About the Conventions Used on This Site

If you come across terms or abbreviations you don't understand, or a certain usage or convention does not seem proper, please report to CFLdb with your concern and interpretation. Information will be adjusted or convention used will be documented. Your assistance in making CFLdb Statistics more accessible is appreciated.

CFLdb strives to present the most accurate data available on CFLdb Statistics. The farther back in time you go, the harder this is.

Terms

  • Intra-division — Intra = within, same division (replaced by the term Division, abbreviated DIV)
  • Inter-division — Inter = between, across divisions (replaced by the term Non-Division)

Standings

Abbreviations show the abbreviated term on hover (look for the mouse pointer changing to a question mark (?) symbol in a circle) on desktop browsers. See the glossary for explanation of abbreviations used in Standings tables.

Statistics

Abbreviations show the abbreviated term on hover (look for the mouse pointer changing to a question mark (?) symbol in a circle) on desktop browsers. See the glossary for explanation of abbreviations used in Statistic tables.

Record Held is used to indicate the dates a record was held; when the record was established to the date it was exceeded. If the record is current, it is indicated as held until present. Listings that have no values in the Record Held column never held the record, they are values that fell short of the current record at the time it occurred.

Record listings that have a check mark indicating Official Record appear in the latest CFL Guide and Record Book or from official CFL statistics for the current season. All other listings have been compiled from other sources and cannot be guaranteed to be current, nor hold their current ranking position. This is due to corrections that occur over time to league statistics; CFLdb listings are unofficial, and only the league can provide official record listings.

Pre-season

Consistency in schedule of pre-season games does not occur until 1970, so all games prior to the regular season in CFL/CFC/IRFU/WIFU seasons prior to 1970 are classified as exhibition games. Standings compilation is not performed for exhibition games, so compiled team data (records, attendance, etc.) is not available for seasons prior to 1970.

Attendance

Attendance numbers are based on best available information available. In cases where exact figures are not available, CFLdb attempts to estimate the value by deriving the amount from season totals or media estimates. In early years, exact attendance was often not reported, so estimates are taken from media reports. Where no actual attendance is available or estimates are able to made, the attendance figure will not be available. Games without attendance figures are not included in any compilation calculations.

There are two sellout designations: announced sellouts and sellouts. Announced sellouts are a manual flag indicating the team/media announced either prior or after the game it was a sellout crowd. Teams will often report a game is sold out when only single game tickets are available (no side-by-side seats available). When doing so, some teams report the actual number of tickets distributed less than capacity while others will report the stadium capacity as the announced attendance. It is possible, therefore, for an announced sellout crowd to be less than known or maximum capacity of the stadium.

Sellouts are calculated based on 100% or greater than stadium capacity. CFLdb sellout numbers will differ from team claims when they report tickets distributed less than capacity for sellout crowds, however, announced sellout counts should match team claims.

An announced sellout may not be a technical sellout, but a sellout is always an announced sellout. Announced sellouts are tracked in the database, assistance is always appreciated in recording when a team has announced a game as a sellout.

Broadcast Ratings

Broadcast ratings are the sum of all broadcaster ratings for a game (Canadian broadcasters only, CFLdb has no US broadcaster numbers) averaged over the number of games available. For instance, when available, the RDS and TSN ratings numbers will be summed, and that instance added to the sum and divided by the number of games. Sometimes ratings are provided as a RDS/TSN or CBC/CTV/RC total and a breakdown is not available. In these instances, the total is recorded under one broadcaster. Ratings can be overnight ratings or the weekly ratings, whatever is available and sourced through the media.

Game Times

Game times are displayed in the web visitor's time zone and local time of the stadium location when known. If the exact game time is not known, only the date is shown. Weather data is based off the game time, and is displayed in local time. If the game time is unknown, weather data will not be available. If you have game time information for a season, please pass the information along to help CFLdb fill in this information. Weather data is based on the closest Environment Canada weather station and so may not reflect the actual conditions at the stadium (especially for more localized events like thunderstorms).

Birthplace

CFLdb lists birthplaces of individuals. Sources of this material vary and so, therefore, does the meaning of information. The definition of birthplace can vary from the location stated on an individual's birth certificate, the location the individual lived immediately after being born, or the location where the individual spent the majority of their youth. Sources and existing records may use any of these definitions, taking birthplace information from league/team records (which are sourced from the individual but not likely official documentation) or media reports that indicate where an individual was born, raised, or is from a specific location. This information may not correspond with the birth certificate birthplace of an individual or reflect their actual location of birth. Consider these aspects when considering the birthplace of individuals listed on the site.

Game Participation

Game participation (annual team rosters) are provided by the CFL for 1930-2012 seasons. Rosters from 2013 seasons onward are compiled from CFL sources. In the donated data, the CFL lists players with zero (0) games played with a team if the player spent all their time with the team on a reserve or injured list. CFLdb follows this standard. These players are counted as inactive players in the roster summaries. For the compiled data for 2013 forward, CFLdb attempts to follow the same standard.

Coaching Terms and Records

Coaching terms are listed as the day employment was announced and terminated, when known. If those dates are not known, but season(s) coached are known, then a start date of Jan. 1 and end date of Dec. 31 of the start and ending years are used if they coached the complete year. This applies to older coaching terms, usually prior to 1960. If a coach was terminated immediately after a game (as reported in news articles) prior to midnight, the next day is used as the termination date to give the coach credit for the last game coached. Interim coaches are given credit for all games they appear on the sidelines in the cases of firings, medical emergencies or other factors that caused a head coach to miss a game. This may affect the compilation of coaching records. CFLdb does not know the policy of the CFL for accrediting wins and losses to coaches who did not appear on the sidelines. For example, Don Matthews is listed by the CFL to have 231 career wins, while CFLdb Statistics compilation shows 230 wins.

Clubs

The term Club is used to associate the history of a team that has existed under different names. Examples include the Montreal Alouette and Concorde teams, Edmonton Eskimo, Football Team and Hamilton Tigers/Wildcats/Tiger-Cats. Club pages allow the complete history of the organization, no matter the team nickname, to be displayed, but do not offer season-by-season views. The canonical page for individual seasons remain the Team season pages.

Franchises

Only franchises that have seen the field are listed. Phantom franchises such as the conditional 1980's Halifax/Atlantic franchise or the 1993 San Antonio franchise are not considered to have existed.

The CFL's term for franchises is referred to as teams on CFLdb Statistics and is the primary organization method. For instance, the CFL's convention is all Montreal teams from the 1946 Montreal Alouettes through the Concordes to the present day Alouettes are one and the same franchise, in CFLdb vernacular, a single team. CFLdb Statistics also breaks down history by franchise, which is tied to the awarding of a franchise and survives transfers from city to city. For example, CFLdb Statistics lists Baltimore and the current Alouettes as the same franchise. This allows record comparisons by team, franchise and city (for instance, all Montreal teams, even those prior to the 1946 Alouettes).

Franchise Ownership

Ownership groups, membership, percentage of ownership, and dates are taken from media reports and information in CFL Facts, Figures and Records. When information is available to derive membership and percentages from known information, CFLdb attempts to do so in a neutral manner.

Stadiums

Stadium information has been compiled from media reports, CFL Facts, Figures and Records and other sources. The last capacity known is used in calculations until a known capacity change is available. This may affect figures like percentage of capacity.

Help CFLdb Statistics

If you have an issue with any of the conventions, estimates and choices CFLdb has made, please contact CFLdb, explain the issue CFLdb has created and provide a suggestion for correcting it. CFLdb also appreciates any data that can help fill in the gaps or provide new sections of information. Your assistance will be credited on the sources page or contributor page as you specify. See the contribute page for more information on current initiatives and how you can help.