Following the war, the league resumed play in 1945 with Winnipeg, Regina and the newly formed Calgary Stampeders. In 1945, the three teams competed in a playoff in lieu of a regular season, but the competition was fully resumed by 1946. The Regina Roughriders became the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1948, the Edmonton Eskimos permanently rejoined the league in 1949 and in 1950 the third place team was once again granted a playoff berth. The regular season schedule was also expanded, from eight games per team in 1946 to 12 in 1948 and 14 in 1949 before settling on a 16-game schedule in 1952. The West's schedule would remain longer than any other regular season schedule in professional football for more than two decades. The expansion of the schedule coincided with the WIFU's gradual transition into a professional competition. However, players were paid under the table well into the 1940s in order to keep up the pretense of amateurism, though it was an open secret that the WIFU had become professional. The WIFU's increasing professionalism, combined with the growing use of air travel in Canada, made expansion to Vancouver a more feasible option. In 1954, the BC Lions joined the league, thus giving the West the same five teams that compete in the modern CFL.