CFL USA The term CFL USA refers to the abortive expansion of the Canadian Football League ( CFL ) into the United States in the early - to - mid 1990s . The 1993 CFL season saw the addition of the first American team to the league , the Sacramento Gold Miners . By the 1994 CFL season , there were four American teams , and in the 1995 CFL season , there were five , which were then split off into their own South Division . However , following the 1995 season , the only American team remaining was the Baltimore Stallions , which were moved to Montreal and renamed the Montreal Alouettes for the 1996 CFL season . Although the league originally intended to only place teams in the areas within driving distance of Canada , it turned out to be the exact opposite . All but two of the CFL USA teams were based south of the 37th parallel north ; the northernmost team was based in Baltimore , Maryland , 375 miles ( 600 km ) from the Canada – United States border . 1992 – 93 : Origins . In hopes of broadening the CFL ' s appeal and boosting its revenues , the league first began exploring American expansion in June 1992 with an exhibition game between the Toronto Argonauts and Calgary Stampeders , held in Portland , Oregon . The league planned on launching a few teams in the northern United States . In 1993 , the league decided to move forward with expanding south of the border . The ultimate plan was to have a league of 10 Canadian and 10 American teams . Some cities that were being considered were Columbus , Ohio ; Rochester , New York ; Hartford , Connecticut ; Milwaukee , Wisconsin ; Boise , Idaho ; Portland , Oregon and Minot , North Dakota . Spearheading the efforts were two former World League of American Football owners , Fred Anderson of the Sacramento Surge and Larry J . Benson of the San Antonio Riders . Their teams were admitted to the CFL as the Sacramento Gold Miners and San Antonio Texans , respectively . While the Texans would fold before playing single down , the Gold Miners would see action , finishing a respectable 6 - 12 ( but remaining at the bottom of the West Division ) . Also during this time , Ottawa Rough Riders owner Bernard Glieberman began discussing the possibility of moving his team to the United States . However , when it became apparent the CFL would not even consider such a plan , he opted to sell the existing Rough Riders franchise and launch a new American franchise instead . 1994 . The following year would see more expansion : the Las Vegas Posse , Glieberman ' s Shreveport Pirates Which had the same name problem as the Baltimore Colts , had previously been named the Shreveport Lions but had come under fire by both the CFL ( BC Lions ) and the NFL ( Detroit Lions ) , so the team opted for the Pirates moniker , and the Baltimore Stallions ( who were forced to change their name from the Colts after a long legal battle with the Indianapolis Colts of the NFL ) . Baltimore was the most successful of any American CFL team , having finished second in the East and making it to the 1994 Grey Cup game , becoming the first American team to play for the Grey Cup . At the other end of the spectrum , the Las Vegas Posse were an abject failure , becoming a road team after attendance dropped to under 3 , 000 in Las Vegas ; the team folded at the end of the season . 1995 : Turmoil and termination . In 1995 , the American franchises were split off into their own South Division . The Gold Miners ' problems with Hornet Stadium prompted a move to San Antonio , where they were reincarnated as the San Antonio Texans , while the Birmingham Barracudas and Memphis Mad Dogs ( previously the Memphis Hound Dogs , a rejected NFL franchise ) , were added . Teams were also considered for Orlando and Miami . The latter would have been nicknamed the Manatees , and an exhibition game between Birmingham and Baltimore was held in Miami to gauge support . The Miami expansion was eventually abandoned . However , American fan interest in Canadian football , with the exception of Baltimore , was sparse at best . Teams like Birmingham and Memphis began with promising crowds comparable to their Canadian counterparts , but saw attendance plummet with the onset of the college football season . At the end of the year , which saw the Stallions become the first non - Canadian team to win the Grey Cup , the Barracudas and Pirates had already announced that they were leaving their hometowns before the Grey Cup had even been played . Cities such as Montreal , Los Angeles , and Norfolk were mentioned as possible sites for the relocated franchises , with the Birmingham team being moved to Shreveport . However , shortly after , commissioner Larry Smith ordered the Barracudas , Mad Dogs and Pirates shut down . Only a few months after the Stallions ' Grey Cup triumph , the NFL ' s Cleveland Browns announced they were moving their roster to Baltimore to play as the Ravens . While the Stallions had been a runaway hit , Speros knew they could not hope to go head - to - head with an NFL team and decided to move elsewhere . He began talks with Richmond , Virginia , but nothing could be worked out . The Stallions team moved to Montreal and became the third incarnation of the Montreal Alouettes . Unwilling to remain as the sole U . S . - based team in the league , and faced with the prospect of having their nearest opponent being over 1 , 500 miles away , the Texans voluntarily folded soon afterward . As a result , the entire league was once again based in Canada for the 1996 CFL season . The last vestiges of the CFL ' s American experiment were erased when Speros sold the Alouettes to Bob Wetenhall after the 1996 season . The fact that Baltimore , an American team , had won a championship that was a symbol of Canadian culture , was the subject of much consternation and lamentation at the time . As such , the CFL has refused to acknowledge the Alouettes ' Baltimore connections and reckons the Stallions as a separate team from the current incarnation of the Alouettes . It does , however , reckon the Alouettes as the successors of the original Alouettes franchise . One of the often cited reasons for the CFL South Division ' s failure , and part of the reason why the CFL fell behind the NFL in terms of quality players , was the state of the league ' s American television contract . The league , which had held a U . S . network TV contract in the 1950s and again briefly in 1982 , was then being carried on ESPN2 , at the time a nascent channel devoted to extreme sports that was not nearly as widely available as its parent network and only carried a limited number of the league ' s games ( with ESPN itself airing some late - season games and the Grey Cup on tape delay ) . It was not until after the 1995 season that the CFL , mainly through the action of its American franchises , began negotiating with CBS Sports ( at the time the only of the Big Four that did not have rights to NFL broadcasts ) to see if they could get coverage . It would not be until several years later that the CFL got a TV contract in the United States , on a much smaller network ( America One ) . Proposed revivals . World Wrestling Federation chairman Vince McMahon was given a chance to buy the Toronto Argonauts in 1999 . He countered with an offer to buy the entire league and eventually " have it migrate south " ( either adding teams in , or relocating teams to , the United States ) . The league refused McMahon ' s offer , but these proposed American teams became the basis of the XFL , which played one season in 2001 . In February 2009 , former NFL receiver Oronde Gadsden ( cousin of former CFL star John Avery ) proposed that , because of the discontinuation of other spring football leagues such as the Arena Football League ( which has since returned ) and NFL Europa , the league consider expanding back into the United States , with potential markets being Detroit - Windsor and Rochester , New York . Wetenhall was open to the idea , but league offices have been unwilling to hear the proposal , with an Ottawa franchise set for launch in 2013 , and both Halifax and Moncton angling for a maritime franchise in the future .