1994 CFL season

Canadian Football League season August 2024 August 2024 1994 CFL season July 6 – November 6, 1994 East Baltimore CFLers West BC Lions 82nd Grey Cup November 27, 1994 BC Place Stadium, Vancouver BC Lions 1993 CFL season 1993 1995 CFL season 1995 List of Canadian Football League seasons CFL The 1994 CFL season is considered to be the 41st season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 37th Canadian Football League season. CFL news in 1994 Expansion The CFL admitted three more United States-based teams, to add to the Sacramento Gold Miners, who were introduced in 1993. The Las Vegas Posse, the Shreveport Pirates and the Baltimore CFLers made the league 12 teams in total, six in each division. The new teams started play in 1994, with Las Vegas joining the Sacramento Gold Miners in the West Division, and Baltimore and Shreveport joining the East Division. The Baltimore team was to be called the Baltimore Colts, but the Colts name was revoked due to a successful trademark infringement lawsuit filed by the Indianapolis Colts, and they played the entire season as the "Baltimore CFLers". Regular season structure Due to the expansion, this was the first season since 1980 when CFL teams did not travel to every other stadium in the League during the season. CFL teams played each team in their own division twice, two teams in the other division twice, and the four remaining teams in the other division only once. The two inter-Divisional opponents to be played twice were determined by the previous season's regular season standing. Teams who had finished first and third in 1993 played the first and third teams from the other division twice – and the same applied to the teams who had finished second and fourth in each division, and the effective "fifth" and "sixth" place teams. Since Sacramento finished fifth in 1993, and since the other three U.S. expansion teams were deemed "fifth" and "sixth" place for the purposes of the schedule, this format ensured that the U.S. teams all played one another twice for the 1994 season. The divisions were rearranged again in the 1995 CFL season, when the league expanded to 13 teams for one season. Ownership changes In February, Bruce Firestone purchased the Ottawa Rough Riders from the Glieberman family, clearing the way for the Gliebermans to assume the Shreveport Pirates. In May, the JLL Broadcast Group purchased the Toronto Argonauts after John Candy died (Candy had put his stake in the team up for sale hours before he died) and Bruce McNall was arrested on fraud charges. Uniform changes The Ottawa Rough Riders unveiled a new logo based on a head profile of a mustached lumberjack. Their colours were also updated with light navy replacing black and the addition of metallic gold, red was kept. New logos and uniforms also were designed for the expansion teams in Baltimore, Las Vegas and Shreveport. The Shreveport Pirates' team colours were purple, silver, orange and black with a side profile of a pirate's head inside a delta. The Las Vegas Posse chose a simpler logo and colour choice. The logo was a sheriff's tin star with "LV" imposed on it. Their colours were black and desert sand. Baltimore adopted a color scheme that added silver to the Colts' traditional colors of blue and white, as well as a stylized horse's head logo. Despite the team being unable to use the "Colts" name, it continued using the logo and colours for the entire season as well as the following season, by which time owner Jim Speros had settled on "Stallions" as his team's official nickname. Game records set In a July 14, 1994, matchup of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Edmonton Eskimos, Matt Dunigan passed for a remarkable 713 yards, setting a CFL record that still stands.https://www.cfl.ca/index.php?module=page&id=51 CFL.ca - Official site of the Canadian Football League Allen Pitts set the record for receiving yards in one season with 2,036 yards while his teammate Doug Flutie set the record for passing touchdowns with 48. The Grey Cup BC Place Stadium played host to the Grey Cup game on Sunday, November 27, making Vancouver the host city for the twelfth time-more than any other Western Canadian city. In the Grey Cup game, the hometown BC Lions were against the Baltimore CFLers, becoming the first ever Grey Cup game between a Canada-based team and a US-based team. The Lions ended up defeating the Baltimore team by a score of 26–23, on Lui Passaglia's game-winning field goal on the last play of the game. Regular season standings Grey Cup playoffs 82nd Grey Cup The BC Lions are the 1994 Grey Cup champions, defeating the Baltimore CFLers 26–23, in front of their home crowd at Vancouver's BC Place Stadium. It was the first football championship game between Canadian and American teams. The CFLers' Karl Anthony (DB) was named the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player and Lions' Lui Passaglia (K/P) was the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Canadian. Playoff bracket November 12 & 13: Division Semifinals November 20: Division Finals November 27: 82nd Grey Cup @ BC Place Stadium – Vancouver, BC East West E4 Ottawa Rough Riders 16 E1 Winnipeg Blue Bombers 26 E3 Toronto Argonauts 15 E2 Baltimore CFLers 34 W4 Saskatchewan Roughriders 3 W1 Calgary Stampeders 36 W3 BC Lions 24 W2 Edmonton Eskimos 23 E2 Baltimore CFLers 14 E1 Winnipeg Blue Bombers 12 W3 BC Lions 37 W1 Calgary Stampeders 36 E2 Baltimore CFLers 23 W3 BC Lions 26 1994 CFL All-Stars 25em start Offence QB – Doug Flutie, Calgary Stampeders FB – Sean Millington, BC Lions RB – Mike Pringle, Baltimore CFLers SB – Allen Pitts, Calgary Stampeders SB – Gerald Wilcox, Winnipeg Blue Bombers WR – Paul Masotti, Toronto Argonauts WR – Rod Harris, Sacramento Gold Miners C – Mike Anderson, Saskatchewan Roughriders OG – Pierre Vercheval, Toronto Argonauts OG – Rocco Romano, Calgary Stampeders OT – Shar Pourdanesh, Baltimore CFLers OT – Chris Walby, Winnipeg Blue Bombers 25em break Defence DT – Bennie Goods, Edmonton Eskimos DT – Rodney Harding, Toronto Argonauts DE – Will Johnson, Calgary Stampeders DE – Tim Cofield, Hamilton Tiger-Cats LB – Ron Goetz, Saskatchewan Roughriders LB – Willie Pless, Edmonton Eskimos LB – Calvin Tiggle, Toronto Argonauts CB – Less Browne, BC Lions CB – Irvin Smith, Baltimore CFLers DB – Charles Gordon, BC Lions DB – Robert Holland, Edmonton Eskimos DS – Greg Knox, Calgary Stampeders end Special teams P – Josh Miller, Baltimore CFLers K – Mark McLoughlin, Calgary Stampeders ST – Henry "Gizmo" Williams, Edmonton Eskimos 1994 Western All-Stars 25em start Offence QB – Doug Flutie, Calgary Stampeders FB – Sean Millington, BC Lions RB – Mike Saunders, Saskatchewan Roughriders SB – Allen Pitts, Calgary Stampeders SB – Darren Flutie, BC Lions WR – Ray Alexander, BC Lions WR – Rod Harris, Sacramento Gold Miners C – Mike Anderson, Saskatchewan Roughriders OG – Rob Smith, BC Lions OG – Rocco Romano, Calgary Stampeders OT – Bruce Covernton, Calgary Stampeders OT – Blake Dermott, Edmonton Eskimos 25em break Defence DT – Bennie Goods, Edmonton Eskimos DT – Stu Laird, Calgary Stampeders DE – Will Johnson, Calgary Stampeders DE – Bobby Jurasin, Saskatchewan Roughriders LB – Ron Goetz, Saskatchewan Roughriders LB – Willie Pless, Edmonton Eskimos LB – Marvin Pope, Calgary Stampeders CB – Less Browne, BC Lions CB – Albert Brown, Saskatchewan Roughriders DB – Charles Gordon, BC Lions DB – Robert Holland, Edmonton Eskimos DS – Greg Knox, Calgary Stampeders end Special teams P – Tony Martino, Calgary Stampeders K – Mark McLoughlin, Calgary Stampeders ST – Henry "Gizmo" Williams, Edmonton Eskimos 1994 Eastern All-Stars 25em start Offence QB – Matt Dunigan, Winnipeg Blue Bombers FB – Peter Tuipulotu, Baltimore CFLers RB – Mike Pringle, Baltimore CFLers SB – Chris Armstrong, Baltimore CFLers SB – Gerald Wilcox, Winnipeg Blue Bombers WR – Paul Masotti, Toronto Argonauts WR – Earl Winfield, Hamilton Tiger-Cats C – Nick Subis, Baltimore CFLers OG – Pierre Vercheval, Toronto Argonauts OG – David Black, Winnipeg Blue Bombers OT – Shar Pourdanesh, Baltimore CFLers OT – Chris Walby, Winnipeg Blue Bombers 25em break Defence DT – Ben Williams, Shreveport Pirates DT – Rodney Harding, Toronto Argonauts DE – John Kropke, Ottawa Rough Riders DE – Tim Cofield, Hamilton Tiger-Cats LB – Daved Benefield, Ottawa Rough Riders LB – Mike O'Shea, Hamilton Tiger-Cats LB – Calvin Tiggle, Toronto Argonauts CB – Donald Smith, Winnipeg Blue Bombers CB – Irvin Smith, Baltimore CFLers DB – Joe Fuller, Shreveport Pirates DB – Bobby Evans, Winnipeg Blue Bombers DS – Michael Brooks, Baltimore CFLers end Special teams P – Josh Miller, Baltimore CFLers K – Troy Westwood, Winnipeg Blue Bombers ST – Pinball Clemons, Toronto Argonauts 1994 CFL awards CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award – Doug Flutie (QB), Calgary Stampeders CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award – Gerald Wilcox (SB), Winnipeg Blue Bombers CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award – Willie Pless (LB), Edmonton Eskimos CFL's Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman Award – Shar Pourdanesh (OT), Baltimore CFLers CFL's Most Outstanding Rookie Award – Matt Goodwin (DB), Baltimore CFLers CFLPA's Outstanding Community Service Award – O. J. Brigance (LB), Baltimore CFLers CFL's Coach of the Year – Don Matthews, Baltimore CFLers Commissioner's Award - Norm Fieldgate, BC Lions References External links Dennis KC Parks' famous rendition of Oh Canada at the Las Vegas Posse's season opener against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. A moment of which to be proud CFL Category:Canadian Football League seasons