2023 CFL Betting Tips
It’s going to be an exciting CFL season, with three teams regarded as the most likely to oblige with an overall victory. Winnipeg Bluebombers were able to claim some early wins and Mike O’Shea’s side are capable of making a splash in the competition, with the West Division side aiming to finish as high up the regional standings as possible.
Top spot would earn them a place in the Division Finals on 11 November, with BC Lions likely to be their strongest challenger and the latter could go well under coach Rick Campbell. It’s been twelve long years since the team were last successful in this competition, although the early signs have been encouraging.
Meanwhile, the East Division is a section which could be dominated by Toronto Argonauts, with Ryan Dinwiddie looking to steer the team to a consecutive triumph after succeeding in 2022 after five years without a success. This team are trading at the shortest price to actually reach the Grey Cup final.
Perhaps Montreal Alouettes could be the main threat to Toronto, with Jason Maas’ side capable of reaching the postseason bracket, although the bookies think that Saskatchewan Roughriders could potentially make an impression when it comes to the stronger West Division where the winner is likely to emerge from.
Canadian football isn’t hugely popular outside North America and many sports fans in Europe and around the world may not have even heard of it. Essentially, Canadian football is a variant of American football or gridiron. Whilst the premier American football league is the NFL, in Canadian football it is the CFL, or Canadian Football League.
The sport is played at a whole range of levels in Canada, from school to college and from amateur leagues to the CFL, the only pro league. Whilst not too many people outside the country are fans, within Canada the CFL attracts good audiences, both live and on TV.
The Grey Cup is the sport’s equivalent of the NFL Super Bowl and is watched by huge swathes of the country, with viewing figures peaking at around 40% of the nation at times this century.
Differences Between American and Canadian Football
To the novice, the two sports look very similar, however, there are a range of obvious and key differences, as well as some more subtle ones.
In the former category are that the pitch in the CFL is a little bigger, Canadian football has an extra player on the pitch (12 instead of 11) and, perhaps most importantly, there are just three downs rather than four in the CFL.
There are a host of other differences, ranging from variations in overtime, safeties, timings within the game and several other factors. These, along with the other more salient factors create certain strategic differences between the related sports.
That said, in truth the two games have far more similarities than differences. That means that if you enjoy watching and betting on the NFL, more than likely you’ll also get pleasure and excitement from viewing and having a punt on the CFL.
CFL History and Format
The sport of Canadian football goes back as far as 1880 and developed out of rugby that had been played since about 1860. By 1909, when Governor General Earl Grey donated the Grey Cup, the sport had morphed considerably away from its rugby origins to become much more like the “football” played south of the boarder.
The sport continued to evolve, though it maintained ties with rugby throughout this process. In 1958 the CFL was created, although the sport had already enjoyed four seasons of pro football.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers won the Grey Cup that year and they have been victorious seven times in total, though not since 1990. The most successful side are the Edmonton Eskimos, whose 11 Grey Cup victories see them well clear of the chasing pack.
No side has been dominant in recent years, with seven different sides winning the CFL championship since 2010. There are nine teams in the league, with all of those being based in Canada, although a number of American teams have existed over the years.
The regular season takes place over 21 weeks, with 18 games spread between June and November. Pre-season starts about three weeks prior to that, whilst the post-season play-offs, featuring six sides, run for a similar period from the start of November before the Grey Cup itself at the end of the month.
The CFL has been televised around the world by a range of networks and is certainly well worth checking out. With the NFL season not usually starting until September it’s a great betting option throughout summer if you just can’t get enough gridiron.