Sunday 3 April 2016

When the Canadian Football League moved into the USA

Article by Duncan Gray


A 20th anniversary get together was held last year for players of the winning team of the 1995 Grey Cup. What was a little unusual about it was that it was held in Baltimore, USA. It's not often spoken about now but that Baltimore Stallions championship win represented both the high point and the end of an attempt the CFL made to move into the American market in the 1990s.

 



That story became relevant again this year thanks to the relocation moves happening in the NFL. 

Since it was announced that the Rams are moving back to Los Angeles, fans in St Louis have been lobbying for the CFL to consider establishing a new franchise in their town. There's even a website, www.stlramscfl.com, promoting the idea.



The story of CFL expansion in the USA is one of failure, and not even glorious failure. Back in the 1990s the NFL was a very successful enterprise, but nowhere near as powerful as it is today. To the north meantime the Canadian League was in desperate straits. Crowds were poor, TV income was almost nil and every team except Edmonton was in danger of going bust. The idea was hatched that maybe they could make some money by having teams play south of the border.



So it was that the Sacramento Gold Miners, previously known as the Sacramento Surge in the defunct World League of American Football, played in the 1993 season as a West Division team. Four American teams played 1994, Sacramento, Shreveport Pirates, Baltimore CFL Colts and the short lived Las Vegas Posse. For 1995 there were five teams playing in a South Division. Sacramento had become the San Antonio Texans, Baltimore had become the Stallions, the Pirates were still in Shreveport and they were joined by Birmingham Barracudas and Memphis Mad Dogs.



Of all of these only Baltimore was a financial success. The others struggled to compete for fans not only with the NFL but against traditional NCAA and High School teams too. This was particularly true for the Birmingham Barracudas. Even the NFL can't compete with the NCAA's Auburn and Alabama in that state.

Baltimore was the successful team on the field too. After a 2&3 start in 1995 they won thirteen straight games and then comfortably saw off all opposition in the play-offs.




However, the Stallions success surely contributed to their demise. Demonstrating that a CFL team could attract 30,000 crowds in Baltimore just showed how attractive the city would be as an NFL venue. Before the Stallions even got to play their Grey Cup match, the Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell had announced that he was relocating his team to Baltimore for the 1996 season. Whether or not the NFL was intent on forcing the CFL out the US the move had that effect. There was no way the Stallions would be able to stay in Baltimore and compete for fans with the new Ravens.



Substantial losses had been made and the CFL abandoned its plans to run with two American teams, Baltimore and San Antonio, the next year.



This left the Canadian League in even more trouble than it started with. There were business sharks looking to buy the whole league dirt cheap and run it from a US base. Some would have got rid of the separate Canadian 12 men and 3 downs rules, some even wanted to move all the teams to the USA where no doubt it would have died like Donald Trump's USFL in the decade before (see, I said could be was topical) and Vince McMahon's XFL in the decade after.



The CFL retreated back to it's own territory. The Baltimore Stallions were saved by relocating them to Montreal where they became the Alouettes. Fortunately the league then received some financial support from a sympathetic NFL in exchange for co-operation agreements and that helped see it through its crisis.

That's all ancient history though. Today the CFL is stronger and more financially sound than it's ever been. There's no appetite to take risks or change anything without careful planning. They added one expansion franchise in Ottawa two years ago and that's been a great success, but they're not rushing to do it again.

With five teams in the West Division and only four in the East obviously the idea of adding a tenth team is attractive, if only to make scheduling fixtures a whole lot simpler. The main interest  is in having a franchise in Atlantic Canada where there's isn't one. Halifax, Nova Scotia, would be the ideal location but there isn't a suitable stadium there. Maybe if Halifax had been awarded the 2014 Commonwealth games instead of Glasgow... No, I don't really mean that. More likely for a new franchise will be one of the cities in Ontario which already have a University stadium, Windsor or Guelph maybe.



So is the league going to consider a St Louis franchise?



Commercially, the CFL is making inroads into the American market. Last summer,  before the NFL kicked off, ESPN showed twenty CFL games live and carried the rest of the season on its online service. A lot of American fans apparently liked having football to watch through the summer, some even preferred the attacking style of the Canadian Game. Viewing figures were good.



Playing a CFL game in St Louis, like an NFL International Series game in London, might be fun assuming the stadium could be configured for the bigger Canadian pitch. Travelling to Missouri  wouldn't be any harder than some of the journeys the teams already make inside Canada. But memories of the 1990s and the embarrassment that goes with them will surely scare off the CFL from any moves in that direction.



So, sorry St Louis fans. I hear the latest attempt to start a pro league in the US, Major League Football, is struggling. Maybe your ambitions would be better directed there.





For more on the CFL's 1990s expansion into the USA I recommend this article from Rolling Stone Magazine.

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