CFL History - CFL Information and Statistics
The Canadian Football League (CFL) is a professional league
located entirely in Canada that plays Canadian football. The
league's top trophy, the Grey Cup, was donated by Governor-General
Earl Grey in 1909 to the team winning the Senior Amateur Football
Championship of Canada. Both the trophy and the championship
game have become known as the Grey Cup. Since 1954 it has been
awarded only to professional teams.
The first Canadian football teams played under the auspices
of the Canadian Rugby Football Union (CRFU), founded in 1884.
In 1956 the Canadian Football Council was formed. It was renamed
the Canadian Football League in 1958. In 1993 the league admitted
its first U.S. franchise, adding the Sacramento Gold Miners
in an attempt to broaden Canadian football's popular appeal
and boost league revenues. After three seasons of American
teams, the CFL returned to an all-Canadian format in 1996
with eight teams. In 2002 the league expanded to nine teams
with the Ottawa Renegades.
Although the Canadian Football League is the highest level
of competition in Canadian football, the league competes with
the American National Football League for the best players.
In the days when sports teams were financed almost entirely
by ticket sales the two leagues were on equal footing, but
in recent decades the advent of television revenue has allowed
the NFL to far outspend the CFL. The CFL sets a limit on the
number of U.S.-born players on Canadian teams.
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