Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League is more commonly known as the CFL, and it is the professional level of this sport in Canada. This is the highest level of competition for this sport and it is quite similar to the NFL in the USA. It was established in 1958 and it is extremely popular in Canada. It is seen as the most popular sport in terms of the number of fans and money spent on memorabilia and to attend games right along with hockey.
There are 8 teams that make up the CDL and there are 2 divisions, with there being 4 teams per division. There is the West and the East Divisions. The CFL has a season that starts in the latter part of June and ends in the early part of November. Each team plays 18 games, 1 per week over that span of time. The games are action packed and that is what brings fans to watch week after week.
Each time also has one week where they don’t play which is referred to as a bye week. After the regular season though there are still more games to be played. The top 3 teams of the CFL for that season in each of the divisions will be in the playoff games. This takes 3 additional weeks to complete and the 2 best teams will be in the Grey Cup Championship that takes place late in November.
This is a prestigious honor for any team to be involved in. This is the largest annual sport in Canada both in terms of those in attendance and those that watch in TV. While the sport has always been popular for decades, it seems to have been significantly increasing in fan base since 2010. Many experts believe this was due to renovations of stadiums with many of them adding more seating.
This is a remarkable improvement though over the status of the CFL in 1997. During that time they were struggling and the NFL offered them $3 million in loans without any interest to be paid. By 2006, every dime of that loan had been repaid in full. Today the teams seem to be thriving and they are making a great deal of money.
The contracts they are able to offer to players also increases the talent out there on the field. There is plenty of competition for those starting positions, and so the athletes give it their all. It can be fun to watch the new rookies as they make their way into the CFL. Of course there are seasoned veterans that can also offer plenty to the game.
The CFL has plans in the works to possibly add two more teams, one to each division. This may take place in 2015 if all works out accordingly. There is plenty to do though in order to make that happen. The reason for this expansion is to give the teams more competition and to ensure fans don’t get bored with some predictable outcomes year after year in the CFL.