Professional football in Canada
Only one professional football league has a permanent presence in Canada: the Canadian Football League (CFL), an organization founded in 1958 to accommodate the ongoing trend of professionalism in the Canadian football ranks since the 1940s. The CFL, like most amateur Canadian football leagues, plays on a larger field using a rulebook with several significant rule differences compared to the game as it is played in the United States. The league is composed of two divisions and nine teams in most of the largest Canadian markets, with at least one team in each province between British Columbia (BC Lions) and Quebec (Montreal Alouettes) inclusive. The only presence in Atlantic Canada is a semi-regular series of games in Moncton (Touchdown Atlantic) and a smattering of earlier preseason contests. The CFL operates a two-week preseason beginning in June, an 18-game season from July to October, and a six-team playoff tournament, culminating in the Grey Cup on the fourth weekend of November.
National Football League in Toronto
Any NFL team that entered the Toronto market would have to deal with the Canadian Football League (CFL)'s Toronto Argonauts, as well as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who play in nearby Hamilton, Ontario, both of which—as well as the CFL—have objected to a NFL team in Canada. The Tiger-Cats supported the Bills Toronto Series on the premise that it would keep other suitors for the Toronto market at bay. The NFL has been reluctant to hurt the CFL. Godfrey claimed that "the city is big enough ... they both could co-exist in the city." The World Football League (WFL) intended to place a franchise in Toronto known as the Toronto Northmen, but after the Canadian Parliament began debating the Canadian Football Act, which would have banned foreign football leagues from playing in Canada in an attempt to protect the CFL, the WFL moved the team to Memphis, Tennessee. Similar bills have been introduced to Parliament since the Bills Toronto Series was announced. It has been suggested that one of the reasons the NFL would not want to put a franchise in Canada and risk putting the CFL out of business is that the CFL offers antitrust protection as a competing league. However, Commissioner Rozelle said in 1987 that "I can't see where a league operating in Canada could possibly help us in any anti-trust trials."