Quote:
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Originally Posted by ChuckElias
Yeah, it's a bigger field, but they put 2 extra guys out there. If the CFL went 11 players per side and played 4 downs, instead of 3, I'd watch all I could get. The 3 downs just kills it for me.
But I love the single point for not returning a kick out of the end zone and I love the extra large end zones. We get one game a week on Fox Sports Net around here. Defending Grey Cup champs BC Lions are out to a 4-0 start.
Whatever happened to the Las Vegas Posse, Shreveport Pirates, and the Sacramento Gold Miners, anyway?  |
In
1993, the league admitted its first
United States franchise, the
Sacramento Gold Miners, in an attempt to broaden Canadian football's popular appeal and boost league revenues. The ultimate plan was to have a league of ten Canadian and ten American teams. Spearheading the efforts were two former
World League of American Football owners,
Fred Anderson and Larry J. Benson, who would each receive a franchise. While the first incarnation of Benson's team, the
San Antonio Texans, did not play a single down, the Gold Miners did and finished the season 6-12, placing last in the West Division. The following year, the league added three more franchises: the
Las Vegas Posse, the
Shreveport Pirates, and the
Baltimore CFL Colts (who were forced to change their name to the Stallions after a long legal battle).
Baltimore was the most successful of the American CFL teams, finishing second in the East and becoming the first American team to play for (and win) the Grey Cup.
CFL USA logo
The
1995 saw the loss of the Posse and the move of the Gold Miners to San Antonio, while the
Birmingham Barracudas and
Memphis Mad Dogs were added. However, fan interest in Canadian football, with the possible exception of the Baltimore Stallions, was sparse at best. At the end of the year, which saw the Stallions become the first American team to win the Grey Cup, all United States teams with the exception of the Stallions and the re-launched
San Antonio Texans folded because of financial difficulties. When the
National Football League announced that
a new team was to be added in Baltimore, the Stallions looked at the possibility of relocating to nearby
Richmond, Virginia, but later moved to Montreal, becoming the
Alouettes. The Texans would later fold with a similar explanation.
I believe NFL (on sabbatical) Referee # 52 Bill Vinovich officiating in the CFL when it expanded to the US.