Montreal Machine

The Montreal Machine were the sole Canadian (and non-U.S.-based North American) team in the World League of American Football (WLAF), a springtime developmental professional league set up by the National Football League (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/Template:Frac-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's Montreal Alouettes in 1987. It was the first American football team in Canada since the Montreal Beavers, Toronto Rifles and Victoria Steelers, which all played in the Continental Football League 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); the North American teams were folded, thus becoming a purely European league. The Machine played their home games at Olympic Stadium 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, 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 Montreal Alouettes commenced play. The Alouettes had been revived by the owners of the Baltimore Stallions, 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

Season	League	Regular season					Postseason
		Won	Lost	Ties	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
1991	WLAF	4	6	0	.400	3rd Template:Small	–	–	—	—
1992	WLAF	2	8	0	.200	3rd Template:Small	–	–	—	—
Total		6	14	0	.300		–	–	—

1991 season

Personnel

Staff

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Results

style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Week	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Date	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Opponent	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Result	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Record	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Venue	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Attendance
1	Template:Dow tooltip	at Birmingham Fire	W 20–5	1–0	Legion Field	52,942
2	Template:Dow tooltip	Barcelona Dragons	L 10–34	1–1	Olympic Stadium	53,238
3	Template:Dow tooltip	Birmingham Fire	W 23–10	2–1	Olympic Stadium	27,766
4	Template:Dow tooltip	New York/New Jersey Knights	L 0–44	2–2	Olympic Stadium	34,821
5	Template:Dow tooltip	at London Monarchs	L 7–45	2–3	Wembley Stadium	35,294
6	Template:Dow tooltip	at Frankfurt Galaxy	L 7–17	2–4	Waldstadion	25,269
7	Template:Dow tooltip	at Sacramento Surge	W 26–23 Template:Small	3–4	Charles C. Hughes Stadium	17,326
8	Template:Dow tooltip	Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks	W 15–6	4–4	Olympic Stadium	20,123
9	May 19	at San Antonio Riders	L 10–27	4–5	Alamo Stadium	20,234
10	Template:Dow tooltip	Orlando Thunder	L 27–33 Template:Small	4–6	Olympic Stadium	23,493

1992 season

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