Canadian Football Act
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The Canadian Football Act (1974) was an Act by the Parliament of Canada in April 1974 designed to block the World Football League (WFL) Toronto charter team, and protect the Canadian Football League (CFL). The move by the government eventually forced the WFL's Toronto Northmen team to move to Memphis, Tennessee in the United States. Today, there is speculation that a similar act will develop if the National Football League (NFL) tries to expand into Canada and threatens the Canadian league's existence.
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[edit] List of the bill's details
- Designated C-22.
- Introduced by the Minister of Health, Marc Lalonde.
- Claimed it would try and protect the Canadian Football League, would allow the CFL to grow and develop its own distinct character (despite having adopted a few WFL rules after its folding)
- Of the mayors of the nine CFL cities at the time, only three were against the Canadian Football Act. They were the mayors of Vancouver, Montréal and Toronto, also the biggest cities of Canada then and now (Montréal playing host to one of the World League of American Football (WLAF) teams (Montréal Machine) in the early 1990s when their CFL team folded)
- After the bill passed second reading in the Canadian House of Commons, it was given to the Standing Committee on Health, Welfare and Social Affairs, where it effectively died after the Northmen moved to Memphis.
- Clause 6 in the act stated that no person that owns, operates, or manages a team in a league foreign from the CFL shall play in Canada. Subsection 2 stated that no player or member of the said team shall play in Canada, therefore if the bill passed and became law, it would effectively kill teams like the Northmen.
These facts were gathered from the actual debates held in the House of Commons from April 10 to April 28, 1974.
[edit] Arena football
In 2001, the New England Sea Wolves of the Arena Football League (AFL) moved to Toronto with no resistance from the Canadian government or the CFL, probably because Arena Football is played in a hockey rink and not a football field. Another reason may have been because the CFL outdrew the AFL in attendance despite similar CFL rules which the AFL also utlized. This view was further confirmed when the Toronto Phantoms folded after just two seasons. If the AFL were to expand or relocate back into Canada, they would face no resistance from the government or other Canadian football leagues. If the act became law, it would be amended for the AFL provided there aren't any Canadian arena football leagues or the Canadian arena league merged with the AFL (like The National Association for Stock Car Automobile Racing (NASCAR)).
[edit] Future?
Some CFL fans speculate that if a group bought an NFL team and tried to move it to Toronto (as a few groups have attempted to buy a current or expansion team for this purpose), whether the NFL approves a Canadian team or not, the Canadian Government will once again debate an Act similar to the 1974 one to block the move. However, when the NFL created its spring development league in the early 1990s, the World League of American Football (WLAF) (currently called the NFL Europa), this league placed a team in Montréal called the Montréal Machine, then without a CFL team since the Montréal Alouettes folded in 1987, with little or no protest. This would cast doubt on this theory of government involvement in blocking the move.
