Canadian Football League

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The Canadian Football League ( CFL ; French: Ligue canadienne de football , LCF ) is a professional sports league in Canada. CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The nine teams, located in nine separate cities across Canada, are divided into two divisions: the Eastern Division, with four teams, and the Western Division with five teams.

In 2018, the league has a regular 21-week season, traditionally running from mid-June to early November; each team played 18 games with three weeks. After a regular season, six teams compete in three divisions of the league division, which culminate in the Gray Cup championship match at the end of November, one of the country's largest annual sports and television events.

The CFL was formally established on January 19, 1958. The League was formed from a merger between the Football Union Rugby Interprovincial which was founded in 1907 and the Western Interprovincial Football Union founded in 1936.

Video Canadian Football League

History

Initial history

Rugby football began playing in Canada in the 1860s, and many of Canada's first football teams played under the auspices of the Canadian Rugby Football Union (CRFU), founded in 1884. CRFU was reorganized as the Canadian Rugby Union (CRU) in 1891, and serves as an umbrella organization for several provincial and regional unions. The Gray Cup was donated by Governor-General Earl Gray in 1909 to the team winning the Canadian Senior Amateur Football Championship . At the time, the sport played in Canada had strayed markedly from the origin of rugby, and began to become more akin to the American game.

From the 1930s to the 1950s, two senior leagues of the CRU, the Eastern Interprovincial Rugby Soccer Union (IRFU or Big Four) and the Western Interprovincial Football Association (WIFU) gradually evolved from amateur leagues to professional leagues, and amateur teams like those in Football Union Rugby Ontario (ORFU) is no longer competitive for the Gray Cup. From 1945 onwards, the WIFU champions faced the Big Four champions for the Gray Cup, though until 1954 had to play in the semi-final against the ORFU champions-by then, the only amateur union still competing for the Gray Cup. ORFU resigned from the Gray Cup competition after the 1954 season, and the WIFU champions automatically earned a place in the Gray Cup final. For this reason, the year 1954 was calculated as the beginning of the modern era of Canadian football, where the Gray Cup has been exclusively contested by professional teams. Since 1965, Canada's top amateur team, competing in what is now U Sports, has competed for the Vanier Cup.

In 1956, IRFU and WIFU formed a new umbrella organization, the Canadian Football Council (CFC). In 1958, CFC left CRU and became the Canadian Football League. As part of an agreement between CRU and CFL, the CFL took over the Gray Cup, although amateurs have not competed for it since 1954. CRU remains the governing body for amateur games in Canada, eventually adopting the name Football Canada. Initially, the two guilds remain autonomous, and there is no intersexional game between the east (IRFU) and west (WIFU) teams except in the Gray Cup final. This situation is roughly analogous to how the American baseball league operates for many years.

IRFU was renamed to the Eastern Football Conference in 1960, while WIFU was renamed to the Western Football Conference in 1961. Also in 1961, limited intersectional games were introduced. Since the West plays 16 games at the moment while the East still only plays 14 times, this arrangement strangely allows both the four-team Eastern Conference and the Western Conference five teams to play three matches per intraconference and one match per interconference opponent. It was not until 1974 that the East would expand its schedule to 16 matches, like the West. In 1981, two conferences approved a full merger, becoming the East Division and the West CFL. With the merger there was a matching schedule of 16 matches per season which was completely balanced and intertwined (with the nine teams playing each other twice, once at home and once on the road). Starting in 1986, the CFL expands its regular season schedule to 18 matches at the moment.

A separate history of IRFU and WIFU contributes to the fact that two teams are basically the same name: Ottawa IRFU Rough Riders are often called "Eastern Riders", while WIFU's Saskatchewan

League remains stable with nine franchises - BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Eskimo, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Toronto Argonauts, Ottawa Rough Riders and Montreal Alouettes - from early 1958 to 1981. After the 1981 season, Alouettes folded and replaced the following year by a new franchise called Concordes.

In 1986 Concordes renamed Alouettes to attract more fan support, but the team folded next year. The death of Alouettes forced the League to move the easternmost team of the West, Winnipeg, to the Eastern Division (will remain between 1987-94, 1997-2001, and again from 2006-2013).

United States Expansion

In 1993, the league recognized the first US-based franchise, Sacramento Gold Miners. After a modest success, the league was later expanded further in the US in 1994 with Las Vegas Posse, Baltimore Stallions, and Shreveport Pirates. For the 1995 campaign, the American teams were divided into their own Southern Division, and two other teams, Birmingham Barracudas and Memphis Mad Dogs, were added; at the same time, Posse is folded and Gold Miners are relocated to the San Antonio Texans. In 1995, Stallions became the only non-Canadian team to win the Gray Cup.

Although all American teams have an advantage because they are not tied to the minimum Canadian CFL players quota, only Stallions are proving successful on the pitch and off the pitch. The formation of the Baltimore Ravens NFL, the deterioration of financial problems among Canadian league core teams, and the inconsistent performance of other American teams encouraged CFLs to abandon American experiments and curb its Canadian operations. The Stallions Organization was used as a basis for the revival of Montreal's Alouettes.

Post US. era of expansion

The CFL returned to the all-Canadian format in 1996 with nine teams; the league does draft deployments to distribute players from US-based teams; However, the Ottawa Rough Riders, existing since 1876, folded after the 1996 season (another draft deployment was conducted to distribute former Rough Rider players among the remaining eight teams). Toronto and recently revived Montreal is also struggling; Montreal's misery was solved by moving to Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, a much smaller venue than the vast Olympic Stadium.

In 1997, the NFL granted a $ 3 million interest-free loan to CFLs that had financial difficulties. In return, the NFL is granted access to CFL players entering the two-month window specified in the year of their contract option. These are then written into collective bargaining agreements with CFL players. CFL finances have since stabilized and they have finally repaid the loans. The CFL-NFL agreement expired in 2006. Both leagues have sought to reach a new agreement, but the CFL resolved the negotiations in November 2007 after Canadian telecommunications company Rogers Communications paid $ 78 million to host seven Bills games in Toronto for five seasons (Toronto Bills Series last played during the NFL season 2013).

In 2002, the league expanded back to nine teams with the creation of Ottawa Renegades. After four seasons of financial losses, Renegades were suspended indefinitely before the 2006 season; Their players are absorbed by the remaining teams in the dispersed draft, as happened during 1996 and 1997.

In 2005, the league recorded an all-time attendance record with a total attendance of over 2.3 million. In the absence of Ottawa from 2006 onwards, the league's presence hovered around 2 million marks. It stands at 2,029,875 in 2012 for an average single game of 28,193. The 2007 season was the recent high point with an average game attendance of 29,167, the best since 1983.

Era Mark Trees (2007-15)

With Mark Cohon as the league's commissioner, the CFL enters periods of stability and growth. New television deals, two new collective bargaining agreements, 100th Gray Cup celebrations, and extensive remodeling and rebuilding of the stadium highlight the era. The 100th anniversary of the Gray Cup has the highest television ratings for a championship match in British Canada.

During the 2000s, the CFL had the third highest per-match attendance in every North American sports league and the seventh highest-per-match attendance of any sport league around the world. A 2006 survey conducted at Lethbridge University confirmed that CFL is the second most popular sports league in Canada, with 19% of Canada's total adult population compared to 30% for NHL. The NFL has 11% followed, with a total of 26% following at least one of the pro football leagues. In other words, about 80% of Canadian football fans follow the CFL, and about 55% follow the NFL.

During Mark Trees at the office many teams are doing major renovations to their existing stadiums, or building new stadiums. Alouettes Montreal was the first to undertake this project, adding 5,000 seats to the Percival Molson Memorial Stadium in time for the 2010 CFL season. The Edmonton Eskimo and Calgary Stampeders are also renovating the stadium and their respective facilities for the 2010 season. In 2011, BC Lions played under a new roof that can be opened at BC Place after spending a season and a half at the Empire Field. In 2013, Winnipeg Blue Hunters moved to an entirely new stadium at the University of Manitoba. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats began using their new stadium, Tim Hortons Field, after spending 2013 at the University of Guelph stadium and the first half of the 2014 season on the McMaster University soccer field following the demolition of the iconic Ivor Wynne Stadium.

In 2014 Ottawa Redblack started its inaugural season (awarded franchise in 2008), becoming the third Ottawa franchise in CFL history. The new Ottawa franchise restores the team's 9th league structure, with 5 teams in the Western Division and 4 in the East; The Winnipeg Blue Hunters moved back to the Western Division. Ottawa Redblack expansion was played at the massively renovated Frank Clair Stadium, now named TD Place Stadium.

At Mark Cohon last year as commissioner he negotiated a new five year joint work agreement (from 2014 to 2018) between the CFL and the Canadian Football League Players Association (CFLPA).

Jefferson Or Jefferson Orridge (2015-17) h4>

Toronto Argonauts entered a transition period off the pitch, with new ownership and a new stadium. Argonaut is sold by politician/entrepreneur David Braley to Bell Media and MLSE chairman Larry Tanenbaum. At the start of the 2016 season, Argos moved to BMO Field after more than twenty seasons at the Rogers Center (formerly called SkyDome from 1989-2005). Construction at New Mosaic Stadium for Roughriders Saskatchewan was completed in October 2016 and the first game played in the 2017 CFL season.

On May 22, 2015, Michael Sam signed a two-year contract with Montreal Alouettes of the CFL. The signing made him the first open gay player in league history. Sam left the team the day before the first pre-season game, citing personal reasons. As reported by Fox Sports, Sam returned to Montreal to continue his professional football career. He left again on August 14th, this time permanently, again citing personal reasons.

Soon after the 2015 season Jeffrey Orridge announces a re-branding for CFLs, including new logos, mottoes, uniforms for the nine teams and websites. After not having a law enforcement policy applicable to the 2015 season, the league and CFLPA approve the new drug policy. On April 12, 2017 the Board of Governors and Jeffrey Orridge agreed to separate, effective June 30, 2017; Orridge cites "a different view of the league's future" between him and the Board of Governors for departure, with both parties declaring the decision mutually beneficial and friendly. His last day as a commissioner is June 15, 2017. Jim Lawson, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the CFL, takes over the duties of the Provisional Commissioner until a suitable replacement is found.

Era Randy Ambrosie (2017-present)

On June 29, 2017, CFL announced Randy Ambrosie would replace Orridge as a CFL commissioner. The move was made official on July 5, 2017, with Ambrosie named as the 14th Commissary of the league that day. After spending nine seasons as a player with Calgary Stampeders, Toronto Argonauts and Edmonton Eskimo from 1985-1993, Ambrosie was the first commissioner to play in the league since Larry Smith left the position in 1997.

Maps Canadian Football League

Team

Active team

Inactive teams

Team that never played

Notes

Timeline

Note: Registered team franchise history as recognized by CFL in the publication Facts, Figures and Notes (2015) .

Potential expansion

The CFL expansion market potential is Maritimes, Quebec City, Saskatoon, London, and Windsor, all of whom have been lobbying (unsuccessful to date) for the Canadian Football League franchise in recent years.

Maritimes

Since the 1980s, CFLs have occasionally played exhibitions and, later, regular season games in various cities in the Maritimes, including the Canada Games Stadium in Saint John, New Brunswick; Huskies Stadium in Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Moncton Stadium in Moncton, New Brunswick. The league conditionally approved the expansion of the franchise, Atlantic Schooners, to play in the 1984 season, but the team never managed to play after plans for the stadium collapsed.

No city in the Atlantic Canada has a permanent stadium that meets CFL standards. In 2010, the largest stadium in the Maritimes is the Moncton Stadium, which has 10,000 permanent seats and can be expanded to 20,000 with temporary seats. A pre-season game, dubbed Touchdown Atlantic, was held in Halifax in the 2005 CFL season and regular season games were played in Moncton with the same brand in 2010, 2011 and 2013. All 20,000 seats for Moncton 2010 games were sold out in 32 hours ; 2013 games are not sold out. Former Commissioner Mark Cohon has stated that the Moncton Stadium will require a massive renovation to host the CFL team on a permanent basis. The required renovation cost is equivalent to the construction of a new stadium. In November 2015 the city council of Halifax voted 9-7 against a land purchase which will then be used to build a 20,000-seater stadium. It has been agreed that the price tag for the land is too much, but closing 9-7 shows the city government's interest in building a CFL-sized stadium in Halifax. In November 2017, the CFL held further discussions with a group in Halifax who were interested in securing a franchise for the city; the group made the pitch "very credible" to the CFL headquarters. According to TSN Analyst Dave Naylor, the group consists of Anthony LeBlanc (former president and CEO of NHL Arizona Coyote), Bruce Bowser (president of AMJ Campbell Van Lines) and Gary Drummond (former president of hoyi operations for Coyote).

Quebec City

There is also interest in adding a team in Quebec City. In 2003, an exhibition match was held at PEPS Le Stade ExtÃÆ' Â © rieur between Montreal Alouettes and Ottawa Renegades where Montreal won 54-23. In May 2009, Christina Saint Marche, a British businessman, announced her interest in operating a team in Quebec City - stating that there would be a natural rivalry with Montreal Alouettes. During the 2010 Gray Cup at the league press conference, Cohon noted that Alouettes holds the rights to the entire province of Quebec and that any expansion must be negotiated with them first. Other exhibition games are held in the city on June 13, 2015, when the Montreal Alouettes beat Ottawa Redblacks 26 to 9. Because Ottawa can not use their stadium TD Place Stadium at Lansdowne Park because of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup this game is listed as a pre-season home game of Ottawa.

Saskatoon

Saskatoon last hosted Canadian top-level football in 1935 when Regina Roughriders left the Saskatchewan Rugby Football Union to form the WIFU. The Saskatoon Hilltops (along with another Saskatchewan-based team, Moose Jaw Millers) finally suspended operations due to World War II; Hilltops will remain an amateur team when they return in 1947 (they have played in the Junior Canadian Football League). Saskatoon last won the provincial title in 1921. By the time they returned to play after the war, the Roughriders had been the dominant team in the province for two decades.

In early 2012, management at Credit Union Center publicly expressed a desire to bring the CFL team to Saskatoon. However, Regina-based Saskatchewan Roughriders have long referred to themselves as provincial teams, and claim that Saskatchewan is too small to support two teams. In any case, Saskatoon also does not have an appropriate outdoor stadium. The largest, Griffiths Stadium, home of the Saskatchewan Huskies University of Saskatchewan, only holds 6,171 spectators. Gordie Howe Bowl, who hosted the CFL exhibition in the past, had fewer seats (the chair was 3,950 people).

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Seasonal structure

Since 2014, the CFL season includes:

• Two-match, three-week (or pre-season) exhibition season in mid-June
• 18-match regular season, 20-week run from late June to early November
• A single-team six-team elimination playoff tournament, three weeks starting in November and culminating in the Gray Cup championships in late November. The team championships will play two or three playoffs, including the Gray Cup match, depending on their position at the end of the regular season. Division leaders at the end of the regular season receive a bye in the first round of the playoffs.

Pramusim

Team training camp opened 28 days before the first regular season game of the season, a camp devoted solely to first year players allowed 3 days before the main camp opens. The schedule of the pre-season exhibition is two weeks with each team playing two matches against a team from its own division.

Regular season

The regular season is 20 weeks, with the game starting the weekend before Canada Day weekend and ending in early November. The nine CFL teams are currently divided into two divisions: the Eastern Division with four teams and the Western Division, with five teams. Each team plays two games against each of the other eight teams, plus two division games with spinning opponents each season. With 81 regular season matches played, each team gets two more weeks except for one team that plays two games in a week and receives the last three weeks.

The most popular seed week in the CFL season is the Labor Day Classic, played over Labor Day weekend, where the game features the first half of the home-and-home series between traditional Toronto-Hamilton geographical competition (competition begun in 1873), Edmonton- see Battle of Alberta), Winnipeg-Saskatchewan, and Ottawa-Montreal. In the years that Ottawa or Montreal are not in the league, SM will play against one of these teams. The next week's re-match of these games is a popular event as well, especially in recent years, where rematches of the Saskatchewan-Winnipeg game have been dubbed the Banjo Bowl.

Other features of the regular season schedule are Hall of Fame Game and Classic Thanksgiving Day, a doubleheader held on Thanksgiving day where a match usually does not feature traditional competition. From 2010 to 2013, a regular site regular game season is played in Moncton under the name Touchdown Atlantic.

Leagues rewards points based on regular season results (two for winning, one for tie and none for loss). In the 2011 season, in the event of two or more teams in the division completing the season with the same number of points, the tie is divided based on the following criteria (in descending order):

• The number of wins in all games;
• Percentage of wins in bound inter-team games;
• Net aggregate of the printed points (ie the total number of points printed less than the total points) between the team bound;
• Net quotient of the printed point (ie the number of points divided by the total allowed points) between the team bound;
• Percentage of wins in division game;
• Aggregate net points printed in division games;
• Net profit from points printed in the division game;
• The number of net points calculated in all games;
• Net returns from points printed in all games;
• Coin toss

Playoff

Playoff starts in November. After a regular season, the top teams from each division have automatic home berths in the division finals, and weeks left during the semifinal division. The second-ranked team from each division hosts the third-ranked team in the semifinal division, unless the fourth-ranked team from one division ends up with a better record than the third-ranked team in the other team (this rule is known as > crossover rule , and while it implies that it is possible for two teams in the same division to play for the Gray Cup, only two crossover teams have won the semifinals since the 1996 start of that rule, and did not advance to Gray Cups). The winners of their respective division semi-finals then travel to play the first-place team in the division finals. Since 2005, the division's semifinal and final divisions have been sponsored by Scotiabank. The second division champions then face each other in a Gray Cup match, which, since 2007, has been held on the fourth or fifth Sunday of November.

Gray Cup

The Gray Cup is the name of the CFL championship and the name of the trophy awarded to the winning team. The Gray Cup is the second oldest trophy in North American professional sports, after the Stanley Cup. Gray Cup matches are held in one of the league's member cities. In recent years, has been held in different cities each year, selected two years or more in advance. Toronto Argonauts has won the most Gray Cups with a total of seventeen wins, last in 2017. In 2012, the match was held in Toronto at the Rogers Center, and for the second year in a row the trophy was won on the team's home field, with Toronto beating Calgary 35-22. In 2013, the Gray Cup was won at home for the third time in a row (by Roughriders Saskatchewan), which has not been done since Toronto won at home from 1945-1947. In 2016, the Gray Cup is won in the natural grass of BMO Field by Ottawa Redblack beat the highly favored Stampeders Calgary 39-33 in extra time; the first Gray Cup championships for each Ottawa CFL team in 40 years.

As the nation's largest annual sporting event, the Gray Cup has long served as an unofficial autumn festival of Canada that generated national media coverage and a large amount of revenue for the host city. Many fans travel from all over the country to attend matches and the week of the festivities that lead to it. The 2014 survey found that 48% of Canadians would prefer to watch the Gray Cups above the Super Bowl if they can only watch one or the other, with 52% preferring the Super Bowl.

Since 2015, Gray Cup game presented by Shaw Communications.

Awards

After the Gray Cup game, the Most Valuable Gray Cup Players and Canada's Most Valuable Gray Cup are selected. A number of individual player awards, such as Greatest Players and Most Advanced Players, are awarded annually at a special ceremony in the host city for a week before the Gray Cup game; the ceremony is broadcast nationally on TSN. The Annis Stukus Trophy, also known as the Coach of the Year Award, is given separately at a banquet held during off-season every February. While the CFL has not held an all-star game since 1988, the All-Star Team was selected and honored at a league award ceremony during the Gray Cup week.

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Broadcasting

The CFL Championship, Gray Cup, holds the record for the biggest television audience in Canadian history. Television coverage of CBC, CTV and Radio-Canada from the 1983 Gray Cup attracted 8,118,000 spectators when Toronto was edged by B.C. 18-17, ending a 31-year championship drought for the Argonauts. At the time, it represented 33% of the Canadian population. It has since been surpassed by Games Hockey Olympic Gold Medal 2002 and 2010 Men.

Canadian broadcaster

Currently, the official TV broadcaster CFL is a cable network TSN (which started broadcasting CFL games in 1985), while the French-language TSN RDS broadcast the Montreal Alouettes game for the Quebec television market. The game is usually scheduled for Thursday to Saturday nights during June, July and August, but switches to more games Saturday and Sunday evenings during September and October. TSN has created a tradition of at least one Friday night game each week, labeled as Friday Night Football . CBC and TSN attracted a television recording audience for CFL broadcasts in 2005. The 2006 season was the first season in which every regular season game was televised, when the league implemented a system of instant replay challenges. In 2006, CFL also began offering pay-per-view webcasts from every game in CFL Broadband. Until the end of the 2007 season, CBC and RDS are exclusive television broadcasters for all playoffs, including the Gray Cup, which regularly attracts Canadian audiences who watch over 4 million.

Since 2008, TSN and RDS are the exclusive TV and Internet broadcasters of all CFL games, including the playoffs and the Gray Cup. The first five-year deal, which includes an option for the sixth year, is worth about $ 16 million per year and marks the first time since 1952 that the CBC will not broadcast any CFL games. CFLs are no longer being broadcast on Canadian terrestrial television, unless TSN chooses to broadcast matches on its terrestrial partner, CTV or CTV Two (formerly A-Channel); in 2017, TSN has not transferred CFL games to broadcast TV. Move to TSN all but ensure that all CFL games will be broadcast in high definition. In 2006, TSN was available in approximately 8.8 million out of 13 million households in Canada. The three play-by-play broadcasters are Chris Cuthbert, Rod Black, and Gord Miller while color commentator Glen Suitor (with Cuthbert), Duane Forde (with Black), and Matt Dunigan (with Miller). Instead of only exercising options on the contract, TSN chose to renew its contract with the CFL (and thereby extend terrestrial extinction) until 2018 in an agreement announced in March 2013. In 2015, the deal was extended for three additional years, giving TSN and RDS rights exclusive CFL television to the Gray Cup of 2021, along with the exclusive Gray Cup rights for Bell Media radio station.

Foreign coverage

On 26 June 2013, it was announced that the US CFL broadcast rights will return to ESPN Networks for the 2013 season, with five matches aired on ESPN2, and 55 aired on ESPN3. This agreement is renewed in 2014 for five years, the same as the TSN agreement (ESPN holds shares on TSN), provided that at least 17 games will be held on ESPN2 (or other ESPN networks, such as ESPN or ESPNEWS) each season, including the Gray Cup; this gives ESPN exclusive CFL rights during this time period. As in previous years, ESPN3 will bring all games that are not brought on any of the online linear channels.

On June 19, 2015, it was announced that ESPN Brazil will broadcast the CFL game live, starting on June 25 as a result of the growing NFL fan base and College Football in Brazil. BT Sport, which has a licensing partnership with ESPN, has also been carrying CFL games in the British Isles since 2015.

Previous broadcasting settings

Canada

CBC Television, which held a monopoly on Canadian television until 1961, holds Canada's professional football broadcasting right from its debut year, 1952. CTV was born in 1961 because Toronto businessman John Bassett has won television rights for the Eastern Conference, and requires a network for show the game. From 1962 to 1986, CBC and CTV shared the CFL broadcasting rights. They split the playoff game and did a simulcast with the Gray Cup. In 1962, 1965, 1967, 1968 and 1970, CTV commentators were used for dual network views, while in 1963, 1964, 1966 and 1969, CBC broadcasters were provided. From 1971 to 1986, a network crew called the first half while others called the rest of the game. After the 1986 season, CTV reduced the coverage of CFL and Gray Cup. From 1987 to 1990, CFL operated its own syndicated network, CFN. Like CTV, CFN separates playoff games with CBC. However, the CFN has a completely separate coverage of the Gray Cup, making use of its own production and commentators. From 1991 to 2007, all post-season games have been exclusively on CBC; starting in 2008, Gray Cup and all other CFL games are exclusively performed on TSN, although cable providers are entitled to move the game to a CTV sister network (in 2016, it was never done, opting to broadcast the NFL Sunday game on CTV instead. )

United States

The predecessor of the Eastern Division of CFL, IRFU, had a television contract with NBC in 1954 that provided far more coverage than existing NFL contracts with DuMont. NBC aired the game on Saturday afternoon, competing with college football broadcasts on CBS and ABC. Revenue from the contract allowed IRFU to compete directly with the NFL for players in the late 1950s, setting up a series of CFL games in the United States beginning in 1958 and a series of interleague exhibitions beginning in 1959. The interest of CFLs in the United States faded dramatically after the debut of American Football League in 1960.

In 1982, during a NFL strike player, NBC broadcasted a CFL game in the United States as a substitute for a canceled NFL game; the first week of broadcast shows NFL on the NBC broadcast team, before a series of game bursts on the network and the resulting low rank resulted in NBC cutting back and finally canceling its CFL coverage. ESPN host Chris Berman became a fan of games in the early days of ESPN, when the network was used to air a CFL match, and continued to cover the Canadian leagues in the air. The now-defunct FNN-SCORE (unrelated to Canadian The Score) brought the game in the late 1980s. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, SportsChannel America carries games, using CBC Television, CFN, and TSN feeds. In 1993, several games produced by SportsChannel Pacific that were part of the Sacramento Gold Miners local package were also featured nationwide.

Beginning in 1994, with now four US-based teams in the league, ESPN reached a four-year league contract to produce and broadcast two games per week and all post-season games on the newly-born ESPN2. They also put several games on the main network to fill the broadcast time vacated by the Major League Baseball strike of 1994-95. The 1994 and 1995 Gray Cups were featured live on ESPN2 and then aired on ESPN the following day, going to Monday Night Countdown on the network. ESPN's aerial talent includes a mix of American soccer broadcasters and established CFL broadcasters from Canada. Most US-based teams are also associated with local operators to show games not covered by the national package. Although there was no US team in the league after 1995, ESPN2 continued to feature matches until 1997, albeit with a much lighter schedule.

The now-defunct America One Network holds the CFL broadcasting rights in the United States from 2001 to 2009 and airs the majority of league matches. Until 2007, the United States syndicated the CFL game to regional sports networks such as Altitude, NESN and MASN; this was discontinued in 2008, mainly because America One and CFL were able to reach an agreement just days before the season began, not allowing network time to make arrangements with each RSN. The Gray Cup aired on Versus on November 22, 2008, with a replay the next day in America One. From 2006 to 2008 season, Friday Night Football was performed exclusively at World Sport HD in the United States; However, due to the January 2009 closure of the channel's parent company, Voom HD Networks, America One reclaimed those rights.

NFL Network took over the league's broadcasting contract in 2010. For the 2010 season, the network brought 14 games, no more than one every week. For 2011, the network increased its output to two games each week. NFL Network refused to continue its coverage after the 2011 season.

In late July 2012, the NBC Sports Network gained the rights to the CFL for the rest of the 2012 season. The NBCSN deal includes nine regular-season games starting August 27 (including the Classic Labor Day games) and all playoffs. NBC Sports renewed their agreement with the CFL for the 2013 season.

ESPN America brings the collection of CFL games as part of the lineup until the network closes in 2013.

Internet

On the Internet, all CFL game radio broadcasts are available for free through their respective affiliate websites. ESPN's digital outlets have been broadcasting games since 2008; until 2017, the game was performed on ESPN360, later known as ESPN3, a service available only in the United States (or its military base) through cable providers that are specifically negotiated and not in Canada. Beginning in 2018, this broadcast was moved behind paywall via the exceptional ESPN ESPN service. Free video broadcasts in Canada at one time, but no longer available; viewers can purchase previous games on the TSN website. The service known as "CFL Broadband" offers pay-per-view from CFL games in the United States and elsewhere before 2009, but the service is discontinuing operations before the 2010 season. During America One broadcasting CFL games, multiple CFL video feeds can be found on free due to the fact that a small number of affiliate America One stream their video on the Internet, even though the CFL does not recommend it. On June 16, 2017, CFL announced the launch of new International Services via the internet to 130 selected regions.

In Canada, Bell Mobility provides streaming CFL games to its mobile devices, and the TSN streaming service, TSN GO , provides streaming Internet CFL games to Bell TV and Rogers Cable subscribers.

Radio

The CFL team has local broadcasting contracts with terrestrial radio stations for regular season games and playoffs, while TSN Radio has the rights to the Gray Cup. In 2006, Sirius Satellite Radio gained exclusive rights to North America's CFL satellite radio broadcasts and broadcast 25 CFL games per season, including the Gray Cup, until 2008.

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Players and compensation

The CFL began imposing a salary cap for the 2007 season for $ 4.05 million per team. The hat was raised to $ 4.2 million in the 2008 season and remained at that level for 2009. On June 29, 2010, a new ratified collective bargaining agreement that raised the pay limit to $ 4.25 million for the 2010 CFL season and will continue. an increase of $ 50,000 each season through 2013. In 2014, new CBAs are ratified and salary caps are raised to $ 5 million per team, with that number rising again by $ 50,000 annually through 2018. Financial penalties for teams that break the line are set at $ 1 to $ 1 for the first $ 100,000 more, $ 2 to $ 1 for $ 100,000 to $ 300,000, and $ 3 to $ 1 for $ 300,000 and above. Penalties may also include taking a canceled draft. For 2010, the minimum team salary is set at $ 3.9 million while the minimum player salary is set at $ 42,000. With a new CBA by 2014, the pay floor is raised to $ 4.4 million per team with an increase of $ 50,000 per year, and the minimum wage is raised to $ 50,000 per year. The average salary per player in 2014 is CA $ 96.000 . The initial quarterback in a CFL can create as many CA $ 500,000 .

Player compensation is not tied to league earnings, which remains a trade secret. Only four publicly-held teams in the league disclose their financial information, because the companies are required to do so under Canadian law. In 2013, before Ottawa rejoined the league (at which time Toronto, partly owned by a public company, still entirely private), CFL earnings estimates vary between $ 150 million and CA $ 200 million .

In 2006, the active list limit increased from 40 to 42 and in 2014 increased again to 44. Each team must adhere to the national/international ratio rule, which requires the team to keep at least 21 national players, ("Canadian citizens at signing of contract is first classified as non-imported before May 31, 2014, or physically resident in Canada during the aggregate period of five years before reaching the age of 18. ") with another 23 players allowed to come from any country; quarterbacks, where teams can carry three on the list, can not be counted against the national player requirements, which puts Canadian quarterbacks at a disadvantage compared to other positions employed by the CFL franchise. Teams can have up to two players on their backup list, and up to 10 on their practice list.

Canadian national players enter CFLs through the CFL Draft. International players are usually inaugurated by list of negotiations : any team can claim unilaterally up to 45 players who never play in CFL at any given time (each team makes at least ten of the public names by 2018) without limits on how long a player can be held on the list and there is no limit on how old the player should be (so the CFL team can claim the player has not qualified for the NFL Draft). Once a player on the negotiating list expresses a formal interest in joining the CFL, the team has up to ten days to offer the contract (usually a minimum-league contract, two years) to retain the player's rights.

CFL players are represented by the Canadian Football League (CFLPA) Association. Each team selects two players for the CFLPA Player Board, which meets once per year. Every two years, he chooses an executive of the Board of Directors.

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CFL Draft

Eligible Canadian citizens (usually from U Sport soccer or American college football) are drawn up by teams in Canada's Annual Academy Draft. The CFL draft usually takes place in May and consists of seven rounds. The first two rounds of the draft are usually displayed directly on the TSN. The Combine CFL (formerly known as CFL Evaluation Camp), similar to NFL Combine, precedes the draft. The junior players on the local team can be claimed as territorial liberation and sign with the team before starting the college play (one recent example is when BC Lions claimed Andrew Harris). The team retains the "list of negotiations" of players they want to sign as free agents.

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League Commissioner

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See also

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References

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Further reading

• O'Brien, Steve (2005). Canadian Football League: Phoenix Professional Sports League . Lulu Press. ISBN: 978-1-4116-5860-8
• Maher, Tod (2012). The Canadian Pro Football Encyclopedia: Every Player, Coach and Game . ISBN 978-0-9835136-3-6

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External links

Official

• Official website ( Mobile )
• French Web site
• Canadian Football League Players Association

Media

• TSN
• SLAM! Sports
• Rogers Sportsnet
• Media Score

More

• CFLapedia
• 13thman.com - CFL Fans Home

Source of the article : Wikipedia