- 1993
- 1995
- 1986
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Baltimore Stallions Team Formation
Soon after the expansion effort failed, an entrepreneur and former Washington Redskins assistant Jim Speros was granted a CFL expansion franchise for Baltimore that would play in Memorial Stadium, the Colts’ old home. Attempting to capitalize on the city’s love for its long-lost Baltimore Colts, Speros adopted a color scheme that added silver to the Baltimore Colts’ traditional colors of ... -
Grey Cup Champs 1995
Despite the changes to their name and team re-alignment, the Stallions returned with virtually the same roster for their next season. The exception was the signing of former Posse kicker Carlos Huerta to replace Igwebuike, who moved on to play with Memphis. With essentially the same team from the 1994 season, optimism and Grey Cup expectations were high for the ... -
Closing Down the Stallions
After the 1995 season, the CFL decided to disband three of its five American franchises and return to its traditional East-West divisional alignment for the 1996 season. The two remaining American teams, Baltimore and San Antonio were to be placed in the CFL’s East Division. However, this strategy collapsed just a week before the Grey Cup, when longtime Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell announced ...
History of the 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 1994 and 1995 seasons. They were the most successful American team in the CFL's generally ill-fated southern expansion effort into the United States, and by at least one account, the winningest expansion team in North American professional sports history at the time. They had winning records in each season, winning two division titles. In 1995, they became the only American franchise to win the Grey Cup.
Only a month after the Stallions' Grey Cup triumph, the state's Maryland Stadium Authority and the City of Baltimore announced that they had reached an agreement with Art Modell, the long-time owner of the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League, (NFL) to move his franchise to Baltimore for the 1996 season. Knowing they could not begin to compete with an overwhelmingly more popular brand in their home country, the Stallions' ownership group re-located their football organization to Montreal, reviving the dormant franchise based there as the third and current iteration of the Montreal Alouettes. The Stallions franchise was dissolved, thus becoming one of three Grey Cup champions in the modern era to subsequently fold (the others being the Ottawa Rough Riders and the original Alouettes). The CFL considers the Stallions to be a separate franchise from the Alouettes.
Established
1994
City
Baltimore
League History
1994 - 1995 / Canadian Football League
Team History
1994 - 1995 / Baltimore Stallions
Nickname
Stallions - Jim Speros initially called the team the "Baltimore CFL Colts." However, the NFL went to court and successfully obtained a legal injunction against the franchise's use of any version of "Colts" in their name just hours before the team was to play its first game. Speros not only had to discard tons of purchased merchandise and souvenirs along with an advertising campaign, but also had to quickly change the franchise's official name to the "Baltimore Football Club" (which some just called the "Baltimore CFL's") while keeping the team's distinctive horse's head logo.
Local fans tended to continue referring to the team as the "Baltimore Colts" anyway, and team officials tacitly encouraged this. For example, for most of the 1994 season, Memorial Stadium's public address announcer, Jack Taylor, would announce the team as "your Baltimore CFL..." – followed by a pause, during which time the crowd shouted "COLTS!" – after which he would conclude, "...football team."
Championship
Grey Cup 1
1995
Stadium
1994 - 1995 / Memorial Stadium
Owner
1994 - 1995 / Jim Speros
To qualify as a greatest player for this team, the player must have played one season for this team. If not, we will remove the player.
Retired Number
*Blue is this team’s history