2003 CFL season

The 2003 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the 50th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 46th Canadian Football League season. The pre-season began on May 30, 2003 and the regular season started on June 17, 2003.[1] Taylor Field in Regina, Saskatchewan hosted the 91st Grey Cup on November 16, with the Edmonton Eskimos defeating the Montreal Alouettes 34–22.

2003 CFL season
Regular season
DurationJune 17 – October 26, 2003
Playoffs
Start dateNovember 2, 2003
East ChampionsMontreal Alouettes2003-11-09
West ChampionsEdmonton Eskimos2003-11-09
91st Grey Cup
DateNovember 16, 2003
SiteTaylor Field,
Regina, Saskatchewan
ChampionsEdmonton Eskimos
CFL seasons

CFL News in 2003

The Canadian Football League made a new five-year television deal with TSN and the CBC on February 27. Through the new agreement, TSN and CBC will be broadcasting 77 games, which is the most in CFL history. The CFL also introduced new specialty weekends that includes the Canada Day Bash, the Labour Day Classic and the Gridiron Thanksgiving. CFL.ca launched its new website in July.

The CFL also assumes control of the Toronto Argonauts on July 29 and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on August 15. The league appointed Paul Robson as the interim Operations Manager of the Argonauts and appointed Alan Ford to become interim Operations Manager of the Tiger-Cats. The CFL then announced the sale of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to Bob Young on October 7 and then announced the sale of the Toronto Argonauts on November 15 to Howard Sokolowski and David Cynamon.

TSN achieved the second-highest viewership in CFL history. The CFL also had an (+2%) increase in attendance for the second straight season with more than 2 million fans filling the seats at Canadian football games. About 4.4 million Canadian homes viewed the 91st Grey Cup game between the Montreal Alouettes and the Edmonton Eskimos played in Regina. Plus, the CFL signed long-term partnership deals with Reebok, Rogers and Sun Microsystems.

Regular season standings

Final regular season standings

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

West Division
TeamGPWLTPFPAPts
Edmonton Eskimos18135056941426
Winnipeg Blue Bombers18117051448722
Saskatchewan Roughriders18117053543022
BC Lions18117053143022
Calgary Stampeders18513032350110
East Division
TeamGPWLTPFPAPts
Montreal Alouettes18135056240926
Toronto Argonauts1899047343318
Ottawa Renegades18711046758114
Hamilton Tiger-Cats1811702935832
  • Bold text means that they have clinched the playoffs.
  • Edmonton and Montreal both have first round byes.
  • Due to the cross-over rule – the BC Lions will play the Toronto Argonauts in the Eastern Semi-Final Game.

Grey Cup playoffs

The Edmonton Eskimos are the 2003 Grey Cup Champions, defeating the Montreal Alouettes 34–22, at Regina's Taylor Field. The Eskimos got their revenge on the Alouettes, who defeated Edmonton in front of their hometown crowd at the 90th Grey Cup. The Eskimos' Jason Tucker (WR) was named the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player and the Alouettes' Ben Cahoon (SB) was the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Canadian.

Playoff bracket

  November 2: Division Semifinals     November 9: Division Finals     November 16: 91st Grey Cup
Taylor FieldRegina, SK
                           
  East     E2 Toronto Argonauts 26  
  W4 BC Lions 7     E1 Montreal Alouettes 30    
  E2 Toronto Argonauts 28         E1 Montreal Alouettes 22
      W1 Edmonton Eskimos 34
  West     W3 Saskatchewan Roughriders 23    
  W3 Saskatchewan Roughriders 37     W1 Edmonton Eskimos 30  
  W2 Winnipeg Blue Bombers 21  

CFL Leaders

2003 CFL All-Stars

Offence

Defence

Special teams

2003 Western All-Stars

Offence

Defence

Special teams

2003 Eastern All-Stars

Offence

Defence

Special teams

2003 Intergold CFLPA All-Stars

Offence

Defence

Special teams

Head coach

[3]

2003 Rogers AT&T CFL Awards

References

  1. "2003 CFL schedule". Cfl.ca. Archived from the original on 2013-01-15. Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  2. "CFLapedia".
  3. "CFLPA.com | The Canadian Football League Players Association". cflpa.com. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
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