The Canadian Football League is more commonly referred to as CFL. This is the highest level of professional football played in Canada. While it is very similar in nature to American football, there are some significant differences. For example, they pay with 12 men on the field instead of 11. They also get 3 plays to move the ball 10 yards while in American football they get 4 plays.
There are 8 teams involved in the CFL. There are 4 teams in the East Division and 4 teams in the West Division. They have a season that lasts for 19 weeks each year. The season starts at the end of June and runs through the early part of November. There are 18 games that each team plays, and they get 1 bye week.
At the end of the regular CFL season, the top 3 teams that have the best record will take part in a 3 week long playoff series. The 2 teams that win the most games in this series will compete for the Grey Cup. This is the largest sporting event annually in Canada. That includes both spectators at the game as well as the number of people that watch the event on TV.
Due to the popularity of the CFL, 3 USA teams joined them in 1992. However, by 1996 the decision was made to return to the original format with only Canadian based teams being allowed. This was a decision that was hard to make, but with the format of the game it was deemed to be in the best interest of preserving the integrity of the sport.
In recent years, there has been significant growth with CFL. There has been talk of introducing more teams. There have been new stadiums built too as the fans just can’t seem to get enough. CFL was introduced in 1958 but has experienced many changes over the course of time. This includes new rules and regulations to keep the game interesting as well as safe for the players.