Canadian teams were facing their own troubles, particularly with attendance. The eight Canadian teams were down to an average of 22,740 in 1994, a drop of 3,000 from the previous year. It marked the beginning of an historic trough in Canadian CFL attendance that would last for most of the 1990s. A massive league-wide season ticket drive was undertaken prior to 1995. Commissioner Larry Smith told the Rough Riders and Tiger-Cats that unless they sold more tickets, they would be forced to either fold or move. Ottawa owner Bruce Firestone went bankrupt after the 1994 season, placing the team in the hands of Horn Chen, who turned out to be its final owner. In Calgary, Ryckman suggested he would move the Stampeders to the United States unless fans stepped up with 16,000 season tickets. While season ticket goals were met, the overall increase in attendance was modest in 1995 to 24,406 and would be wiped out the next year. In Toronto, Bruce McNall's finances collapsed in the midst of revelations of financial wrongdoing, and because Wayne Gretzky's salary relied on McNall, and John Candy had put his share in the team up for sale the day he died, hours before his death, the Argonauts effectively had no owners; the team would be operated by league television partner TSN through the rest of the 1990s.
