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TheEast Division is one of the two regional divisions of theCanadian Football League, its counterpart being theWest Division. Although the CFL was not founded until 1958, the East Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagues.

The four teams in the division are theToronto Argonauts,Hamilton Tiger-Cats,Montreal Alouettes, andOttawa Redblacks. Several now-defunct teams have also played in the East Division includingtwo teams from the United States and a large number of teams that have played in Hamilton, Montreal, and Ottawa prior to the current teams from those cities. Additionally, current West Division team, theWinnipeg Blue Bombers have, in the past, spent a number of seasons in the East over three separate stints.

The first organizedfootball club inCanada was theHamilton Foot Ball Club, a predecessor of theHamilton Tiger-Cats, in 1869. This was followed by the formation of theMontreal Foot Ball Club in 1872, theToronto Argonaut Football Club in 1873 and theOttawa Football Club (the future Ottawa Rough Riders) in 1876.^[1][2]

The first organized competitions were formed in 1883, when theOntario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) and theQuebec Rugby Football Union (QRFU) were founded. At the time the sport was generally calledrugby union orrugby football because its rules were similar to rugby union's, although this would change drastically in the coming decades. The following year, the two provincial unions would form theCanadian Rugby Football Union (CRFU), with Montreal winning thefirst national championship later that year. The CRFU collapsed before the decade was out, but was re-organized as the Canadian Rugby Union (CRU) in 1891, withOsgoode Hall winning the first CRU championship the following year.

The turn of the 20th century was marked by fundamental changes in the rules of the game. The ORFU was the first competition to adopt theBurnside Rules, which were to revolutionize the Canadian game. The QRFU and CRU initially resisted the changes, but by 1906 the Burnside Rules were in force throughoutOntario andQuebec. Although substantial changes (such asforward passing) were still to come, modern Canadian football would ultimately evolve from John Thrift Meldrum Burnside's code.

W. A. Hewitt was vice-president of the ORFU, and represented the Toronto Argonauts.^[3][4] He sought for ORFU to have uniform rules of play with the CRU, with a preference to use thesnap-back system of play used in Ontario.^[5] In December 1906,The Gazette reported that a proposal originated from Ottawa for the ORFU and the QRFU to merge, which would allow for higher calibre of play and create rivalries.^[4] Hewitt helped organize the meeting which established the IRFU in 1907.

In 1907, in a meeting organized by Hewitt,^[6] the ORFU's Hamilton Tigers and Toronto Argonauts joined with the QRFU's Montreal Foot Ball Club and Ottawa Rough Riders (Ottawa had been moving back and forth between the two unions over the past few years) to form an elite competition, the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (more commonly known as the "Big Four"). Montreal won the first championship that year, taking home the James Dixon Trophy. In 1909Lord Grey, thegovernor general of Canada, donated a trophy to be awarded to the CRU champion. The trophy, which became known as theGrey Cup, was not won by an IRFU club until the Hamilton Tigers captured the trophy in 1913. Following the 1915 season, the IRFU suspended competition because ofWorld War I, and did not fully resume until 1920.

From 1925 until 1953, IRFU teams dominated Canadian football, winning 18 of the 26 Grey Cups its clubs contested in that timespan (the IRFU suspended operations from 1942 through 1944 because ofWorld War II). During this period, the calibre of play in the IRFU was recognized as being on par with any league in North America. The Big Four attracted considerable interest in theUnited States and even had its games televised by theNational Broadcasting Company for a time during the 1950s (in fact, these games were more widely available than their NFL counterparts). This interest eventually declined as theNational Football League gained prominence and theAmerican Football League rose in popularity. During this time, the IRFU became increasingly professionalized. However, in order to keep up the pretense of amateurism, players were usually paid under the table.

By the mid-1950s, the Big Four had dropped all pretense of amateurism, and it was clear that it was a far higher calibre competition than the ORFU (the Quebec union had faded from the scene in the early part of the century), the only purely amateur union still competing for the Grey Cup. Moreover, theWestern Interprovincial Football Union had been gaining strength over the last two decades, and its level of play was almost on par with that of the IRFU. The WIFU's champion had faced the Big Four's champion in the Grey Cup final every season since 1945, and it proved capable of winning the Grey Cup on a regular basis during this decade. Following the 1954 season, the ORFU finally stopped challenging for the Grey Cup, thus making the game a contest between the champions of the IRFU in the East and the WIFU in the West. Although it was another four years before the amateurs were formally locked out of Grey Cup play, this marks the start of the modern era of Canadian football.

In 1956, the Big Four and WIFU agreed to form theCanadian Football Council. In 1958, the CFC withdrew from the CRU and renamed itself theCanadian Football League. The new league assumed control of the Grey Cup, though it had been thede facto professional championship for four years before then.

The IRFU changed its name to theEastern Football Conference in 1960. In 1961, the EFC agreed to a partial interlocking schedule with what was known by then as theWestern Football Conference. Although the EFC was part of the CFL, its merger with the WFC was only a partial merger for the next two decades. During this time, the conferences maintained considerable autonomy, much likeMajor League Baseball's two leagues operated during the 20th century. For example, the East had a different playoff format until 1973 and a shorter schedule until 1974. During this time, attendances increased substantially for most clubs and television revenue gained prominence and importance. By the 1980s, however, rising player salaries had caused considerable financial losses for some teams. In an effort to bolster the league's stability, the CFL decided to proceed with a complete merger of the two regional conferences.

In 1981, the CFL's two conferences agreed to a full merger and a full interlocking schedule. Although the EFC has carried on since that time as the CFL's East Division, full authority was now vested within the CFL. The decision to create a full interlocking schedule meant that the teams were playing fewer divisional games, consequently the league decided to add two extra divisional games per team, thus extending the schedule to 18 games per team starting in 1986.

The East Division has undergone major changes since the dissolution of the EFC. Following the 1981 season theMontreal Alouettes folded. They were refounded in time for the 1982 season as theMontreal Concordes. The new owners restored the Alouettes name in 1986, but this franchise folded shortly before the start of the 1987 regular season. Consequently, theWinnipeg Blue Bombers, the easternmost team in the West Division, were transferred to the East Division to keep the divisions equal in size. This led to the first "all-Western" Grey Cup in 1988 when the Blue Bombers won the East Division championship for the first time.

In 1994, the CFL decided toexpand further into the United States after admitting theSacramento Gold Miners as the first U.S. team a year earlier. This led to the addition of the twoAmerican-based teams in the East, theShreveport Pirates and a team inBaltimore that would eventually be called theStallions after the NFL successfully prevented the team from using the name "Colts". Baltimore would go on to win the East Division championship in 1994. For the 1995 season, all eight Canadian teams competed in the North Division, while the five American teams formed the South Division.

Prior to the 1996 season however, all of the American clubs disbanded. The owner of one, the Grey Cup champion Stallions, moved his organization toMontreal as the third and current incarnation of the Alouettes. However, while the Alouettes are now officially reckoned as having suspended operations from 1987 to 1995, they do not acknowledge their past as the Stallions. The pre-1987 divisional alignment was restored, only to see Winnipeg return to the East after one season when theOttawa Rough Riders folded. The Blue Bombers returned to the West in 2002 after theOttawa Renegades commenced play in the nation's capital. With the suspension of the Renegades in 2006, the Blue Bombers again were transferred to the East Division. With the East DivisionOttawa Redblacks beginning play in 2014, the Blue Bombers moved back to the West Division again.

Prior to 1954, Eastern clubs dominated the Grey Cup. For most of the modern era, however, the West has generally been on an equal footing and in recent decades has often dominated the East in the regular season. From 1954 to 2016, the East won 27 Grey Cups and lost 35. This is not counting the 1995 season. Two of the East's Grey Cup wins were by the Blue Bombers, who have played in the West for most of their history.

Since 1955, three teams have competed in the East playoffs in most seasons. Only the top two teams qualified for the post-season in 1986 when an earlier form of thecross-over rule was in force, while four teams qualified in 1994 when there were six teams. In 1997, the present cross-over rule was implemented, allowing the fourth place team from one division to take the play-off place of the third place team in the other division, should the fourth place team earn a better record. From 1997 to 2016, the fourth place team in the West has taken advantage of the cross-over rule nine times, including four times when there were equal teams in the divisions. However, it was not until2008 that a West team (Edmonton) advanced to the East Final, and only four other teams (the2009 BC Lions,2016 Eskimos,2017 Saskatchewan Roughriders and2019 Eskimos) have won a game since. Neither crossover team won more than one playoff game.

Since the implementation of the crossover rule, the closest an East team has come to earning a cross-over berth in the West playoffs was in2001 when fourth placeToronto finished one point behind third placeBC.

• Toronto Argonauts (formed 1873, joined 1907)
• Hamilton Tiger-Cats (formed 1950 as a result of the merger between theHamilton Tigers andHamilton Wildcats)
• Montreal Alouettes (formed 1946, renamed Concordes in 1982, renamed Alouettes in 1986, suspended operations in 1987, returned in 1996)
• Ottawa Redblacks (formed 2010, began play 2014)

• Hamilton Tigers (formed in 1869, joined in 1907, merged with the Hamilton Wildcats to form theHamilton Tiger-Cats in 1950)
• Montreal Football Club (formed in 1872, joined in 1907, disbanded in 1915)
• Ottawa Rough Riders (formed in 1876, joined in 1907, disbanded in 1996)
• Montreal AAA Winged Wheelers (joined in 1919, disbanded in 1935)
• Montreal Indians/Cubs/Royals/Bulldogs (Indians joined in 1936, replaced by Cubs in 1938, replaced by Royals in 1939, disbanded in 1941)
• Hamilton Wildcats (formed in 1941, joined in 1948, merged with the Hamilton Tigers to form the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1950)
• Montreal Hornets (1945)
• Baltimore Stallions (formed in 1994, played in South Division in 1995; relocated to Montreal in 1996)
• Shreveport Pirates (formed in 1994, played in South Division in 1995; disbanded)
• Ottawa Renegades (formed in 2002, suspended in 2006)
• Winnipeg Blue Bombers (formed in 1930, played in the East Division 1987–1994, 1997–2001, and 2006–2013)

This reflectsWinnipeg Blue Bombers,Baltimore Football Club, andShreveport Pirates results only while in the East Division.

• Canadian Football League divisions

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