Pre-expansion era Canadian Football League in the United States

there had been degree of cross-fertilization between canadian , american leagues earlier in 20th century. number of cfl–nfl interleague games held in canada. well, eleven neutral-site cfl games have been played on american soil. earliest of these dates 1909, while bulk occurred between 1951 , 1967. 1909 game, featuring ottawa rough riders , hamilton tigers, sponsored new york herald , played @ van cortlandt park in bronx; in era when canadian game more similar rugby football , did not feature modern rules such forward pass. next game, 1951 match-up between hamilton tiger-cats , toronto argonauts in buffalo, billed first true all-canadian game played in united states , drew more 18,000, decent crowd era. in 1958, hamilton defeated ottawa in regular-season contest in front 15,000 in philadelphia s cavernous municipal stadium, 24–18. remains cfl game played outside canada, involving 2 canadian teams, counted in standings.

the american pacific northwest became frequent site games in 1950s , 1960s. western canadian teams, particularly bc lions, called upon entertain regional neighbours. news reports time suggest hybrid game of 3 down canadian ball played on more restricted 100 yard american field. 1 bc–winnipeg matchup in 1960 held not on west coast in cedar rapids, iowa, presumably because both teams had number of former university of iowa stars, including willie mitchell, scored lions touchdown in 13–7 loss in front of 12,583.

games tended characterized low scores , frequent punting, crowds between 10,000 , 20,000; these numbers dropped off in last 2 games of era. low scoring bc–calgary game in everett, washington in 1967 drew on 6,000; there not cfl game in united states until cusp of expansion in 1992.

television

the idea of attracting american fans through television has long been goal of cfl although results have been intermittent. 1954, interprovincial rugby football union (forerunner of cfl s east division) struck deal nbc lasted year , featured 13 games. infamous fog bowl of 1962 was—at least until play suspended—broadcast abc. on subsequent years various non-major networks picked assortment of games.

the fledgling espn signed deal in 1981 30 cfl regular season games , playoffs, , cfl games became fixture of years of network. next year, after nfl players went on strike in september, cfl got chance @ major network exposure when nbc bought out espn rights $100,000 game make lost football programming. nbc air cfl games on sunday afternoons full nfl production values , announcing crews. however, every 1 of 4 matches shown blowout, league , network decided black out games on nbc stations closest canadian border, , ratings major disappointment. nbc backed out of arrangement.