The Failed CFL US Expansion – Could it Have Worked?

Photo credit

In 1993, the Sacramento Gold Miners became the first US-based team to enter into the Canadian Football League. It was a big step in a long plan to expand the league into the large market south of the border. It was a rather underwhelming season for the pioneering team, who finished last in the Western Division with a record of 6-12.

There had been two teams due to start playing in the league that year, but the San Antonio Riders pulled out in the last moment over an ownership dispute. The following year, four more teams joined the CFL: the Baltimore CFL Colts, the Las Vegas Posse, and the Shreveport Pirates.

While most teams struggled, the Baltimore CFL Colts enjoyed some modest success, by using a strategy of recruiting experienced CFL players and by linking the team to the defunct Colts NFL team. They were the first team to make it into the playoffs, tackling their way through to the Grey Cup. They were a success off the pitch too, turning a profit in their first season.

In the 1995 season, they won 13 games in a row during the regular season and became the first and only US team to win the Grey Cup. They weren’t as successful commercially, and the other teams suffered much worse fates. This, and many disagreements about rule changes, led to the decision to disband the teams by February 1996.

What Went Wrong?

The NFL is the most dominant sports league in the United States. Each game is watched by millions, with around one-third of the entire country tuning in to watch the Super Bowl. In more recent years, betting on NFL games has also become a popular activity among football fans. It is by far the most-watched and bet-on sport in the country.

That’s why trying to set up a rival football league in the United States is always going to be an uphill battle. The most successful of these was the American Football League, which was merged with the NFL after several years of competing for fans, sponsors and players.

More recently, the 2001 launch of the XFL and the widely criticized Lingerie Football League have both proved how difficult it is to take on the NFL.

The CFL had even more hurdles to overcome. Although similar, American and Canadian football are different games with different rules. This made it difficult for players and coaches to adjust and for fans to follow along.

The cities where CFL teams were based are not markets big enough to sustain a team. For example, Las Vegas has seen several teams fail, including the Las Vegas Locomotives, an NFL team that lasted three years. Therefore, CFL teams had to attract fans to a new sport in areas that don’t have many sports fans.

Photo by Heqs, CC BY 2.0

Could it Have Worked?

Just because the CFL expansion failed in the 1990s, doesn’t mean that it couldn’t have ever worked. A better strategy may be to target cities with large Canadian populations, particularly those in cities closer to the border.

Boston, which has a population of over 200,000 Canadians and is four hours from Montreal is a good potential pick. New York State, or even New York City, could be a logical option too. There are around 100,000 Canadians living across the state and Rochester in Upstate New York is a short drive from Toronto and Hamilton.

Hartford, in Connecticut, could be another contender. It has over 50,000 Canadians living there, it’s close to the Canadian border, and within driving distance of several major US cities, including New York, Boston, and even Philadelphia.

Apart from finding the right cities, there are some other changes that could make a CFL expansion work.

Firstly, lower-priced admission could help attract fans. The average NFL ticket is now more than $150, which makes being a fan an expensive ordeal. Even if the team is located in the same market as an NFL team, the two could co-exist by being priced very differently.

Directly competing against the NFL is unwise, so changing the days that games are played on to have mid-week fixtures in the US would mean that CFL games are not in competition with NFL and college football games.

The CFL failed spectacularly in the 1990s. It didn’t necessarily have to suffer this fate, but even introducing these changes would be no guarantee of success. Any future expansion south of the border would be a high-risk strategy.