Interprovincial Rugby Football Union The East Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League . Although the CFL was not founded until 1958 , the East Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagues . History . Pre - 1907 . The first organized football club in Canada was the Hamilton Foot Ball Club , a predecessor of the Hamilton Tiger - Cats , in 1868 . This was followed by the formation of the Montreal Foot Ball Club in 1872 , the Toronto Argonaut Football Club in 1873 and the Ottawa Football Club ( the future Ottawa Rough Riders ) in 1876 . The first organized competitions were formed in 1883 , when the Ontario Rugby Football Union and the Quebec Rugby Football Union were founded . At the time the sport was generally called " rugby union " or " rugby football " because its rules were similar to rugby union ' s , although this would change drastically in the coming decades . The following year , the two provincial unions would form the Canadian Rugby Football Union , with Montreal winning the first national championship later that year . The CRFU collapsed before the decade was out , but was re - organized as the Canadian Rugby Union in 1891 , with Osgoode Hall winning the first CRU championship the following year . The turn of the century was marked by fundamental changes in the rules of the game . The ORFU was the first competition to adopt the Burnside Rules , which were to revolutionize the Canadian game . The QRFU and CRU initially resisted the changes , but by 1906 the Burnside Rules were in force throughout Ontario and Quebec . Although substantial changes ( such as forward pass ing ) were still to come , modern Canadian football would ultimately evolve from John Thrift Meldrum Burnside ' s code . Interprovincial Rugby Football Union ( 1907 – 1959 ) . In 1907 , the Hamilton Tigers and Toronto Argonauts of the ORFU joined with the QRFU ' s Montreal Foot Ball Club and Ottawa Rough Riders ( Ottawa had been moving back and forth between the two unions over the past few years ) to form an elite competition , the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union . The new competition was soon dubbed the " Big Four " . Montreal won the first championship . In 1909 Lord Earl Grey , the Governor General of Canada , donated a trophy to be awarded to the CRU champion . The trophy , which became known as the Grey Cup , would not be won by an IRFU club until the Hamilton Tigers captured the trophy in 1913 . Following the 1915 season , the competition was suspended because of the First World War , and would not fully resume until 1920 . From 1925 until 1953 , IRFU teams would dominate Canadian football , winning 18 of the 26 Grey Cups its clubs contested in that timespan ( the IRFU suspended operations from 1942 through 1944 because of World War II ) . During this period , the calibre of play in the IRFU was recognized as being on par with any league in North America . The Big Four attracted considerable interest in the United States and even had its games televised by the National Broadcasting Company for a time during the 1950s . This interest would eventually decline as the National Football League gained prominence . By the mid - 1950s , it was clear that the IRFU was a far higher calibre competition than the ORFU ( the Quebec union had faded from the scene in the early part of the century ) . Moreover , the Western Interprovincial Football Union had been gaining strength and would prove capable of winning the Grey Cup on a regular basis during this decade . Following the 1954 season , the ORFU finally stopped challenging for the Grey Cup , thus making the game a contest between the champions of the IRFU in the East and the WIFU in the West . This marks the start of the modern era of Canadian football . In 1956 , the IRFU and WIFU agreed to form the Canadian Football Council . In 1958 , the CFC withdrew from the CRU and re - named itself the Canadian Football League . IRFU Champions Eastern Football Conference ( 1960 - 1980 ) . The IRFU changed its name to the Eastern Football Conference in 1960 . In 1961 , the EFC agreed to a partial interlocking schedule with what was known by then as the Western Football Conference . Although the EFC was part of the CFL , its merger with the WFC was only a partial merger for the next two decades . During this time , the conferences maintained considerable autonomy - for example , the East had a different playoff format until 1973 and a shorter schedule until 1974 . During this time , attendances increased substantially for most clubs and television revenue gained prominence and importance . By the 1980s , however , some EFC clubs were teetering on the brink of bankruptcy , and the CFL decided to proceed with a complete merger of the two regional conferences . East Division ( 1980 - 1994 , 1996 - present ) . In 1980 , the CFL ' s two conferences agreed to a full merger and a full interlocking schedule . Although the EFC has carried on since that time as the CFL ' s East Division , full authority is now vested within the CFL . The decision to create a full interlocking schedule meant that the teams were playing fewer divisional games , consequently the league decided add two extra divisional games per team , thus extending the schedule to 18 games per team starting in 1986 . The East Division has undergone major changes since the dissolution of the EFC . Following the 1981 season the Montreal Alouettes folded . An expansion franchise called the Montreal Concordes commenced play in 1982 and eventually became the " new " Alouettes , but this franchise folded in 1987 . Consequently , the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were transferred from the West Division to the East Division to keep the divisions equal in size . This led to the first " all - Western " Grey Cup in 1988 when the Blue Bombers won the East Division championship for the first time . In 1994 , the CFL decided to add more teams in the United States . This led to the addition of the two American - based teams in the East , Shreveport Pirates and a team in Baltimore that would eventually be called the Stallions after the NFL successfully prevented the team from using the name " Colts " . Baltimore would go on to win the East Division championship in 1994 . For the 1995 season , all eight Canadian teams competed in the North Division . Prior to the 1996 season however , all of the American clubs disbanded , with one ( the Baltimore Stallions ) returning to Montreal . The pre - 1987 divisional alignment was restored , only to see Winnipeg return to the East after one season when the Ottawa Rough Riders folded . The Blue Bombers returned to the West in 2002 after the Ottawa Renegades commenced play in the nation ' s capital . With the suspension of the Renegades in 2006 , the Blue Bombers again were transferred to the East Divsion . Grey Cup record . Prior to 1954 , Eastern clubs dominated the Grey Cup games . Since 1954 however , the West has generally been on an equal footing and in recent decades has often dominated the East in the regular season . Since 1954 the East has won 25 Grey Cups and lost 31 . This is not counting the 1995 season . It should also be noted that two of the East ' s Grey Cup wins were by the Blue Bombers , who have played in the West for most of their history . Playoff format . Since 1955 , three teams have competed in the Eastern playoffs in most seasons . Only the top two teams qualified for the post - season in 1985 when an earlier form of the " cross - over rule " was in force , while four teams qualified in 1994 when there were six teams . In 1997 , the present cross - over rule was implemented , allowing the fourth place team from one division to take the play - off place of the third place team in the other division , should the fourth place team earn a better record . Since 1997 , the fourth place team in the West has taken advantage of the cross - over rule five times , but not until 2008 did a Western team ( Edmonton ) advance to the Eastern Final . As of 2010 , no team from the East has crossed over into the Western playoffs .