CFL News in 2004
Neil Payne retired from his position as Director of Officiating in February and was replaced by George Black. Former Eskimos Head Coach, Tom Higgins was named as the 2003 Coach of the Year. CFL Commissioner Tom E. Wright, announced that Vancouver would host the 93rd Grey Cup for 2005. Furthermore, CFL Commissioner Tom E. Wright also announced in late October, that Winnipeg would be the host of the 94th Grey Cup for 2006.
Wayne Smith of Appalachian State University was drafted first overall in the 2004 CFL Draft by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Former player, broadcaster and football administrator, Mike Wadsworth died in April. In September, the Canadian Football Hall of Fame inducted Larry Highbaugh, Cal Murphy, Lui Passaglia, Dan Yochum and Ben Zambiasi during the Induction Weekend ceremonies in Hamilton.
CFL partner, Sun Microsystems added and launched real-time, in-game statistics entry with live play-by-play and scoring on cfl.ca. On June 2, the CFL announced a partnership with FSN and launched a player-based and team-based game for the 2004 season. In addition, the CFL also launched its first ever online kids section called — the Dare CFL KidsZone.
The CFL started a new international broadcasting agreement with Trajectory Sports & Media Group, to deliver Canadian Football to more than 50 million households in 176 countries for the 2004 season. U.S. television coverage of the 92nd Grey Cup resulted in the largest international broadcast distribution of a Grey Cup game — when it was made available to more than 55 million television households. In addition, Rogers Sportsnet announced the start of "CFL Crunch", which is a 30-minute news segment concerning the league on June 24.
On October 18, the Toronto Argonauts announced their agreement with York University, to construct a new 25,000-seat stadium on the university's Keele campus.
League attendance increased by 8% over the 2003 season, when more than 2.2 million fans were coming into CFL stadiums. The BC Lions home attendance figures increased by 13% over the 2003 season, by averaging about 26,697 fans per game at BC Place Stadium. The Montreal Alouettes continued their strong attendance figures by recording its fifth straight year of having sell out crowds at both, Percival Molson Memorial Stadium and Olympic Stadium. The CFL set a new playoff attendance record with a total of 181,717 postseason crowds attending playoff games in Toronto, Edmonton, Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa. The Grey Cup game in Ottawa had a sell-out crowd of 51,242 at Frank Clair Stadium.
The attendance increases were likely caused at least in part by the lack of NHL hockey in the wake of the 2004–05 NHL lockout.
Records: Before he retired, Edmonton running back, Mike Pringle, established two new records in 2004. The first record was accomplished on July 12, when Pringle established a new CFL career record for yards from scrimmage with 20,254 yards in the Eskimos 25–9 win over the B.C. Lions. The second record was accomplished on September 19 against the same B.C. Lions, when Pringle became the all-time leading rusher in CFL history with 16,425 yards.
In addition, three CFL quarterbacks established new records as well. Edmonton's Jason Maas, entered the CFL record books by setting a new mark for most consecutive pass completions in a regular season game with 22 on July 30. On August 13, B.C.'s Casey Printers, sets a new CFL record for the highest pass completion percentage in a regular season game by completing 90.9% of his passes. Furthermore, Hamilton's Danny McManus, joined the company of Damon Allen and Ron Lancaster by surpassing the milestone of passing for 50,000 or more career yards on October 21. [1]
The Montreal Alouettes became the first team in CFL history to have four receivers on one team reach the 1000-yard receiving mark in one season: Ben Cahoon (1183 yards), Jeremaine Copeland (1154 yards), Thyron Anderson (1147 yards), and Kwame Cavil (1090 yards)
The Toronto Argonauts won their 15th Grey Cup by defeating the B.C. Lions 27–19 on November 21.
