The Montreal Machine were the sole Canadian (and non-U.S.-based North American) team in the

World League of American Football NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

(WLAF), a springtime developmental professional league set up by the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) that played in 1991 and 1992. There were also three European teams and six United States–based teams. Like all WLAF teams, the Machine played American rules football, 11 players per side on a 100-yard-long/-yard-wide field, rather than Canadian rules football of 12 players per side on a 110-yard-long/65-yard-wide field. The Machine filled a void created by the folding of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...

in 1987. It was the first American football team in Canada since the

Montreal Beavers The Montreal Beavers were a professional American football team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The franchise began as the Indianapolis Warriors of the United Football League (1961–1964), United Football League in 1961, where they played fo ...

Toronto Rifles The Toronto Rifles were a minor-league professional American football team active between 1964 and 1967. It was based in Toronto, Ontario. The team's home fields were Maple Leaf Stadium (1965) and Varsity Stadium from 1966 to 1967.http://virology-o ...

and

Victoria Steelers The Spokane Shockers were a professional American football team based in Spokane, Washington. The team was founded in 1967 as the Victoria Steelers of the Continental Football League but transferred to Spokane during the 1967–68 offseason. Whil ...

, which all played in the

Continental Football League The Continental Football League (COFL) was a professional American football Minor league football (gridiron), minor league that operated in North America from 1965 through 1969. It was established following the collapse of the original United Fo ...

in 1967. The NFL had also played two international preseason games in Montreal in 1988 and 1990 during the Alouettes' absence. After two years, the Machine, and the entire WLAF, were put on "hiatus" by the NFL. In 1995, the three European-based franchises (and three more) were reconstituted as the World League (later known as

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

); the North American teams were folded, thus becoming a purely European league. The Machine played their home games at

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports ...

in Montreal, which also hosted what would be the WLAF's last game in its original incarnation, World Bowl '92. A crowd of 43,789 watched the Sacramento Surge defeat the

Orlando Thunder The Orlando Thunder was a member of the World League of American Football from 1991 to 1992. The team played their games in the 70,000 seat Florida Citrus Bowl, and was coached by Don Matthews in 1991 and Galen Hall in 1992. The team's most visi ...

, 21–17. The Machine's average game attendance was 31,888 in their first year of play, well above the league average and above expectations. It dropped to 25,254 in their second (and final) year, still in line with league average. The end of the WLAF's North American operations was soon followed by the CFL commencing its own U.S. expansion experiment, which lasted for three seasons. The subsequent demise of the CFL's U.S. teams coincided with pro football's return to Montreal in 1996 when the third and current incarnation of the

commenced play. The Alouettes had been revived by the owners of the

Baltimore Stallions The Baltimore Stallions (known officially as the "Baltimore Football Club" and previously as the "Baltimore CFL Colts" in its inaugural season) were a Canadian Football League team based in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States, which played ...

, the most successful of the CFL's American franchises, who upon shuttering their U.S.-based team relocated their football organization to Montreal.

Season-by-season

1991 season

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Results

1992 season

Personnel

Roster

Results

*Week 1: San Antonio Riders 17, Montreal 16 *Week 2: Montreal 31, Orlando Thunder 29 *Week 3: Sacramento Surge 14, Montreal 7 *Week 4: Montreal 31, Ohio Glory 20 *Week 5: Orlando Thunder 16, Montreal 8 *Week 6: New York/New Jersey Knights 34, Montreal 11 *Week 7: Sacramento Surge 35, Montreal 21 *Week 8: Birmingham Fire 23, Montreal 16 (OT) *Week 9: London Monarchs 45, Montreal 13 *Week 10: New York/New Jersey Knights 41, Montreal 21

References

{{Defunct Quebec Sports Sports clubs and teams in Montreal American football teams established in 1991 American football teams disestablished in 1992 NFL Europe (WLAF) teams Defunct American football teams in Canada 1991 establishments in Quebec 1992 disestablishments in Quebec