Canadian Football League

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Rules and regulations: /2017-cfl-rule-book-facts-figures-records-guide/

History:

The Canadian Football League (CFL) and it’s Championship, The Gray Cup has roots back to the 1800’s and the Canadian Rugby Union. In 1909 the Governor-General of, Lord Albert-Henry Earl Grey, donated a trophy to be awarded to the championship amateur football team of Canada, now better known as the Grey Cup. The trophy has been the height of accomplishment for Canadian Football for nearly 100 years.

The current name, Canadian Football League was selected in 1958 when G. Sydney Halter was appointed the first Commissioner of the league.

For a few years in the mid 1990’s the league expanded to include teams in the United States. In 1995, the Baltimore expansion team even went on to win the Grey Cup.

Currently the league features nine teams, four in the Eastern Division; Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa) and five in the Western Division including: British Columbia, Edmonton, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg and Calgary.

The CFL is the only professional sports organization to operate wholly within Canada. Fan support has been growing and the annual Grey Cup championship has attracted in excess of 60,000 fans and over 5 million television viewers.