| 1983 CFL season | |
|---|---|
| East champions | Toronto Argonauts |
| West champions | BC Lions |
| 71st Grey Cup | |
| Date | November 27, 1983 |
| Champions | Toronto Argonauts |
The 1983 CFL season is considered to be the 30th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 26th Canadian Football League season.
The CFL re-signed with Carling O'Keefe Breweries to another record television contract worth $33 million to cover a three-year period from 1983 to 1986.
The BC Lions opened their new stadium, BC Place this season, and with it, introduced shorter endzones to its stadium (20 yards in length as opposed to the then-standard 25 yards). This was because the floor of the stadium was too short to accommodate the 25 yard endzones; the shorter endzone length would become standard in the CFL three years later, in 1986.
The league's attendance levels reached an all-time high for all football games with 2,856,031. The Grey Cup game between the Toronto Argonauts and the BC Lions was played in front of 59,345 football fans at BC Place Stadium (the first lion gross gate).
In addition, CBC, CTV and Radio-Canada's coverage of the Grey Cup game attracted the largest viewing audience in television history for a Canadian sports program with 8,118,000.
The Toronto Argonauts won their first Grey Cup Championship since 1952. This would be the last season all three of the CFL's Ontario-based teams qualified for the playoffs until the 2015 season.
Terry Greer set a pro football record for most receiving yards with 2,003.
Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points
| Team | GP | W | L | T | PF | PA | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BC Lions | 16 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 477 | 326 | 22 |
| Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 16 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 412 | 402 | 18 |
| Edmonton Eskimos | 16 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 450 | 377 | 16 |
| Calgary Stampeders | 16 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 425 | 378 | 16 |
| Saskatchewan Roughriders | 16 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 360 | 536 | 10 |
| Team | GP | W | L | T | Pts | PF | PA | Div | Stk | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Argonauts | 16 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 24 | 452 | 328 | 4–2 | W2 | Details |
| Ottawa Rough Riders | 16 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 16 | 384 | 424 | 2–4 | L2 | Details |
| Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 16 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 11 | 389 | 498 | 3–2–1 | T1 | Details |
| Montreal Concordes | 16 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 11 | 367 | 447 | 2–3–1 | T1 | Details |
|
Main article: 71st Grey Cup |
The Toronto Argonauts are the 1983 Grey Cup champions, defeating the BC Lions, 18–17, in front of their home crowd at Vancouver's BC Place Stadium. This was Toronto's first championship in 31 years, ending the league's longest drought at that time. The Argonauts' Joe Barnes (QB) was named the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player on Offence and Carl Brazley (DB) was named Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player on Defence. The Lions' Rick Klassen (DT) was named the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Canadian.
| November 13: Division Semifinals | November 20: Division Finals | November 27: 71st Grey Cup @ BC Place Stadium – Vancouver, BC | ||||||||||||
| E3 | Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 36 | ||||||||||||
| East | ||||||||||||||
| E1 | Toronto Argonauts | 41 | ||||||||||||
| E3 | Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 33 | ||||||||||||
| E2 | Ottawa Rough Riders | 31 | ||||||||||||
| E1 | Toronto Argonauts | 18 | ||||||||||||
| W1 | BC Lions | 17 | ||||||||||||
| W2 | Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 21 | ||||||||||||
| West | ||||||||||||||
| W1 | BC Lions | 39 | ||||||||||||
| W3 | Edmonton Eskimos | 22 | ||||||||||||
| W2 | Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 49 | ||||||||||||
