Another exciting and unpredictable season

 The year began with the naming of last season's CFL Coach of the Year. Charlie Taaffe, Head Coach of the Montreal Alouettes, was honoured on February 15th in the Ballroom of the Westin Edmonton Hotel for leading the Alouettes to their first regular season East Division title since 1979.

 On March 15th the formation of a very successful relationship between the CFL and the ad firm Communique was struck. Together, the "Radical Road Trip" was created and 11 extremely popular commercials were made. These commercials, which highlighted the nuances in the Canadian game, formed the foundation for the Canadian Football League's 2000 Marketing Campaign. The commercials aided with the branding of Radically Canadian, the most popular marketing initiative in the history of the CFL. This season's marketing efforts resulted in a dramatic ratings increase for all three networks broadcasting CFL action. TSN, who televised 37 CFL games, reported a 10% increase in the 2+ demographic over the 1999 season total, averaging 236,000 viewers per telecast. While the TSN numbers are strong, the RDS ratings went through the uprights. RDS reported a 91% increase in the 2+ demographic over the 1999 season for the 16 games they broadcasted, averaging 131,000. CBC reported a 4% increase over the 1999 numbers with an average audience of 361,000 viewers to its 13 regular season game broadcast schedule.

 The CFL appointed Neil Payne as the new Director of Officiating on March 24th. Payne succeeded Ross Perrier who had held the position since 1995 but tragically passed away in 1999. Payne officiated for 15 seasons, appearing in 205 regular season and playoff games, including 4 Grey Cups. During Grey Cup week, Payne's book, Crime & Punishment - Life as a CFL Official was released.

 With the beginning of April, the Football side of the CFL was underway with the 2000 Evaluation Camp in Winnipeg. Thirty-five Canadian draft eligible football players made up from the CIAU and the NCAA as well as six future stars from the CJFL were examined and tested by Coaches and General Managers representing all 8 teams in the CFL. The 2000 Canadian College Draft took place on April 18th. UBC Linebacker Tyson St. James was selected first overall by the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

 On May 3rd, the Board of Governors approved the CFL "Shootout" overtime format. The new format was a complete success, as fans were glued to their seats during the many sudden death plays that the format created. Seven regular season games went into overtime this season, up from three in 1999.

 Throughout the 2000 season, fans were able to witness the Tim Horton's CFL All-Star Challenge, which was filmed over a three day period (June 5 - 7) and broadcasted on TSN. Player's taking part in the challenge included Daved Benefield (B.C. Lions), Henry "Gizmo" Williams (Edmonton Eskimos), Travis Moore (Calgary Stampeders), Dan Farthing (Saskatchewan Roughriders), Tom Europe (Winnipeg Blue Bombers), Rob Hitchcock (Hamilton Tiger-Cats), Adrion Smith (Toronto Argonauts) and Mike Pringle (Montreal Alouettes).

 On June 12th, Training Camps for most CFL Teams were underway with the reporting of rookies for physicals with veterans reporting the following day.

 The first pre-season game took place on June 17th when the Montreal Alouettes visited the Toronto Argonauts. The game finished in a 13-13 tie.

 On June 19th, the CFL Board of Governors unanimously re-elected John Tory as the Chairman and Acting Commissioner of the CFL. The 2000 season concluded Mr. Tory's direct involvement with the CFL as he resigned from both positions. He had held the position of Chairman since the 1992 season and the title of Acting Commissioner since 1997. During his tenure, the CFL has had a resurgence in the Canadian professional sports landscape.

 As well on June 19th, the CFL's All-Time leader in defensive tackles, Willie Pless, announced his retirement. In order to finish his career as an Eskimo, Pless suited up for the Eskimos first pre-season game on June 21st at Commonwealth Stadium. Pless finished his career with a CFL record 1,241 regular season defensive tackles.

 The CFL regular season got underway on July 5th as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers traveled East to play the Montreal Alouettes and the Edmonton Eskimos visited McMahon Stadium to play the Stampeders. The CFL also re-launched its website, www.cfl.ca. CFL.ca, powered by Canoe and SLAM! Sports, hosted two new interactive on-line games in 2000, CFL Interactive PigSkin Picks and CFL Game Night Interactive Football.

 On August 16th, Allen Pitts surpassed Donald Narcisse's mark of 919 receptions to become the All-Time leader in Pass Receptions in CFL regular season history. Pitts finished the season with 966 career receptions for 14,891 yards and 117 touchdown receptions. Each of Pitts' statistics represents a CFL record.

 The next evening, Damon Allen passed Ron Lancaster's career record of 3,384 pass completions, finishing the season with 3,588 career completions. Allen also surpassed Lancaster's career marks of 6,233 passing attempts and 50,535 passing yards, breaking them on Aug. 31st and Oct. 28th respectively. Allen finished the season with 6,480 attempts and 50,789 passing yards in his regular season career.

 The CFL had two Head Coaching changes during the 2000 season. On Aug. 19th, Greg Mohns resigned his position as the Head Coach of the B.C. Lions. He was immediately replaced by Steve Buratto. On Aug. 25th, John Huard stepped down as Head Coach of the Toronto Argonauts. He was replaced a week later by Michael "Pinball" Clemons who finished his CFL career with the Most Combined Yards, All-Time, Regular Season (25,438). Pinball played his last game on Sept. 15th versus the Saskatchewan Roughriders in front of an emotional SkyDome crowd of 28,724.

 Jeff Giles continued the run of resignations on Aug. 30th when he announced that immediately following the Nov. 26th Grey Cup game, he would be stepping down as the CFL's President and Chief Operating Officer. Giles originally joined the CFL on Dec. 1, 1994 as the C.O.O. The title of President was added prior to the 1997 season. It was later announced that Giles was not leaving the CFL entirely as he took the position of President with the Toronto Argonauts on Nov. 13th.

 Lui Passaglia announced on Sept. 11th that the 2000 season would be his 25th and last season in the Canadian Football League. Lui retires as a CFL legend and icon. His numbers speak for themselves. He retires as the CFL's All-Time leader with 2,512 points scored, 1,867 punts for 76,668 yards and 1,040 kickoffs for 59,292 yards. In his career, Passaglia made 560 of his 777 field goal attempts. His best season ended up being the 2000 campaign where Lui set a CFL record for field goal accuracy by making 40 of his 44 attempts for 90.91% passing Dave Ridgway's 1993 mark of 90.57% (48 for 53).

 Canada mourned the passing of the Right Honourable Pierre Elliott Trudeau on Sept. 28th. The CFL honoured the former Prime Minister, who presented the Grey Cup 7 times between 1968 - 1979 and 1980 - 1984, with a collage of photographs on the official website at www.cfl.ca/CFLLegends.

 The Canadian Football Hall of Fame and Museum inducted 5 new members on September 29th. Danny Bass, Grover Covington, James Murphy and Dave Raimey were inducted into the player's category while Hugh Campbell was inducted as a builder.

 The Montreal Alouettes clinched their second consecutive Division title on Oct. 22nd with a 39-22 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The Calgary Stampeders clinched the West Division crown a week later on Oct. 29th by defeating the Alouettes 32-31 in front of 45,010 fans in the expanded McMahon Stadium.

 Henry "Gizmo" Williams announced his retirement from the CFL on Oct. 25th. Williams leaves the CFL as the greatest return man in the history of professional football. Williams finished his career with 200 regular season games played, 1,003 punt returns for 11,147 yards and 26 touchdowns, 335 kickoff returns for 7,354 yards and 2 touchdowns as well as 59 missed field goal returns for 1,646 yards and 3 touchdowns.

 Michael Lysko was officially named as the 10th Commissioner in CFL history on Nov. 1st at a major press conference which took place in News Theatre on the Esplanade. Lysko assumed his new duties on December 1st.

 The 10 Divisional Nominees were named by Nov. 9th. Mike Pringle, Montreal Alouettes and Dave Dickenson, Calgary Stampeders were named in the Most Outstanding Player category. Davis Sanchez, Montreal Alouettes and Sean Millington, B.C. Lions were nominated to be the Most Outstanding Canadian. Pierre Vercheval, Montreal Alouettes was pitted against Andrew Greene, Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman category. Joe Montford, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Terry Ray, Edmonton Eskimos were up for Most Outstanding Defensive Player. Finally, Albert Johnson III, Winnipeg Blue Bombers and George White, Saskatchewan Roughriders competed for the Most Outstanding Rookie. Dickenson, Millington, Vercheval, Montford and Johnson III went on to be selected as the winners at the Player Awards ceremony which took place in Calgary on Friday, November 24th. Albert Johnson III also won the John Agro award while Mike Morreale was presented with the prestigious Tom Pate award. Jeff Giles was presented with the Commissioner's Award, representative of outstanding off-field contribution.

 Also on the 9th, the East Division All-Stars were announced. Montreal placed ten on the team, followed by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats who had 8 players on the squad. Winnipeg and Toronto rounded out the team with five and four All-Stars respectively. On Friday, Nov. 10th, the West Division All-Star team was announced. Calgary placed 12 players on the team, followed by six B.C. Lions, five Edmonton Eskimos and four members of the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The 2000 CFL All-Star team was announced on Nov. 23rd. Calgary led the League with eight All-Stars, followed by Montreal (five), Saskatchewan (four), B.C. (three) Edmonton (two), Winnipeg (two), Toronto (two) and Hamilton (one).

 The 2000 CFL Playoffs season began on Nov. 12th. In the East Division Semi-Final, Winnipeg defeated Hamilton 22-20 while B.C. beat Edmonton 34-32 in the West Division Semi-Final. Playoff action continued a week later on Nov. 19th with the Division Finals. The Montreal Alouettes defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 35-24 in the East Division to advance to the 88th Grey Cup game in Calgary. In the West Division Final, the B.C. Lions beat the Calgary Stampeders 37-23 to advance the Grey Cup. The Lions prevented the Stampeders from hosting the Grey Cup just as Calgary had done to the Lions in 1999.

 The 88th Grey Cup proved to be another huge success for the CFL. The B.C. Lions defeated the Montreal Alouettes 28-26 in front of 43,822 Radically Canadian football fans in McMahon Stadium on Nov. 26th. The game came down to the last minute in usual CFL and Grey Cup fashion.

 Thus concludes another fantastic year for the Canadian Football League. Television ratings and attendance both increased substantially over the previous season. Each Team gained strength financially as well as on the field, making for the most competitive season the League has seen in recent memory. The CFL is poised to improve even more in the next several years under fresh leadership.

 We at the Canadian Football League would like to thank our fans, corporate partners and the media for another great season of continued support. Have a safe and happy holiday season.

 The Canadian Football League's sole mission is to produce a distinctively Canadian football product while keeping sight of its rich Canadian heritage. With its head office in Toronto, the CFL operates with eight teams across Canada, including the Montreal Alouettes, Toronto Argonauts, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Eskimos and B.C. Lions.