Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack
I am old enough to remember what was probably the first CFL spending binge era, which occurred during the first half of the 1980s.
It was a bit of a golden, optimistic age for the CFL. Montreal had a new stadium and was pulling in large crowds (think 50,000-60,000), the Argos were consistently in the 40,000-50,000 range, as was Edmonton (with Warren Moon at the helm). Vancouver was building BC Place where the Lions would move in, and so just under half of the league was playing in what were close to NFL-sized stadiums (back in the day).
I distinctly recall how the CFL wasn't really seen by that many people as a joke "second fiddle" to the NFL. Obviously, people weren't stupid - we had NFL games on TV and knew it was a big(ger) deal. But the disparity in calibre between the two wasn't constantly brought up as it is today (often exaggeratedly so) and there was a sense that the CFL was a totally respectable product, worthy of interest.
I guess certain team owners thought there was nowhere to go but up, and that the popularity of their game was unassailable.
The biggest culprits were the Montreal Alouettes who, emboldened by amazing attendance, signed some pretty big name stars either from the NFL or straight out of college. They gave them big-time money too. Often more than they would have made in the NFL. People like Vince Ferragamo, Tom Cousineau, Billy White Shoes Johnson, David Overstreet. But just as soon as they built their dream team, everything went bust. They had some horrible seasons and attendance at the Big O plummeted as fast as it had risen.
There were also big contracts given by other teams too. I remember Calgary giving Joe Barnes what I believe was the first million dollar contract in CFL history.
Heady days. And then (most) everything fell apart.
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Yeah, your memory goes back a bit farther than mine but it does seem that the league pumped the brakes a little in the late 80s after the Als collapsed. But in the early 90s it revved up again. McNall got it going in earnest, and then the expansion era resulted in more competition for players. That was really the last time that some players made similar money in the CFL compared to the NFL... you had guys like Billy Joe Tolliver who made more or less the same amount of money QBing the Shreveport Pirates as he did the season before with the Atlanta Falcons. You wouldn't see that anymore these days.
As for Montreal, I can understand why the success of the late 70s went to their heads. They had what at the time was probably among the best and biggest stadiums anywhere in the world, and they were playing to packed houses. Competing with the NFL for talent was not unreasonable. What's amazing is how quickly it fell apart... in 1978 it was full houses, and barely 5 years later the place wasn't even half full anymore.