Canadian Football League

Current season or competition: 2012 CFL season
94
Sport	Canadian football
Founded	January 17, 1958[1]
Motto	This Is Our League Notre Ligue. Notre Football.
Inaugural season	1958
No. of teams	8, in two four-team divisions
Country(ies)	Canada
Most recent champion(s)	BC Lions
Most titles	Toronto Argonauts 15 (total) Edmonton Eskimos 13 (modern era)
TV partner(s)	TSN, RDS, NFL Network
Official website	cfl.ca

The Canadian Football League or CFL (Ligue canadienne de football [LCF] in French) is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, and it is a form of gridiron football closely related to American football. Its eight teams, which are located in eight cities, are divided into two divisions of four teams each—the East Division and the West Division. The league's 19-week regular season runs from late June to early November; each team plays 18 games with one bye week. Following the regular season, the three teams with the best records in their division (except if the fourth place team in one division has a better record than the third place team in the other division, the team with the better record makes the playoffs and "crosses over" to the other division's playoff) will compete in the league's three-week divisional playoffs, which culminate in the late-November Grey Cup championship, the country's largest annual sports and television event.^[2]

The CFL was officially founded on January 19, 1958^[3] and it is the second oldest and continuously operating Gridiron football league in North America. It is the highest level of play in Canadian football, the most popular football league in Canada, and the second-most popular major sports league in Canada, after the National Hockey League.^[4] Although ice hockey is Canada's most popular sport, the CFL has increased the popularity of Canadian football in Quebec and Western Canada.^[4] Canadian football is also played at amateur levels (i.e. youth, high school, CJFL, QJFL, CIS and senior leagues such as the Alberta Football League).

The 2010s will be a significant decade for the CFL in terms of growth, as teams have renovated, expanded stadiums, or plan to build entirely new stadiums. The Montreal Alouettes accomplished this first, adding 5,000 seats to Percival Molson Memorial Stadium in time for the 2010 CFL season.^[5] The Edmonton Eskimos and Calgary Stampeders also renovated their respective stadia and facilities for the 2010 season.^[6] In 2011, the BC Lions played under a new, retractable roof in BC Place after spending one and a half seasons at Empire Field.^[7] Then, the following year, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will play in an entirely new stadium at the University of Manitoba, scheduled to open in time for the 2012 CFL season.^[8] The Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Saskatchewan Roughriders and the new Ottawa franchise will also be looking at new or extensively-renovated stadiums in the following years.^[9][10][11] There is also hopes of expanding the league to Atlantic Canada (ideally basing a team in either the more populated Halifax, or the more centralized Moncton), as 2010 and 2011 had regular season games hosted in Moncton.

According to sports historian Douglas Brei, the Canadian Football League holds the disctinction of being the only professional sports league in North America, major or minor league, in which each existing franchise has won at least one league title while in their current location.

Lions

Stampeders

Eskimos

Roughriders

Blue Bombers

Tiger-Cats

Argonauts

Ottawa (2013)

Alouettes

History[link]

Early history[link]

Rugby football began to be played in Canada in the 1860s, and many of the first Canadian football teams played under the auspices of the Canadian Rugby Football Union (CRFU), founded in 1884.^[12] The CRFU was reorganized as the Canadian Rugby Union (CRU) in 1892, and served as an umbrella organization that several leagues were part of. The Grey Cup was donated by Governor General Earl Grey in 1909 to the team winning the Senior Amateur Football Championship of Canada. By that time, the sport as played in Canada had diverged markedly from its rugby origins. From the 1930s to the 1950s, the two senior leagues of the CRU, the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (IRFU) and Western Interprovincial Football Union (WIFU) gradually evolved from amateur to professional leagues, and amateur teams such as those in the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) were no longer competitive in their Cup challenges. The ORFU withdrew from Grey Cup competition in 1954, heralding the start of the modern era of professional Canadian football, in which the Grey Cup has been exclusively contested by professional teams (Since 1965, Canada's top amateur teams, competing in Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), have competed for the Vanier Cup).

In 1956, the IRFU and WIFU formed a new umbrella organization, the Canadian Football Council (CFC), and in 1958, the CFC left the CRU, becoming the Canadian Football League (The CRU remained the governing body for amateur play in Canada, eventually adopting the name Football Canada). Initially, there was no inter-divisional play between eastern (IRFU) and western (WIFU) teams except at the Grey Cup final. Limited interlocking play was introduced in 1961 and by 1981 there was a full interlocking schedule of 16 games per season. The separate histories of the IRFU and the WIFU accounted for the fact that two teams had basically the same name: the IRFU's Ottawa Rough Riders were often called the "Eastern Riders", while the WIFU's Saskatchewan Roughriders were called the "Western Riders" or "Green Riders". Other team names had unusual yet traditional origins: with rowing a national craze in the late 19th century, the Argonaut Rowing Club of Toronto formed a rugby team for its members' off-season participation; the club name Toronto Argonauts remains to this day, and after World War II, the two teams in Hamilton—the Tigers and the Flying Wildcats—merged both their organizations and their names, forming the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

After the admission of the expansion BC Lions in Vancouver in 1954, the league remained stable with nine franchises: (BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Eskimos, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Toronto Argonauts, Ottawa Rough Riders, Montreal Alouettes) from its 1958 inception until 1982, when the Alouettes folded and were replaced the same year by a new franchise named the Concordes.

In 1986 the Concordes were renamed the Alouettes to attract more fan support, but the team folded the next year. The demise of the Alouettes, leaving only three teams in the East Division compared to five teams in the West Division, forced the League to alter its playoff structure by moving the easternmost Western team, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, into the East Division, upsetting the long-standing tradition of "East vs. West", as Winnipeg is not considered part of eastern Canada.

United States expansion[link]

The CFL began eyeing an American expansion in 1992. 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. The Las Vegas franchise was unsuccessful and turned into a road team by the end of the season. Baltimore, however, advanced all the way to the 82nd Grey Cup and was a financial success as well.

For the 1995 campaign, the American teams were split off into their own South Division. Las Vegas folded, while two new teams, the Birmingham Barracudas and Memphis Mad Dogs, were added. The Sacramento team moved to become the San Antonio Texans  A San Antonio team was to have been admitted into the CFL along with the Gold Miners for 1993 but folded before taking a single snap. 1995 saw the Stallions become the first non-Canadian team to win the Grey Cup.

The success of the CFL's U.S. expansion was mixed. Baltimore and San Antonio had sustainable operations and were expected to return in 1996. Memphis and Birmingham had reasonable success in 1995 but ran into severe attendance problems during college football season; Shreveport, although it had solid attendance, did not fare well on the field and suffered from poor management. By the end of the 1995 season, Shreveport and Birmingham moved out of their cities and ultimately folded, and Memphis followed suit. When Art Modell, owner of the NFL's Cleveland Browns, announced he would be moving his team to Baltimore to become the Baltimore Ravens, the Stallions moved to Montreal, becoming the revived Montreal Alouettes. San Antonio decided not to continue operations as the only American team and folded shortly thereafter. By the 1996 season, the Canadian Football League was once again based entirely in Canada.

Recent history[link]

After three seasons that included American teams, the CFL American expansion experiment came to a close, as 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, due to poor ownership and fan support, in addition to an aging facility which no longer was suitable for providing a profitable location for professional football. In 2002, the league expanded back to nine teams with the creation of the Ottawa Renegades. After four seasons of financial losses, the Renegades were suspended indefinitely before the 2006 season; their players were absorbed by the remaining teams in a dispersal draft.

In 1997, the NFL provided a $3-million USD interest-free loan to the financially struggling CFL, as CFL teams were losing money after the failed US expansion. 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, however the CFL broke off negotiations after Canadian telecommunications firm Rogers Communications paid $78 million to host eight games of the NFL's Buffalo Bills in Toronto over five seasons.^[13][14]

The league had struck a committee in 2003 to examine the feasibility of adding a tenth team (which has been a long-standing CFL ambition), the leading candidate cities were Quebec City and Halifax.^[15] Exhibition games were held in Quebec City in 2003^[16] and in Halifax in 2005. The Halifax event, dubbed Touchdown Atlantic, was scheduled to repeat in 2006 but was cancelled after the suspension of the Ottawa Renegades franchise.^[17] Commissioner Tom Wright at that time had indicated that Halifax was the leading candidate for expansion.^[18] Moncton is also pursuing a CFL team and has now replaced Halifax as the leading expansion candidate.^[19] A newly constructed stadium for the World Junior Track and Field Championships, which opened in 2010, would need the seating and field itself expanded for a CFL team.^[20] The mayor of Moncton, premier of New Brunswick, and league commissioner Mark Cohon met in February 2009 to negotiate a deal that would see the city host a regular season game annually over five years, beginning in the 2010 CFL season.^[21]

Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium is the largest venue in the CFL (60,000) and was the only one with a natural grass playing surface until it was replaced in 2010.

In 2005, the league set an all-time attendance record with a total attendance of more than 2.3 million.^[22] With the absence of Ottawa in 2006, the league recorded total regular season attendance of 2,112,696, increasing the average per-game attendance to 29,343. This is the third highest per-game attendance of any North American sports league and the seventh highest per-game attendance of any sports league worldwide. A recent survey conducted at the University of Lethbridge confirmed that the CFL is the second most popular sports league in Canada, with the following of 19% of the total adult Canadian population compared to 30% for the NHL. The NFL had 13% following, with a total of 24% following at least one of the pro football leagues. This could be interpreted to mean that approximately 80% of Canadian football fans follow the CFL and about 55% follow the NFL.^[4] The 2007 CFL season marked the sixth straight season of over two million attendance in regular season. Though slightly less than 2006, the 2,100,016 total attendance figure showed greater over-all strength as the average game attendance rose to 29,167, the highest since the 1983 season.^[23] Leading the growth were the Roughriders with six consecutive sellouts, the Blue Bombers with five consecutive sellouts, and the Argonauts, whose average attendance of 30,931 was their highest since 1992.^[24] The 2007 Grey Cup champion Roughriders were named Canada's team of the year by Canadian Press and credited with rekindling interest in football in the West.^[25]

In 2008, the CFL re-awarded the former Renegades franchise to Ottawa 67's owner Jeff Hunt, who was supposed to launch a new Ottawa franchise in 2010; issues with Frank Clair Stadium and numerous legal delays in the reconstruction of the stadium have left the team on hold until at least 2014.

In 2012, the CFL announced that they were introducing new re-designed jerseys to commemorate the 100th Grey Cup.^[26]

Season structure[link]

Montreal Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo looks down field with the ball during the 2005 Grey Cup game against the Edmonton Eskimos at BC Place

The Grey Cup

As of 2012, the CFL season includes:

• A two-game, two-week exhibition season (or pre-season) in mid-June
• An 18-game, 19-week regular season running from late June to early November
• A six-team, three-week single elimination playoff tournament beginning in November and culminating in the Grey Cup championship in late November. Championship teams will play either two or three playoff games, including the Grey Cup game, depending on their standing at the end of the regular season. The division leader at the end of the regular season receives a bye in the first round of the playoffs.

Exhibition season[link]

Team training camps open in early June, with pre-season exhibition games beginning in mid-June. The pre-season schedule is two weeks long with each team playing two games against teams from its own division.

Regular season[link]

The regular season is 19 weeks long, with games beginning Canada Day weekend and finishing by early November. The CFL's eight teams are divided into two divisions: the East Division and West Division, with four teams in each division. Each team plays two games against each team in the opposite division, three games against two teams in its own division, and four games against one other team in its own division on a rotating basis. Alternating divisional bye weeks take place in weeks nine and ten, putting the focus on games within the division not resting that week. The most popular featured week in the CFL season is the Labour Day Classic, played over the course of the Labour Day weekend, where the matchups feature the first half of home-and-home series between the traditional geographic rivalries of Toronto–Hamilton (a rivalry which began in 1873^[12]), Edmonton–Calgary (see Battle of Alberta), and Winnipeg–Saskatchewan. BC—Montreal, while not considered a "traditional" rivalry, rounds out the week's games.^[27] The following week's rematch of these games is a popular event as well, especially in recent years, where the rematch of the Saskatchewan–Winnipeg game has been dubbed the Banjo Bowl. Other features of the regular season schedule are the Hall of Fame Game in Hamilton and the Thanksgiving Day Classic, the doubleheader held on Thanksgiving where the match ups usually do not feature traditional rivalries. Starting in 2010, a neutral site regular season game will be played in Moncton under the name Touchdown Atlantic.

The league awards points based on regular season results (two for a win, one for a tie and none for a loss). As of the 2011 season, in the event two teams in the same division finish the season with the same number of points the tie is broken based on the following criteria (in descending order):

• Number of wins;
• Number of wins between the tied teams;
• Net aggregate of points scored (i.e. total points scored less total points conceded) between the tied teams;
• Net quotient of points scored (i.e. total points scored divided by total points conceded) between the tied teams;
• Number of wins in divisional games;
• Net aggregate of points scored in divisional games;
• Net quotient of points scored in divisional games;
• Net aggregate of points scored in all games;
• Net quotient of points scored in all games;
• Coin toss

Playoffs[link]

The playoffs begin in November. After the regular season, the top team from each division has an automatic home berth in the division final, and a bye week during the division semifinal. The second-place team from each division hosts the third-place team in the division semifinal, unless a fourth-place team from one division finishes with a better record than a third place team in the other (this provision is known as the crossover rule, and while it implies that it is possible for two teams in the same division to play for the Grey Cup, only two crossover teams have ever won a semifinal: the Edmonton Eskimos on November 8, 2008, vs. the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and the BC Lions on November 15, 2009, vs. the Hamilton Tiger-Cats). The winners of each division's semifinal game then travel to play the first place teams in the division finals. Since 2005, the division semifinals and division finals have been sponsored by Scotiabank.^[28] The two division champions then face each other in the Grey Cup game, which, since 2007, has been held on the fourth or fifth Sunday of November.

Grey Cup[link]

The Grey Cup is both the name of the championship of the CFL and the name of the trophy awarded to the victorious team. The Grey Cup is the second oldest trophy in North American professional sport after the Stanley Cup. The Grey Cup game is hosted in one of the league's member cities. In recent years, it has been hosted in a different city every year, selected two or more years in advance. In 2011 the B.C. Lions defeated the Blue Bombers 34–23; it was the first time a team won the Grey Cup on home field since the 1994 B.C. Lions.

As the country's single largest annual sporting event,^[2] the Grey Cup has long served as an unofficial Canadian autumn festival generating national media coverage and a large amount of revenue for the host city. Many fans travel from across the country to attend the game and the week of festivities that lead up to it.

Awards[link]

Following the Grey Cup game, the Grey Cup Most Valuable Player and Grey Cup Most Valuable Canadian are selected. A number of league individual player awards, such as the Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Defensive Player, are awarded annually at a special ceremony in the host city during the week before the Grey Cup game; this ceremony is broadcast nationally on TSN. The Annis Stukus Trophy, also known as the Coach of the Year Award, is awarded separately at a banquet held during the off-season each February. While the CFL has not held an all-star game since 1988, an All-Star Team is selected and honoured at the league awards ceremony during Grey Cup week.

Broadcasting[link]

The CFL Championship game, the Grey Cup, held the record for the largest television audience in Canadian history. Television coverage on CBC, CTV and Radio-Canada of the 1983 Grey Cup attracted a viewing audience of 8,118,000 people as Toronto edged B.C. 18–17. At the time, this represented 33% of the Canadian population. This has since been surpassed by both the 2002 and 2010 Men's Olympic Gold Medal Hockey Game.

Canadian broadcasters[link]

Currently, the official television broadcasters of CFL games are cable network TSN (which began televising CFL games in 1985), while TSN's French-language network RDS broadcasts Montreal Alouettes games for the Quebec television market.^[29] Games are typically scheduled for Thursday to Saturday evenings during June, July and August, but switch to more Saturday and Sunday afternoon games during September and October.^[30] TSN has created a tradition of at least one Friday night game each week, branded as Friday Night Football. CBC and TSN drew record television audiences for CFL broadcasts in 2005.^[31] The 2006 season was the first season in which every regular season game was televised, as the league implemented an instant replay challenge system.^[32] In 2006, the CFL also began offering pay-per-view webcasts of every game on CFL Broadband.^[33] Until the end of the 2007 season CBC and RDS were the exclusive television broadcasters for all playoff games, including the Grey Cup, which regularly draws a Canadian viewing audience in excess of 4 million.^[34]

Since 2008, TSN and RDS are the exclusive television and internet broadcasters of all CFL games, including the playoffs and Grey Cup. The five-year agreement, which includes an option for a sixth year, is worth about $16 million annually and marks the first time since 1952 that CBC will not be broadcasting any CFL games. The CFL will no longer be broadcast on Canadian terrestrial television, unless TSN chooses to air the game on its terrestrial partners, CTV or CTV Two (formerly /A\); as of 2011, TSN has not transferred any CFL games to broadcast TV. The move to TSN all but assures that all CFL games will be broadcast in high definition.^[2] As of 2006^[update], TSN was available in about 8.8 million of Canada's 13 million households.^[2] The two play by play announcers are Chris Cuthbert and Rod Black while the colour commentators are Glen Suitor (with Cuthbert) and Duane Forde (with Black).

CFL teams have local broadcast contracts with terrestrial radio stations for regular season and playoff games, while The Fan Radio Network (Rogers Communications) owns the rights to the Grey Cup.^[35] In 2006, Sirius Satellite Radio gained exclusive rights for North American CFL satellite radio broadcasts and broadcast 25 CFL games per season, including the Grey Cup, through 2008.^[36]

Foreign coverage[link]

In the United States, CFL television broadcasts are available nationally on NFL Network, with the network carrying fourteen games, no more than one each week, in the 2010 season^[37] and increased its output to two games each week for the 2011 season.^[38]

Previous broadcasting arrangements[link]

Canada[link]

CBC Television, which held a monopoly on Canadian television until 1961, held Canadian professional football broadcast rights beginning the year of its debut, 1952. From the time of CTV's debut in 1962 through 1986, CBC and CTV shared CFL broadcasting rights. They split playoff games and simulcast the Grey Cup. In 1962, 1965, 1967, 1968 and 1970, CTV commentators were used for the dual network telecast, while in 1963, 1964, 1966 and 1969, CBC announcers were provided. From 1971 through 1986, one network's crew called the first half while the other called the rest of the game. After the 1986 season, CTV dropped coverage of the CFL and the Grey Cup. From 1987 through 1990, the CFL operated its own syndicated network, CFN. Like CTV, CFN split playoff games with CBC. However, CFN had completely separate coverage of the Grey Cup, utilizing its own production and commentators. From 1991 to 2007, all post-season games had been exclusively on CBC; beginning in 2008, the Grey Cup was carried on TSN, although the cable provider reserves the right to move the game to sister network CTV.

United States[link]

The predecessor to the CFL's East Division, the IRFU, had a television contract with NBC in 1954 that provided far more coverage than the NFL's existing contract with DuMont. NBC aired games on Saturday afternoons, competing against college football broadcasts on CBS and ABC. The revenue from the contract allowed the IRFU to directly compete against 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. Interest in the CFL in the United States faded dramatically after the debut of the American Football League in 1960.^[39]

In 1982, during a players' strike in the NFL, NBC broadcast CFL games in the United States in lieu of the NFL games which were cancelled; the first week of broadcasts featured the NFL on NBC broadcast teams, before a series of blowout games on the network and the resulting low ratings resulted in NBC cutting back and eventually cancelling its CFL coverage. ESPN host Chris Berman became a fan of the game in the early days of ESPN, when the network used to air CFL games, and continues to cover the Canadian league on-air.^[40] FNN-SCORE (unrelated to the Canadian "The Score") carried games in the late 1980s. In the late 80s and early 90s, SportsChannel America carried games, using CBC Television and CFN feeds. Beginning in 1994, with now four US-based teams in the league, ESPN reached a deal with the league to produce and air two games per week and all post-season games on its fledgling ESPN2. They also put some games on the main network to fill broadcast time vacated by the 1994 Major League Baseball strike. The 1994 and 1995 Grey Cups were shown live on ESPN2 and then re-aired on ESPN the following day, leading into the network's Monday Night Countdown show. ESPN's on-air talent included a mix of the network's American football broadcasters and established CFL broadcasters from Canada. Most of the US-based teams also had deals with local carriers to show games that were not covered in the national package. Though there were no US teams in the league after 1995, ESPN2 continued showing games until 1997.

America One held CFL broadcast rights in the United States from 2004 to 2009 and aired a majority of the league's games.^[41] Until the 2007 season, America One syndicated CFL games to regional sports networks like Altitude, NESN, and MASN; these were discontinued in 2008, mainly because America One and the CFL were able to reach a deal only days before the season began, not allowing the network time to establish agreements with individual RSNs. The Grey Cup aired on Versus on November 22, 2008, with a replay the next day on America One. From 2006 through the 2008 season, Friday Night Football was carried exclusively on World Sport HD in the United States; however, due to the January 2009 shutdown of that channel's parent company, Voom HD Networks, America One reclaimed those rights.

Internet[link]

On the Internet, all radio broadcasts of CFL games are available for free through each affiliate's Web site. As of 2010, ESPN3 is the only place where CFL games are broadcast on Internet television. ESPN3 (and its predecessor, ESPN360) have broadcast games since 2008; the service is only available in the United States (or its military bases) through specially negotiated cable providers and not in Canada. Video broadcasts were free in Canada at one time, but are no longer available; viewers are able to purchase previous games on the TSN website. A service known as "CFL Broadband" offered pay-per-view of CFL games in the United States and elsewhere prior to 2009, but the service ceased operations prior to the 2010 season. During America One's time broadcasting CFL games, some CFL video feeds could be found for free due to the fact that a small number of America One affiliates streamed their video on the Internet, even though the CFL discouraged this.

In Canada, Bell Mobility provides streaming of CFL games to its mobile devices.

Radio[link]

The games can be heard on the local sports stations in most Canadian Cities.

Players and compensation[link]

The CFL began enforcing a salary cap for the 2007 season of $4.05 million per team. The cap was raised to $4.2 million in the 2008 season and remained at that level for 2009.^[42] On June 29, 2010, a new collective bargaining agreement was ratified that raised the salary cap to $4.25 million for the 2010 CFL season and would continue to increase by $50,000 each season until 2013.^[43] Financial penalties for teams that breach the cap are set at $1 to $1 for the first $100,000 over, $2 to $1 for $100,000 to $300,000 over, and $3 to $1 for $300,000 and above. Penalties could also include forfeited draft picks.^[44] For 2010, the minimum team salary was set at $3.9 million while the minimum player salary was set at $42,000.^[43] In 2006, the active roster limit was increased from 40 to 42. The import/non-import ratio, which required teams to keep at least 20 non-import ("A player who was physically resident in Canada for an aggregate of 7 years prior to turning 15 or if he’s a Canadian Citizen, was physically resident in Canada for an aggregate period of 5 years prior to turning 18")^[45] players on their active roster, was retained at 50%, and thus 21 non-import players are required on the active roster. Teams may have up to 4 players on their reserve roster, and up to 7 on their practice roster.^[44] CFL players are represented by the Canadian Football League Players' Association (CFLPA). Each team elects two players to the CFLPA Board of Player Representatives, which meets once per year. Every two years, it elects an executive Board of Directors.^[46] The average salary per player in 2011 was $82,500.

CFL Draft[link]

Eligible non-imports (usually from CIS football or American college football) are drafted by teams in the annual Canadian College Draft. The CFL Draft usually takes place in the month of May and consists of six rounds, the first two rounds of the draft or usually shown live on TSN. An evaluation camp similar to the NFL Combine,^[47] follows the draft. A junior player in the locale of a team may be claimed as a territorial exemption and sign with that team before beginning collegiate play (one recent example is when the BC Lions claimed Andrew Harris^[48]). Teams maintain "negotiation lists" of players they wish to sign as free agents. There are six rounds in the Canadian College Draft.

CFL–NFL comparisons[link]

During the 1950s and 1960s exhibition games were played between CFL and NFL/AFL teams using a mixture of each league's rules. The last such exhibition game was on August 8, 1961, when the CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeated the AFL's Buffalo Bills. This was the only time in which a Canadian team defeated an American team in the series.

In the days when sports teams were financed almost entirely by ticket sales, the CFL and NFL were, financially speaking, on relatively equal footing.^[49] In the 1970s, CFL teams signed top U.S. college football players such as Johnny Rodgers, Joe Theismann, and Tom Cousineau. As late as the 1970s and early 1980s, when high-capacity stadiums were built in Montreal, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Toronto, people such as Montreal Alouettes owner Nelson Skalbania continued to believe that relative parity could be sustained so long as the CFL could get larger stadiums built in its other cities and sell them out.

However, by the 1980s it became clear that financial parity between the two leagues would not be maintained, not so much because of the disparity in attendance figures, but because of the NFL's increasingly lucrative television contracts that now bring in a majority of the NFL's revenue. The CFL could not hope to negotiate similar contracts with Canadian networks because the U.S. television market is more than ten times the size of Canada's (whereas, at the time, the NFL only had 3 times as many teams as the CFL). A notable exception to this trend occurred in 1991 when the deep-pocketed owners of the Toronto Argonauts (tycoon Bruce McNall, actor John Candy, and hockey star Wayne Gretzky) signed U.S. college star Raghib "Rocket" Ismail to the then-unheard of sum of $18.2 million spread over four years. This proved unsustainable and Ismail left for the NFL after two seasons. Currently, the difference in average salaries between the CFL and NFL is significant, with only a handful of CFL players making more than the NFL minimum.

There is a significant difference in talent between the two leagues due to style of play; CFL teams often recruit skilled players who would be considered undersized by NFL standards. For this reason, there are few players who have played in both leagues, and even fewer who have achieved success in both leagues. Only two people have been elected to both the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and the U.S. Pro Football Hall of Fame: quarterback Warren Moon and coach Bud Grant. There are many cases of CFLers going to the NFL and having success, such as Pro Bowlers Joe Horn, Brendon Ayanbadejo, Joe Theismann, Cameron Wake, Doug Flutie, and Brandon Browner. Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy and Jeff Garcia are also good examples. On the other hand, there have also been cases of NFL stars coming to the CFL and failing to excel, such as Vince Ferragamo, Onterrio Smith and Ricky Williams.^[50] According to Williams and Jarrett Payton, who has also played in both leagues, since running backs in the CFL get fewer rushing touches they are expected to be more versatile.^[51][52]

League commissioners[link]

Teams[link]

Active teams[link]

Expansion (2012 and beyond)[link]

On March 25, 2008, the CFL granted an expansion franchise for the 2010 CFL season to a group of people in Ottawa led by Jeff Hunt, the owner of Ottawa 67's of the Ontario Hockey League on the condition of getting a lease agreement of Frank Clair Stadium.^[55] The CFL had previously stated that this team would be a resurrection of the "Ottawa Renegades", but their announcement did not make this clear. Stadium issues and legal delays have delayed the start of play for the Ottawa franchise until 2014 at the earliest.

Halifax, Nova Scotia; Moncton, New Brunswick; Quebec City; London, Ontario; and Windsor, Ontario also have been lobbying for Canadian Football League franchises in recent years.^[56][57] With Atlantic Canada, however, there is not yet a permanently suitable CFL stadium, which was the main problem that kept a previous attempt at a Halifax franchise (the Atlantic Schooners) off the field. Until 2010, the largest fields in the maritime provinces were Huskies Stadium in Halifax and Canada Games Stadium in Saint John, both of which only seat 11,000, even with temporary seating. (King George V Park in Saint John's, Newfoundland and Labrador has a similar capacity, even without temporary stands, but the province has never hosted gridiron football at any level.) As of 2010, the new largest stadium in the maritimes is the 10,000 seat Stade Moncton Stadium which is expandable to 20,000 seats, making a CFL franchise possible.^[58] A pre-season game, dubbed Touchdown Atlantic, was held in Halifax in the 2005 CFL season and regular season games were played in Moncton in 2010 and 2011.^[59] All 20,000 seats for the 2010 Moncton game sold out in 32 hours.^[60]

While Quebec City has not gotten as much attention as have Moncton and Halifax, there has been expressed interest to add a team there. In 2003, an exhibition game was held at PEPS Le Stade Extérieur between the Montreal Alouettes and Ottawa Renegades where Montreal won 54–23.^[61] In May 2009, Christina Saint Marche, a British businesswoman, announced her interest in operating a team in Quebec City—stating that there would be a natural rivalry with the Montreal Alouettes.^[62] Saint Marche entered a joint venture agreement with Quebec City Lawyer Marc Bellemare,^[63] a star candidate with the Liberal Party in the Quebec election of 2003,^[64] with Saint Marche escrowing the first $20 million.^[65] However, Commissioner Mark Cohon noted that he has not been approached by Saint Marche, and that she would still need to secure a suitable stadium of a capacity of at least 25,000. Bellemare had tried to expand PEPS Stadium, but the Université Laval did not want to expand the stadium due to fear that fans would stop attending CIS games in favour of professional games.^[66] During the 2010 Grey Cup state of the league news conference, Cohon noted that the Alouettes hold the rights for the entire province of Quebec and that any expansion would have to be negotiated with them first. Cohon also said that he has not yet had any conversations with Alouettes owner Bob Wetenhall regarding said expansion.^[67]

London hosted a 2002 exhibition game between Hamilton and Toronto; the game was held at TD Waterhouse Stadium, which expands to 16,000 seats, slightly below what the CFL would demand for a full-time team.

Due to the demolition of Ivor Wynne Stadium and the construction of Pan American Stadium in Hamilton, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats will need to find a temporary home for the 2013 season. London, Quebec City and Moncton have all been mentioned as potential temporary hosts for the team during that season.^[68][69]

Windsor, as part of the Detroit-Windsor metropolitan area, has been suggested by the potential owner Oronde Gadsden as a prospective market for a team he is pursuing, though Gadsden indicated the team, if he were to own it, would possibly be based in the U.S. suburbs of Detroit, Michigan) at the Silverdome indoor stadium.^[70]

Western New York has also been mentioned as a potential expansion site; Gadsden mentioned Rochester, New York, as another potential market for his team,^[70] while there have been suggestions, both serious and non-serious, that the teams from Southern Ontario play some games in Buffalo, New York, as a response to the Buffalo Bills' playing some home football games in Toronto.^[71] Buffalo's UB Stadium (29,000) and Coca-Cola Field (19,500, with potential for expansion although the stadium is currently strictly used for the Buffalo Bisons baseball team) are at or near CFL-capacity; though Ralph Wilson Stadium and its over 70,000 seats has enough capacity, its playing surface is far too small to accommodate a CFL-sized field. Since the demolition of Holleder Memorial Stadium in 1985, Rochester, New York, lacks a stadium with a sufficient seating capacity. Both Frontier Field and Sahlen's Stadium in Rochester (the former a baseball stadium, the latter a soccer stadium) seat fewer than 14,000. The only other stadiums in the region that could possibly support a CFL team would be the 46,000-seat Carrier Dome in Syracuse and the 25,000-seat Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca.

In early 2012, Management at Credit Union Centre publicly expressed its desire to bring a CFL team to the city of Saskatoon.^[72] However, the Saskatchewan Roughriders argued that Saskatoon is part of their fan base, and adding that a team there would reduce the Roughriders' fan-base.

Defunct and inactive teams[link]

Locations of defunct CFL teams

Notes

Cheerleading[link]

This section requires expansion.

Each football team is also teamed up with a cheerleading squad.

See also[link]

	Canadian football portal
	Sport in Canada portal

• Canadian football
• Canadian Football Act
• Canadian Football Hall of Fame
• Canadian Junior Football League
• Canadian Football League Cheerleading
• Football Canada
• Canadian Football League attendance
• Comparison of American and Canadian football
• List of Canadian Football League records
• List of Canadian Football League seasons
• List of Canadian Football League stadiums
• Canadian Football League attendance
• Sports in Canada
• Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada
• List of professional sports teams in the United States and Canada
• List of attendance figures at domestic professional sports leagues
• TSN Top 50 CFL Players

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• O'Brien, Steve (2005), The Canadian Football League: The Phoenix of Professional Sports Leagues, Lulu Press, ISBN 978-1-4116-5860-8, http://books.google.ca/books?id=hUCto5BNvwsC&lpg=PP1&dq=Canadian%20Football%20League&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Canadian Football League

Official

• Official website (Mobile)
• Canadian Football League Players Association

Media

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

Other

• CFLapedia

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Canadian football

The University of Alberta Golden Bears (at left, in white) line up on offence against the University of Calgary Dinos.
Highest governing body	Canadian Football League
Nickname(s)	Football, Gridiron football
First played	November 9, 1861
Characteristics
Contact	Full-contact
Team members	12 at a time
Categorization	Outdoor
Equipment	Football
Olympic	No

Diagram of a Canadian football field

Footballs and a helmet at a Calgary Stampeders (CFL) team practice

Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play 110 yards (101 m) long and 65 yards (59 m) wide^[1] attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area (end zone). In Canada, the term football usually refers to Canadian football and American football collectively, or either sport specifically, depending on the context. The two sports have shared origins and are closely related, but have significant differences—in particular, 12 players on the field per team in Canadian football rather than 11, and three downs per possession rather than four. The smaller number of downs in Canadian football results in less offensive rushing than in the American game.

Rugby football in Canada had its origins in the early 1860s,^[2] and over time, the unique game known as Canadian football developed. Both the Canadian Football League (CFL), the sport's top professional league, and Football Canada, the governing body for amateur play, trace their roots to 1884 and the founding of the Canadian Rugby Football Union. Currently active teams such as the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats have similar longevity. The CFL is the most popular and only major professional Canadian football league. Its championship game, the Grey Cup, is the country's single largest sporting event, attracting a broad television audience (in 2009, about 40% of Canada's population watched part of the game).^[3] Canadian football is also played at the high school, junior, collegiate, and semi-professional levels: the Canadian Junior Football League and Quebec Junior Football League are leagues for players aged 18–22, many post-secondary institutions compete in Canadian Interuniversity Sport for the Vanier Cup, and senior leagues such as the Alberta Football League have grown in popularity in recent years. Great achievements in Canadian football are enshrined in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

Other organizations across Canada perform senior league Canadian football during the summer.

History[link]

This section requires expansion.

The first documented gridiron football match was a game played on November 9, 1861, at University College, University of Toronto (approximately 400 yards west of Queen's Park).^{[dubious – discuss]} One of the participants in the game involving University of Toronto students was (Sir) William Mulock, later Chancellor of the school. A football club was formed at the university soon afterward, although its rules of play at this stage are unclear.^{[2][not in citation given]}

In 1864, at Trinity College, Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland and Frederick A. Bethune devised rules based on rugby football. However, modern Canadian football is widely regarded as having originated with a game of rugby played in Montreal, in 1865, when British Army officers played local civilians.^[2] The game gradually gained a following, and the Montreal Football Club was formed in 1868, the first recorded non-university football club in Canada.

This rugby-football soon became popular at Montreal's McGill University. McGill challenged Harvard University to a game, in 1874.^[4]

Predecessors of the Canadian Football League include the Canadian Rugby Football Union (CRFU), and the Canadian Rugby Union. The CRFU, original forerunner to the current Canadian Football League, was established in 1882.

The Burnside rules were implemented in the early part of the 20th century in an effort to transition from a more rugby-oriented game to a game more closely resembling American football. In general, the evolution of Canadian football has generally lagged behind that of the American game by several years or even decades in some cases. Forward passes were not allowed in the Canadian game until 1929, and touchdowns, which had been five points, were only increased to six points in 1956, in part to placate the new base of American fans brought on by a new television contract. Several relics of the older game remain in Canadian football: the use of only three downs, the longer 110 yard field (the field is still measured in yards, even though the rest of Canada switched to the metric system in the 1970s), the larger number of players on the field, and unrestricted forward motion on the offensive side of the ball.

The Grey Cup was established in 1909 as the championship of all of Canadian football. Initially an amateur competition, it eventually became dominated by professional teams in the 1940s and early 1950s. The Ontario Rugby Football Union, the last amateur organization to compete for the trophy, withdrew from competition in 1954. The move, coupled with the establishment of a well-paying American television contract (Canadian television had carried games since the debut of the medium in 1952), ushered in the modern era of Canadian professional football. The Canadian Football League established itself as an organization in 1958.

Canadian football has mostly been contained to Canada, with the United States being the only other country to have hosted a high-level Canadian football game. The CFL's controversial "South Division" as it would come to be officially known attempted to put CFL teams in the United States playing under Canadian rules between 1992 and 1995. The move was mostly a failure, although the Baltimore Stallions became the first and only U.S.-based team to win the Grey Cup during this era.

As of 2011, Newfoundland and Labrador does not have organized Canadian football at the college, professional or amateur level, nor has the province ever hosted a CFL or college game. Prince Edward Island, the smallest of the provinces, has an amateur team in the Maritime Football League, but no college or professional football presence.

• 

  A game between the Hamilton Tigers and an unknown Ottawa team, 1910

• 

  A game between the 4th Canadian Armoured Division Atoms and 1st Canadian Army Red and Blue Bombers, in Utrecht, Netherlands, October 1945

• 

  Touchdown monument outside the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in Hamilton, Ontario

League play[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Canadian football is played at several levels in Canada. The professional league in which the sport is played is the eight-team Canadian Football League (CFL), and its champion is awarded the Grey Cup, the oldest trophy in professional football,^{[citation needed]}. The CFL regular season begins in June, and playoffs are completed by mid-November. In cities with outdoor stadiums such as Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal, Hamilton, and Regina, low temperatures and icy field conditions can seriously affect the outcome of a game.

Amateur football is governed by Football Canada. At the university level, 26 teams play in four conferences under the auspices of Canadian Interuniversity Sport; the CIS champion is awarded the Vanier Cup. Junior football is played by many after high school before joining the university ranks. There are 20 junior teams in three divisions in the Canadian Junior Football League competing for the Canadian Bowl. The Quebec Junior Football League includes teams from Ontario and Quebec who battle for the Manson Cup.

Semi-professional leagues have grown in popularity in recent years, with the Alberta Football League becoming especially popular. The Northern Football Conference formed in Ontario in 1954 has also surged in popularity as College players that do not continue to or get drafted to a professional team but still want to continue playing football. The Ontario champion plays against the Alberta champion for the "National Championship". The Canadian Major Football League is the governing body for the semi-professional game.

The field[link]

Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium: the largest venue in the Canadian Football League

The Canadian football field is 110 yards (101 m) long and 65 yards (59 m) wide with end zones 20 yards (18 m) deep. At each goal line is a set of 40-foot-high (12 m) goalposts, which consist of two uprights joined by an 18+¹⁄₂-foot-long (5.6 m) crossbar which is 10 feet (3 m) above the goal line. The goalposts may be H-shaped (both posts fixed in the ground) although in the higher-calibre competitions the tuning-fork design (supported by a single curved post behind the goal line, so that each post starts 10 feet (3 m) above the ground) is preferred. The sides of the field are marked by white sidelines, the goal line is marked in white, and white lines are drawn laterally across the field every 5 yards (4.6 m) from the goal line.^[1] These lateral lines are called "yard lines" and are marked with the distance in yards from the nearest goal line, except for the yard line in the centre of the field, which is usually marked with a "C" for "Centre line" ."Hash marks" are painted in white, parallel to the yardage lines, at 1 yard (0.9 m) intervals, 24 yards (21.9 m) from the sidelines.

On fields that have a surrounding running track, such as Commonwealth Stadium, Molson Stadium, and many universities, the endzones are often cut off in the corners to accommodate the track. This was particularly common among U.S.-based teams during the CFL's American expansion, where few American stadiums were able to accommodate the much longer CFL field.

Play of the game[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2010)

Teams advance across the field through the execution of quick, distinct plays, which involve the possession of a brown, prolate spheroid ball with ends tapered to a point. The ball has two one-inch-wide white stripes.

Kickoff[link]

Play begins with one team place-kicking the ball from its own 35-yard line. Both teams then attempt to catch the ball. The player who recovers the ball may run while holding the ball, or lateral throw the ball to a teammate.

Stoppage of play[link]

Play stops when the ball carrier's knee, elbow, or any other body part aside from the feet and hands, is forced to the ground (a tackle); when a forward pass is not caught on the fly (during live play); when a touchdown (see below) or a field goal is scored; when the ball leaves the playing area by any means (being carried, thrown, or fumbled out of bounds); or when the ball carrier is in a standing position but can no longer move. If no score has been made, the next play starts from scrimmage.

Scrimmage[link]

Before scrimmage, an official places the ball at the spot it was at the stop of clock, but no nearer than 24 yards from the sideline or 1 yard from the goal line. The line parallel to the goal line passing through the ball (line from sideline to sideline for the length of the ball) is referred to as the line of scrimmage. This line is similar to "no-man's land"; players must stay on their respective sides of this line until the play has begun again. For a scrimmage to be valid the team in possession of the football must have seven players, excluding the quarterback, within one yard of the line of scrimmage. The defending team must stay a yard or more back from the line of scrimmage.

Live play[link]

Montreal Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo looks down field with the ball during the 93rd Grey Cup game at BC Place.

On the field at the beginning of a play are two teams of 12 (unlike 11 in American football). The team in possession of the ball is the offence and the team defending is referred to as the defence. Play begins with a backwards pass through the legs (the snap) by a member of the offensive team, to the quarterback or punter. If the quarterback or punter receives the ball, he may then do any of the following:

• run with the ball, attempting to run farther down field (gaining yardage). The ball-carrier may run in any direction he sees fit (including backwards).
• drop-kick the ball, dropping it onto the ground and kicking it on the bounce. (This play is exceedingly rare in both Canadian and American football, although in the Canadian game it is sometimes used as a last-second "desperation play" if the team is behind by less than three points.)
• pass the ball laterally or backwards to a teammate. This play is known as a lateral, and may come at any time on the play. A pass which has any amount of forward momentum is a forward pass (see below); forward passes are subject to many restrictions which do not apply to laterals.
• hand-off—hand the ball off to a teammate, typically a halfback or the fullback.
• punt the ball; dropping it in the air and kicking it before it touches the ground. When the ball is punted, only opposing players (the receiving team), the kicker, and anyone behind the kicker when he punted the ball are able to touch the ball, or even go within five yards of the ball until it is touched by an eligible player (the No Yards rule, which is applied to all kicking plays).
• place the ball on the ground for a place kick
• throw a forward pass, where the ball is thrown to a receiver located farther down field (closer to the opponent's goal) than the thrower is. Forward passes are subject to the following restrictions:
  • They must be made from behind the line of scrimmage
  • Only one forward pass may be made on a play
  • The pass must be made in the direction of an eligible receiver or pass 10 yards after the line of scrimmage

Each play constitutes a down. The offence must advance the ball at least ten yards towards the opponents' goal line within three downs or forfeit the ball to their opponents. Once ten yards have been gained the offence gains a new set of three downs (rather than the four downs given in American football). Downs do not accumulate. If the offensive team completes 10 yards on their first play, they lose the other two downs and are granted another set of three. If a team fails to gain ten yards in two downs they usually punt the ball on third down or try to kick a field goal (see below), depending on their position on the field. The team may, however use its third down in an attempt to advance the ball and gain a cumulative 10 yards.

Change in possession[link]

The ball changes possession in the following instances:

• If the offence scores a field goal, the scoring team must kickoff from their own 35-yard line.^[5]
• If the offence scores a touchdown, the scoring team must kickoff from their own 35-yard line. This also applies when the defence scores on a turnover which is returned for a touchdown—technically, they become the offence until the conclusion of the play, and the scoring team must still kickoff.
• If the defence scores on a safety (bringing the ball down in the offence's own end zone), they have the right to claim possession.
• If one team kicks the ball; the other team has the right to recover the ball and attempt a return. If a kicked ball goes out of bounds, or the kicking team scores a single or field goal as a result of the kick, the other team likewise gets possession.
• If the offence fails to make ten yards in three plays, the defence takes over on downs.
• If the offence attempts a forward pass and it is intercepted by the defence; the defence takes possession immediately (and may try to advance the ball on the play). Note that incomplete forward passes (those which go out of bounds, or which touch the ground without being first cleanly caught by a player) result in the end of the play, and are not returnable by either team.
• If the offence fumbles (a ball carrier drops the football, or has it dislodged by an opponent, or if the intended player fails to catch a lateral pass or a snap from centre, or a kick attempt is blocked by an opponent), the ball may be recovered (and advanced) by either team. If a fumbled ball goes out of bounds, the team whose player last touched it is awarded possession at the spot where it went out of bounds. A fumble by the offence in their own end zone, which goes out of bounds, results in a safety.
• When the first half ends, the team which kicked to start the first half may receive a kickoff to start the second half.

Rules of contact[link]

There are many rules to contact in this type of football. First, the only player on the field who may be legally tackled is the player currently in possession of the football (the ball carrier). Second, a receiver, that is to say, an offensive player sent down the field to receive a pass, may not be interfered with (have his motion impeded, be blocked, etc.) unless he is within one yard of the line of scrimmage (instead of 5 yards (4.6 m) in American football). Any player may block another player's passage, so long as he does not hold or trip the player he intends to block. The kicker may not be contacted after the kick but before his kicking leg returns to the ground (this rule is not enforced upon a player who has blocked a kick), and the quarterback, having already thrown the ball, may not be hit or tackled.

Infractions and penalties[link]

Infractions of the rules are punished with penalties, typically a loss of yardage of 5, 10 or 15 yards against the penalized team. Minor violations such as offside (a player from either side encroaching into scrimmage zone before the play starts) are penalized five yards, more serious penalties (such as holding) are penalized 10 yards, and severe violations (such as face-masking) of the rules are typically penalized 15 yards. Depending on the penalty, the penalty yardage may be assessed from the original line of scrimmage, the spot the violation occurred (for example, for a pass interference infraction), or the place the ball ended after the play. Penalties on the offence may, or may not, result in a loss of down; penalties on the defence may result in a first down being automatically awarded to the offence. For particularly severe conduct, the game official(s) may eject players (ejected players may be substituted for), or in exceptional cases, declare the game over and award victory to one side or the other. Penalties do not affect the yard line which the offence must reach in order to reach first down (unless the penalty results in a first down being awarded); if a penalty against the defence results in the first down yardage being attained, then the offence is awarded a first down.

Penalties may occur before a play starts (such as offsides), during the play (such as holding), or in a dead-ball situation (such as unsportsmanlike conduct).

Penalties never result in a score for the offence. For example, a point-of-foul infraction committed by the defence in their end zone is not ruled a touchdown, but instead advances the ball to the one-yard line with an automatic first down. For a distance penalty, if the yardage is greater than half the distance to the goal line, then the ball is advanced half the distance to the goal line, though only up to the one-yard line (unlike American football, in Canadian football no scrimmage may start inside either one-yard line). If the original penalty yardage would have resulted in a first down or moving the ball past the goal line, a first down is awarded.

In most cases, the non-penalized team will have the option of declining the penalty; in which case the results of the previous play stand as if the penalty had not been called. One notable exception to this rule is if the kicking team on a 3rd down punt play is penalized before the kick occurs: the receiving team may not decline the penalty and take over on downs. After the kick is made, change of possession occurs and subsequent penalties are assessed against either the spot where the ball is caught, or the runback.

Kicking[link]

Canadian football distinguishes three ways of kicking the ball:

Place kick

Kicking a ball held on the ground by a teammate, or, on a kickoff (resuming play following a score), placed on a tee.

Drop kick

Kicking a ball after bouncing it on the ground. Although rarely used today, it has the same status in scoring as a place kick. This play is part of the game's rugby heritage, and was largely made obsolete when the ball with pointed ends was adopted. Unlike the American game, Canadian rules allow a drop kick to be attempted at any time by any player, but the move is very rare.

Punt

Kicking the ball after it has been released from the kicker's hand and before it hits the ground. Punts may not score a field goal, even if one should travel through the uprights. As with drop kicks, players may punt at any time.

On punts and field goal attempts (but not kickoffs), members of the kicking team, other than the kicker and any teammates who are onside (behind the kicker at the time of the kick), may not approach within five yards of the ball until it has been touched by the receiving team.

Scoring[link]

The methods of scoring are:

Touchdown 

Achieved when the ball is in possession of a player in the opponent's goal area, or when the ball in the possession of a player crosses or touches the plane of the opponent's goal-line, worth 6 points (5 points until 1956). A touchdown in Canadian football is often referred to as a "major score" or simply a "major."

Conversion (or Convert) 

After a touchdown, the team that scored attempts one scrimmage play from any point between the hash marks on or outside the opponents' 5-yard line. If they make what would normally be a field goal, they score one point; what would normally be a touchdown scores two points (a "two-point conversion"). No matter what happens on the convert attempt, play then continues with a kickoff (see below).

Field goal 

Scored by a drop kick or place kick (except on a kickoff) when the ball, after being kicked and without again touching the ground, goes over the cross bar and between the goal posts (or between lines extended from the top of the goal posts) of the opponent's goal, worth three points. If the ball hits the upright above the cross-bar before going through, it is not considered a dead ball, and the points are scored. (Rule 5, Sect 4, Art 4(d))

Safety 

Scored when the ball becomes dead in the possession of a team in its own goal area, or when the ball touches or crosses the dead-line, or side-line-in-goal and touches the ground, a player, or some object beyond these lines as a result of the team scored against making a play. It is worth two points. This is different from a single (see below) in that the team scored against begins with possession of the ball. The most common safety is on a third down punt from the end zone, in which the kicker decides not to punt and keeps the ball in his team's own goal area. The ball is then turned over to the receiving team (who gained the two points), by way of a kickoff from the 25 yard line or scrimmaging from the 35-yard (32 m) line on their side of the field.

Single 

Scored when the ball becomes dead in the possession of a team in its own goal area, or when the ball touches or crosses the dead-line, or side-line-in-goal, and touches the ground, a player, or some object beyond these lines as a result of the ball having been kicked from the field of play into the goal area by the scoring team. It is worth one point. This is different from a Safety (see above) in that team scored against receives possession of the ball after the score.

Officially, the single is called a rouge (French for "red") but is often referred to as a single. The exact derivation of the term is unknown, but it has been thought that in early Canadian football, the scoring of a single was signalled with a red flag.

Resumption of play[link]

Resumption of play following a score is conducted under procedures which vary with the type of score.

• Following a touchdown and convert attempt (successful or not), play resumes with the scoring team kicking off from its own 35-yard line (45-yard line in amateur leagues).
• Following a field goal, the non-scoring team may choose for play to resume either with a kickoff as above, or by scrimmaging the ball from its own 35-yard line.
• Following a safety, the scoring team may choose for play to resume in either of the above ways, or it may choose to kick off from its own 35-yard line.
• Following a single or rouge, play resumes with the non-scoring team scrimmaging from its own 35-yard line, unless the single is awarded on a missed field goal, in which case the non-scoring team scrimmages from either the 35-yard line or the yard line from which the field goal was attempted, whichever is greater.

Game timing[link]

The game consists of two 30-minute halves, each of which is divided into two 15-minute quarters. The clock counts down from 15:00 in each quarter. Timing rules change when there are three minutes remaining in a half. A short break interval occurs after the end of each quarter (a longer break at halftime), and the two teams then change goals.

In the first 27 minutes of a half, the clock stops when:

• points are scored,
• the ball goes out of bounds,
• a forward pass is incomplete,
• the ball is dead and a penalty flag has been thrown,
• the ball is dead and teams are making substitutions (e.g., possession has changed, punting situation, short yardage situation),
• the ball is dead and a player is injured, or
• the ball is dead and a captain calls a time-out.

The clock starts again when the referee determines the ball is ready for scrimmage, except for team time-outs (where the clock starts at the snap), after a time count foul (at the snap) and kickoffs (where the clock starts not at the kick but when the ball is first touched after the kick).

In the last three minutes of a half, the clock stops whenever the ball becomes dead. On kickoffs, the clock starts when the ball is first touched after the kick. On scrimmages, when it starts depends on what ended the previous play. The clock starts when the ball is ready for scrimmage except that it starts on the snap when on the previous play

• the ball was kicked off,
• the ball was punted,
• the ball changed possession,
• the ball went out of bounds,
• there were points scored,
• there was an incomplete forward pass,
• there was a penalty applied (not declined), or
• there was a team time-out.

The clock does not run during convert attempts in the last three minutes of a half. If the 15 minutes of a quarter expire while the ball is live, the quarter is extended until the ball becomes dead. If a quarter's time expires while the ball is dead, the quarter is extended for one more scrimmage. A quarter cannot end while a penalty is pending: after the penalty yardage is applied, the quarter is extended one scrimmage. Note that the non-penalized team has the option to decline any penalty it considers disadvantageous, so a losing team cannot indefinitely prolong a game by repeatedly committing penalties.

Overtime[link]

In the CFL, if the game is tied at the end of regulation play, then each team is given an equal number of chances to break the tie. A coin toss is held to determine which team will take possession first; the first team scrimmages the ball at the opponent's 35-yard line and advances through a series of downs until it scores or loses possession. If the team scores a touchdown, starting with the 2010 season, it is required to attempt a 2-point conversion.^[6] The other team then scrimmages the ball at the same 35-yard line and has the same opportunity to score. After the teams have completed their possessions, if one team is ahead, then it is declared the winner; otherwise, the two teams each get another chance to score, scrimmaging from the other 35-yard line. After this second round, if there is still no winner, during the regular season the game ends as a tie. In a playoff or championship game, the teams continue to attempt to score from alternating 35-yard lines, until one team is leading after both have had an equal number of possessions.

In Canadian Interuniversity Sport football, for the Uteck Bowl, Mitchell Bowl, and Vanier Cup, the same overtime procedure is followed until there is a winner.

Players[link]

running back quarter- back slot- back slot- backs offensive     line wide receiver wide receiver defensive     line line- backers umpire corner- back defensive back defensive backs corner- back

The University of Alberta Golden Bears (yellow and white, offence) are first-and-ten at their 54-yard (49 m) line against the Calgary Dinos (red and black, defence) in a CIS football game at McMahon Stadium in 2006. The twelve players of each side and the umpire (one of seven officials) are shown. The Golden Bears are in a one-back offence with five receivers.

Offence[link]

The offensive positions found in Canadian football have, for the most part, evolved throughout the years, and are not officially defined in the rules. However, among offensive players, the rules recognize three different types of players:

Down linemen

Down linemen are players who, at the start of every play, line up at the line of scrimmage; once in their stance they may not move until the play begins. The offence must have at least seven players lined up at the line of scrimmage on every play. The exception to this rule is the player (typically the centre) who snaps the ball to the quarterback. Linemen generally do not run with the ball (unless they recover it on a fumble) or receive a hand-off or lateral pass, but there is no rule against it. Interior linemen (that is, excluding the two players at either end of the scrimmage line) are ineligible receivers; they may not receive a forward pass either. (The two offensive ends on the line of scrimmage may receive forward passes.)

Backs

Backs line up behind the linemen; they may run with the ball, receive handoffs, laterals, and forward passes. They may also be in motion before the play starts.

Specific offensive positions include:

Backs/Receivers

Quarterback

Generally the leader of the offence. Calls all plays to teammates, receives the ball off of snap, and initiates the action usually by running the ball himself, passing the ball to a receiver, or handing the ball off to another back.

Fullback

Multiple roles including pass protection, receiving, and blocking for the running back. On short yardage situations may also carry the ball.

Running back/Tailback

As the name implies, the main runner on the team. Also an eligible receiver and blocker on pass plays.

Wide receiver

Lines up on the line of scrimmage, usually at a distance from the centre. Runs down the field in order to catch a forward pass from the quarterback.

Slotback

Similar to the wide receiver, but lines up closer to the offensive line.

Down linemen

Centre

Snaps the ball to the quarterback. Most important pass blocker on pass plays. Calls offensive-line plays.

Left/right guard

Stands to the left and right of the centre helps protect the quarterback, Usually very good run blockers to open holes up the middle for runners.

Left/right tackle

Stands on the ends of the offensive line, The biggest men on the line, usually well over 300 pounds (140 kg). Usually very good pass blockers.

Offensive lineman

Collective name for centre, guards, and tackles.

Defence[link]

The rules do not constrain how the defence may arrange itself (other than the requirement that they must remain one yard behind the line of scrimmage until the play starts).

Cornerback

Covers the wide receivers on most plays.

Safety

Covers deep. Last line of defence, can offer run support or blitz.

Defensive halfback

Covers the slotback and helps contain the run from going to the outside.

Defensive back

Collective term for cornerback, safety, and defensive halfback.

Nose tackle

Lineman across from centre, tries to get past the offensive-line or take double team and open holes for blitzes.

Defensive tackle

Inside defensive linemen try to break through the offensive line and open holes for linebackers.

Defensive end

Main rushing lineman. Rushes the quarterback and tries to contain rushers behind the line of scrimmage.

Middle linebacker

Lines up across from the centre 3 to 4 yards (3.7 m) back. Quarterback of the defence. Calls plays for lineman and linebackers.

Weak-side linebacker

Lines up on the short side of field, and can drop into pass coverage or contain.

Strong-side linebacker

Lines up on the opposite side and usually rushes.

Special teams[link]

Special teams generally refers to kicking plays, which typically involve a change in possession.

Holder

Receives the snap on field goal tries and converts; places the ball in position and holds it to be kicked by the kicker. This position is generally filled by a reserve quarterback; occasionally the starting quarterback or punter will fill in as holder.

Kicker

Kicks field goals, converts, kick-offs

Punter

Punts ball, usually on third downs

Returners

Fast, agile runners who specialize in fielding punts, field goals and kickoffs, attempting to advance them for better field position or a score.

See also[link]

	Canadian football portal
	Sport in Canada portal

• Comparison of American and Canadian football
• Glossary of Canadian football
• List of Gridiron football teams in Canada
• Comparison of Canadian football and rugby league
• Rugby football
• Rugby league

Notes and references[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Canadian football

• CFL Rule Book
• History of Canadian Football at Football Canada
• Canadian Football Resources
• Quebec Junior Football League
• PEI Tackle Football League

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