Laval University and the University of Montreal, and Concordia consistently in the top ten in the country. In Southern Ontario, the CFL is now recovering from the bankruptcy that plagued the Toronto and Hamilton teams in the 2003 season. Both teams have improved their attendance figures dramatically since the 2003 season. The league is currently looking to add a tenth team in Atlantic Canada or Quebec City. Quebec City and Halifax have recently hosted CFL exhibition games, both of which sold out quickly. Moncton is expected to host a game next season.

Related Topics:
Ice hockey - Ontario - Edmonton Eskimos - Bankruptcy - Atlantic Canada - Quebec City - Halifax - Moncton

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