1996 CFL season

The 1996 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the 43rd season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 39th Canadian Football League season.

1996 CFL season
Regular season
DurationJune 23 – November 3, 1996
Playoffs
Start dateNovember 10, 1996
East ChampionsToronto Argonauts1996-11-17
West ChampionsEdmonton Eskimos1996-11-17
84th Grey Cup
DateNovember 24, 1996
SiteIvor Wynne Stadium, Hamilton
ChampionsToronto Argonauts
CFL seasons

CFL News in 1996

At the CFL's Board of Governors Meetings in February 1996, it was decided to end the league's four-year American experiment.

The Shreveport Pirates had already disbanded; the league folded the Memphis Mad Dogs and rejected a sale and relocation plan that would have allowed the Birmingham Barracudas to move to Shreveport and survive, forcing that team's closure as well. The Grey Cup champion Baltimore Stallions had opted to move elsewhere rather than face the daunting prospect of competing with the NFL's Baltimore Ravens. When it was apparent the CFL was refocusing on Canada, Stallions owner Jim Speros gave up the Stallions franchise and moved his organisation to Montreal as the third incarnation of the Montreal Alouettes. Up until this time, the city of Montreal had been without Canadian football for nine seasons. Speros revived the Als' traditional colour scheme of blue, white, and red. Their logo was an angry bird running with a football; it was their helmet logo until 2019. Unwilling to continue as the lone American team in the league, the San Antonio Texans voluntarily folded.

A dispersal draft was held for the players on four of the five American teams—all except the Stallions. However, all of the Stallions players were released from their contracts. Alouettes general manager Jim Popp, who followed the Stallions organisation to Montreal, managed to re-sign many of them; he was limited to half of the Alouettes roster, since the Stallions as an American team were not subject to the league's requirement that half of a team's roster comprise Canadian citizens, and the Alouettes would be subject to that rule. To stock the roster with Canadians, a special expansion draft, in which only the Canadian citizens on each other team's roster were subject, was held to stock the Alouettes' roster.

With the removal of the American teams, the CFL reverted to its traditional "East-West" alignment. The revived Alouettes were placed in the East Division and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were placed back into the West Division, after 10 seasons.

The BC Lions and the Calgary Stampeders underwent ownership changes.

Regular season standings

Final regular season standings

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points

West Division
TeamGPWLPFPAPts
Calgary Stampeders1813560837526
Edmonton Eskimos1811745935422
Winnipeg Blue Bombers189942149518
Saskatchewan Roughriders1851336049810
BC Lions1851341048310
East Division
TeamGPWLPFPAPts
Toronto Argonauts1815355635930
Montreal Alouettes1812653646724
Hamilton Tiger-Cats1881042657616
Ottawa Rough Riders183153525246
  • Bold text means that they have clinched the playoffs.
  • Calgary and Toronto both have first round byes.

Grey Cup playoffs
Main article: 84th Grey Cup

The Toronto Argonauts are the 1996 Grey Cup champions, defeating the Edmonton Eskimos 43–37, at Hamilton's Ivor Wynne Stadium. The Argonauts' Doug Flutie (QB) was named the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player and Mike Vanderjagt (K) was the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Canadian.

Playoff bracket
  November 9 & 10: Division Semifinals     November 16 & 17: Division Finals     November 24: 84th Grey Cup @ Ivor Wynne Stadium – Hamilton, ON
                           
  East     E2 Montreal Alouettes 7  
  E3 Hamilton Tiger-Cats 11     E1 Toronto Argonauts 43    
  E2 Montreal Alouettes 22         E1 Toronto Argonauts 43
      W2 Edmonton Eskimos 37
  West     W2 Edmonton Eskimos 15    
  W3 Winnipeg Blue Bombers 7     W1 Calgary Stampeders 12  
  W2 Edmonton Eskimos 68  

CFL Leaders
  • CFL Passing Leaders
  • CFL Rushing Leaders
  • CFL Receiving Leaders [1]

1996 CFL All-Stars

Offence

Defence

Special teams

1996 Western All-Stars

Offence

Defence

Special teams

1996 Eastern All-Stars

Offence

Defence

Special teams

1996 Intergold CFLPA All-Stars

Offence

Defence

Special teams

Head Coach

[2]

1996 CFL Awards
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References
  1. "CFLapedia".
  2. 1996 Intergold CFLPA All-Stars
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