The Canadian Football League (CFL), which features teams based Canada, has made efforts to gain further audience in the United States, most directly through expansion into the country from the 1993 CFL season through the 1995 CFL season. The CFL plays Canadian football, a form of gridiron football which is somewhat different from the more common American football played in the United States and other parts of the world.
Memorial Stadium in Baltimore was home to the Baltimore Stallions, easily the most successful CFL expansion team in the United States. They averaged more than 30,000 fans each of their two years.
Among Canadian CFL owners, Calgary Stampeders head Larry Ryckman was a driving force behind American expansion. Like Bruce McNall in Toronto, he would face a dramatic fall.
The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be played in the autumn/winter, directly competing against the long-established National Football League (NFL). However, the USFL ceased operations before that season was scheduled to begin.
Official USFL football.