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CFL
The American Experiment
by Micheal Kavanagh
16/6/2009
At the end of the 1992 season the NFL suspended the two-year old World League of American Football due to a lack of interest in the States. Then Canadian Football League commissioner Larry Smith had a dream of a 20 team CFL league with 10 Canadian & 10 American based teams. The suspension of the WLAF gave him his start.
 Two WLAF owners wanted to continue playing. The Sacramento Surge’s Fred Anderson and San Antonio Rider’s Larry Benson were awarded franchises for the 1993 season. Anderson’s team was to be known as the Sacramento Gold Miners (pictured right) and Benson’s the San Antonio Texans. Before the season started, however, Benson withdrew his team due to financial difficulties, leaving the Gold Miners as the lone US. team. The Gold Miners posted a 6-12 record with an all American playing squad, including WLAF veteran QB David Archer and D.T George Bethune. They set the record for most wins by a CFL team in a debut season. They also made CFL history in 1993 by, playing the first regular season game between a Canadian and a US. team (32-23 loss to Ottawa), first regular season game played outside Canada (38-16 loss to Calgary) and first US team to win a CFL game(37-26 over Saskatchewan).
1994 saw three more US teams added, the Las Vegas Posse, Shreveport Pirates and Baltimore CFL Colts. Baltimore owner Jim Speros went in a completely different direction to the Gold Miners in that he brought in staff & players familiar with the Canadian game. His head coach was Don Matthews, a CFL coach since 1977, his QB was Tracy Ham and at RB Mike Pringle who would lead the league in rushing in ’94. There were problems off the field with the NFL They were sued over the use of the name Colts & with the NFL successful Baltimore went with the name CFL-ers. On the field everything was a success with them reaching the Grey Cup before loosing to the British Columbia Lions 26-23. Sacramento continued to improve on the field going 9-8-1 but still didn’t make the play-offs.
Off the field Sacramento were also experiencing problems. Crowds were down due to the proximity of the 49ers & Stanford college. This together with his failure at getting a stadium built for his CFL & minor league baseball teams led to Anderson announcing his team would be moving to San Antonio for the ’95 season. Las Vegas got off to a fast start going 2-0 and becoming the first team to win in a game pitting two US teams against each other(32-26 over Sacramento) but, despite some good young players QB Anthony Calvillo & WR Tamarick Vanover and ex-NFL head coach Ron Meyer the team would become the worst of the American franchises both on and off the field.
They finished with a 5-13 record with an average attendance of just 9,000 despite tickets selling for just $9. Attendance was just 3,000 for a game against Winnipeg and their last home game was moved to Edmonton. They practiced on a 70-yard field in a Casino car park and the end zones in their home stadium (Sam Boyd Stadium) were only 15 yards long. There was talk of a move to Mississippi but it fell through. Another group planned to move them to Miami and play as the Manatees for the 1996 season. However by the end of the season the team was done & the CFL held a dispersal draft. Shreveport were another dismal franchise. The Pirates fired their coach during a training camp held on the second floor of the Louisiana State Fairs Livestock Barn. Forrest Gregg was brought in as head coach and ex NFL QB Billy Joe Tolliver saw playing time. The Pirates could only muster a 3-13 season.
 For the 1995 season two more teams were added, Memphis Mad Dogs (pictured left) & Birmingham Barracudas. Sacramento had moved to San Antonio and Las Vegas ceased to exist. The League split into two divisions with the Americans in the South and Canadians in the North. The Barracudas were coached by Jack Pardee and quarterbacked by veteran CFL-er Matt Dunnigan. Ickey Woods tried to make a comeback with the team but was cut before the season. They posted an 11-7 record and made the play-offs. However when the college football season started attendance dropped and the team in it’s one season had a reported loss of $10 million.
The Mad Dogs were coached by Pepper Rodgers and were also led by a veteran CFL QB, Marcus Allen’s brother, Damon Allen. the team played in the Liberty Bowl and went 9-9. Sacramento finally made the play-offs albeit as the San Antonio Texans, with a 12-6 record. David Archer led the league’s second highest scoring offense. They beat Birmingham before losing to Baltimore in the South Final.
Shreveport had a slightly more successful season than ’94 winning five games. Most of their excitement came off the field. When the season was over, owner Bernie Glieberman tried to move the team to Virginia. The City of Shreveport tried to seize his vintage 1948 Tucker automobile for defaulting on debts. Gleiberman’s lawyer tried to hide it, only to run out of petrol and the police took it back to the museum where it was being stored.
Baltimore, at this stage being called the Stallions, continued their on field success, becoming the first US team to win a Grey Cup beating British Columbia 26-23.
After the 1995 season the NFL’s Browns moved to Baltimore becoming the Ravens and Speros moved to Montreal becoming the Alouettes. Birmingham & Memphis folded after huge losses. Anderson didn’t want to go it alone as the only US based team as he did in ’93 and folded his team. The CFL re-aligned its divisions and was once again an all Canadian league.
Expansion failed for a number of reasons – fan indifference and a lack of TV interest and poor ownership being the main ones. However the US teams continue to make their mark. Baltimore as Montreal went on to win the Grey Cup in 2002. Calvillo, still playing, became one of the top QBs in the game and Mike Pringle is set or tied every major rushing record, and was named one of the CFL’s Top 50 All Time players.
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