- The CFL began expansion into the United States in 1993.
- There were a total of seven United States-based CFL teams.
- The Stallions were the only successful CFL team in the United States.
When you visit an online sportsbook, you might enjoy CFL betting. As you probably know, there are nine CFL teams today, but that wasn’t always the case.
Throughout the mid-1990s, seven teams existed that are no longer in the league. I can only imagine how different betting on football games in the CFL would be if they were still around.
Below, I’ll explore those teams and answer the question, “Why did the CFL fail in the U.S.?”
Why Did the CFL Fail in the U.S.?
As mentioned, the 1990s included seven now-defunct CFL teams. All of these teams were located in the United States. The first team was the Sacramento Gold Miners, and in 1995, there were the Birmingham Barracudas, San Antonio Texans, and Memphis Mad Dogs.
In addition to these four teams, there were also the Baltimore Stallions, Shreveport Pirates, and Las Vegas Posse.
But let’s address the elephant in the room of this conversation: All seven teams came and went between 1993 and 1995, but why?
Why did the CFL fail in the United States?
There were many issues with this expansion; let’s dive into each:
- Roster Sizes: Per league rules, each team needed to have 20 Canadian players, but that wasn’t the case for the United States-based teams because of employment laws.
- Fan Interest: This is a rather general statement, but those interested in the sport in the United States were already NFL fans and the quality of competition, difference in fields, and more played a major factor in low ticket sales.
- The Baltimore Ravens NFL expansion: The Stallions were the only successful U.S.-based team winning a Grey Cup. They averaged more than 30,000 fans per game in 1995 and 37,000 in 1994. However, there was one big problem—the Baltimore Ravens came to be in 1996, delivering the final blow to any hope that the CFL could succeed in the U.S.
The CFL grew too big too quickly. To put it in perspective, the NFL has had three expansion franchises since 1995. They’ve had seven since 1966, which is several decades. The CFL did this all in just a few seasons.
In 1994, the average Canadian attendance for CFL games was 22,740, but the Posse, Gold Miners, and Pirates had 17,871 or fewer fans. The Posse had an average of 9,527 fans, with a low of 2,350.
So, overall, these teams failed due to a lack of fan interest, which led to low ticket sales and monetary implications. The lone team that had success, the Stallions, were run out of town by the Ravens joining the NFL.
