Category: Alternative Football

On one end of the field is a team adorned in brown, red and gold, with a regal eagle bursting through an “A” on its helmets.

On the other, a side dressed in purple and orange, with an arrow cleverly incorporated into its team name.

The excitement would’ve been palpable inside the stadium, because when Anheuser-Busch St. Louis squares off with Federal Express Memphis in an A League clash, you can throw those record books right out the window.

For a two month period in the summer 1994, big business toyed with the idea of making professional football its business – and force the NFL to face its most serious threat since the American Football League. Mike Lynn, who had previously served as general manager of the Minnesota Vikings and commissioner of the World League of American Football, was spearheading an effort that would see 12 Fortune 500 companies put up $10 million each to fund a league that would go head-to-head with the NFL in the fall.

Play was to start in 1995 with franchises placed in cities where the headquarters of their corporate sponsors were located. The “nicknames” would be the name of the company paying the bills.

Aside from Anheuser-Busch and FedEx, other corporations supposedly interested in what was being touted as “The A League” were the Walt Disney Company, PepsiCo, and American Express.

“The timing is right, and these corporations aren’t interested in being associated with anything that isn’t major league,” Lynn told Associated Press in early May, 1994.

Of course businesses need to advertise, and there was once no better way to do that than via television. And in the A League, a game would be a three-hour commercial for the teams’ sponsors.  CBS, which saw its 38-year run of televising the NFL end after being outbid by FOX, was set to be the A League’s TV partner – as long as the league had franchises in the nation’s top three TV markets.

“Other than the markets of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, the companies that would own teams will determine where the other franchises are,” Lynn said in an interview with the Scripps-Howard News Service. “There really are no untargeted markets in the U.S.”

Lynn, who made the pitch to CBS executives in December, 1993, said partnering with a major network and playing in the traditional football season gave it a better chance to succeed than spring circuits such as the United States Football League and WLAF. And he was unconcerned with competition from the Canadian Football League, which had four United States-based franchises in 1994 and planned further American expansion in 1995.

“Our league has more in common with the American Football League,” Lynn said. “The games will be in the fall and carried by a major network. The other leagues didn’t have the viability of CBS.”

TV executive Jim Spence – along with Lynn, one of the venture’s organizers – was enthusiastic about the prospects of a corporate-sponsored league succeeding.

“It’s a terrific concept,” Spence said in an interview with AP. “When it was broached to me as a TV guy, it addressed all that comes to mind – credibility, viability and financial commitment. The corporate involvement lends instant credibility and long-term viability.

“The companies we’ve discussed this with think it’s a terrific marketing opportunity. It’s a natural evolution for it to happen in the United States.”

Spence added that it had to be “major league” to become a money maker.

“There’s a lot of work to be done, but it’s an excellent opportunity,” he said. “The fact that CBS is without football makes for a positive opportunity. If the league is to be successful, there will have to be a number of top quality players in the league.”

Alas, the next real news that came out of the A League camp was that there would, in fact, be no A League. On July 20, 1994, Lynn said the money simply wasn’t there.

“After looking at the revenues from TV and corporate sponsorships, it doesn’t make economic sense and I will not be involved going forward,” he told AP. “We’re $90 million short, or $30 million a year for each of the (first) three years. For this to work we’d need enough capital to pool revenues and go after marquee players and it isn’t there.”

International sports (European soccer and Japanese baseball are good examples) show that corporate sponsorship is certainly a viable path to sustainability. But it’s hard to imagine any professional football entity competing with the behemoth that is the National Football League. Apparently the movers and shakers of the A league realized this – and decided to cut their losses before there were any losses to cut.

Have you ever wondered how “Stranger in Town” – episode 12 of the first season of “The Andy Griffith Show” – relates to the Canadian Football League?

Of course you haven’t, because it doesn’t.

At no point does Sherriff Andy Taylor say, “Barn, let’s me and you go up to Calgary and watch the Stampeders play ball.”

And Aunt Bee never once referenced a rouge.

However, I often think of that episode when I try to describe my CFL fandom. See, it’s the story of a man named Ed Sawyer who had never been to Mayberry but shows up one day and seems to know all the people and everything about them.

It’s unsettling to the townsfolk, but it turns out Sawyer fell in love with the place by befriending Mayberry native Joe Larson while the two were in the Army. After hearing stories of its people and subscribing to the Mayberry newspaper, Sawyer felt like it was home and started telling people he was from Mayberry.

Ultimately, he bought a gas station and moved there.

So basically, I’m Ed Sawyer and the CFL is Mayberry – although I can’t afford to buy a gas station and the border is closed to travel right now.

Truth is, I’ve never been to Canada, but if anyone asks me a question about the CFL I might as well be waving the Maple Leaf Flag and altering my pronunciation of “about.” I don’t know if it’s a gridiron version of cultural appropriation or merely cultural appreciation, but it’s a league I’ve felt a kinship with for almost as long as I’ve been a football fan.

Shoot, I even co-host a CFL-centric podcast from my home base in Birmingham (which is a league legacy city thanks to the 1995 Birmingham Barracudas).

Tonight – while wearing a Hamilton Tiger-Cats T-shirt and cap – I’ll cheer on the Tabbies as they take on defending Grey Cup champion Winnipeg. I’m not sure how many other people in the neighborhood will be tuned in and don’t care; this is Must See TV for me and I must see every down.

On Friday I’ll turn my attention to the game between the BC Lions and Saskatchewan Roughriders. I don’t have a rooting interest in either team, so I’ll just sit back and enjoy the spectacle.

And Saturday I’ll cap off opening week by watching the Toronto Argonauts tangle with the Calgary Stampeders, followed by the Ottawa Redblacks versus the Edmonton Elks.

I’ve spent years spreading the good news of the CFL, and have gotten used to being greeted with either blank stares or rolled eyes when I start talking it up. A friend of mine likes to say, “I watch it until real football starts” and when he says that I’m always tempted to hit him with a croquet mallet (but I don’t because that might put a wedge between us – and also I no longer own a croquet mallet).

For me, though, football doesn’t get more real than the CFL. I realize it doesn’t have the planet’s best players, but for my money it has the planet’s best gridiron rules.

Which is not to say I don’t love the NFL and college football, because I most certainly do. But in my football galaxy there’s plenty of room, and the three down game will always have a place in it. Its greatness lies in its uniqueness.

Maybe when I first watched a game back in the early 1970s it was a novelty, but the novelty quickly became a sincere interest. And while TV coverage was hit or miss for decades, thanks to ESPN+ I can now watch every game (except for the ones on ESPN News, which makes me very, very cross).

Due in large part to Twitter, I’ve made some great Canadian friends over the years and they’ve all welcomed my passion for their game. And thanks to the “From the 55 Yard Line” podcast, I can talk about it with like-minded people.

Technology has helped make it a smaller world, and I’m glad the CFL is part of mine – regardless of where I’m located on the map.

Oh, and as for Ed Sawyer, he was never referenced again after the “Stranger in Town” episode. I like to think he realized North Carolina would never get a CFL expansion franchise so he moved to Ottawa and took a front office job with the Rough Riders.

When I think of Canadian pro football teams that played by American rules, the Montreal Machine always comes to mind.

Maybe it’s because I was at Legion Field and saw them defeat the Birmingham Fire, 20-5, on opening weekend of the World League of American Football back in 1991. Or maybe it’s because when Montreal originally had a pro football team that played by American rules, I was only 3-years-old.

The Machine was, in fact, 27 years late to the party because Quebec’s largest city had a franchise competing in a league that used American rules way back in 1964.

And the history of the Quebec Rifles – who spent only one campaign in Montreal before becoming the Toronto Rifles – is short but interesting.

After three seasons the United Football League had established itself as a quality minor league and decided to expand into Canada, giving fans north of the border an American-rules team to call their own. While not competing directly with the Canadian Football League and fans of the Montreal Alouettes, the team wanted to make a splash and did just that by hiring former Als quarterback Sam “The Rifle” Etcheverry as head coach. Already a CFL legend, Etcheverry was a six-time all-star and had set numerous passing records in the CFL. His coaching staff – Frank Filchock, George Brancato and Herb Trawick – also had ties to the Alouettes.

They even nicknamed the team the Rifles in honor of Etcheverry.

“Sure, we were thinking of publicity when we made those appointments,” Quebec general manager J.I. Albrecht told The Gazette of Montreal. “But we also think we’ve put together a good staff. Sam is going to go right from the player ranks to head coach’s job. The only other quarterback who did that was Norm Van Brocklin, but I think he’ll do as good a job as Van Brocklin.

“Frank Filchock has had plenty of coaching experience and he’ll look after the defense. Herb Trawick will be the line coach. I’ve watched his technique and he rates with the best. George Brancato, who has a good football mind, will be in charge of the defensive secondary.”

Albrecht also wanted football aficionados in Montreal to know the quality of play would be solid.

“It’s not a bush league,” Albrecht said. “There are a lot of good football players in it and I think fans are going to be pleasantly surprised by the kind of football they play.”

The UFL already had working agreements with NFL and AFL teams, and developed one with the CFL in 1964 with Quebec getting first shot at cuts from Montreal, the Ottawa Rough Riders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Calgary Stampeders.

 “There are 3,000 college footballers graduating each year and the major teams only take three or four each,” UFL commissioner George Gareff said. “There’s a wealth of material wasted with no place to go.”

The team played at 13,000-seat Delormier Stadium – home of the Alouettes from 1946-53 – and the expectation was that the local ties would help the Rifles be a big success at the gate.

And since fans were accustomed to cheering for Canadian players, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce linebacker Phil Chiarella was the first homegrown star to sign with the Rifles.

Yet despite fullback Joe Williams rushing for 835 yards and tallying a league-leading 18 touchdowns and quarterback John Henry Jackson throwing for 11 more, Quebec stumbled to a 5-9 record and averaged 5,950 fans per outing. Attendance wasn’t bad, but not nearly good enough to escape the shadow of the Als.

Two days after the season ended, team co-owner Hy Katz said the club would definitely be back in Montreal in 1965, although it might be in another league.

“We may not operate in the same league next year,” Katz told The Gazette. “Any club is at liberty to leave the United League and I guess we would be willing to forfeit the $7,500 franchise fee.

In December the 34-year-old Etcheverry signed a two-year contract extension to remain as coach and hinted he might also be behind center in 1965.

“It was really tempting for me to go in there and play (in 1964), especially for a new coach,” he said to the Ottawa Citizen. “But I realize you can’t do that and have a confident man on the field. He has to be his own boss and do his own thinking.”

In February, 1965, however, the team officially relocated to Toronto and joined the new Continental Football League. On March 1 Etcheverry resigned, saying he had no interest in following the team out of Montreal, and on May 4 Leo Cahill – a former Alouettes assistant coach – took the reins.

After the move the team did much better on the field (11-3 and COFL runners-up in 1965 and 9-5 in 1966) and at the box office (7,066 fans per game at Maple Leaf Stadium in 1965 and 8,985 at Varsity Stadium in 1966). But in April, 1967, Cahill was signed away by the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts, and the Rifles (under new coach Jackie Parker) made it through just four games that season before folding with a 1-3 record.

As for Montreal, its American football experiment continued with the Montreal Beavers – who began as the Indianapolis Warriors of the UFL. They played two years in the COFL (1966-67) before folding prior to the start of the 1968 season.

Just some food for thought the next time you think of Canadian football teams that played by American rules.