Canada’s biggest party and one of the nation’s most-watched sporting events has returned to Edmonton.
This is the fifth time the CFL Championship will be played at Commonwealth Stadium.
72nd Grey Cup: Nov. 18, 1984
The first Grey Cup ever played in Edmonton and at Commonwealth Stadium was on Nov. 18, 1984.
It was the Winnipeg Blue Bombers versus the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The temperature at kickoff was -10.9 C with snow. A sold-out crowd of 60,081 watched as Hamilton took an early 17-3 lead. But in the end, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers crushed the Hamilton Tiger-Cats by a score of 47-17.
85th Grey Cup: Nov. 16, 1997
Edmonton would have to wait 13 years to host another Grey Cup. The football championship returned to Commonwealth Stadium on Nov. 16, 1997 but it wasn’t the league’s first choice.
The game was supposed to be held in Baltimore, Md. It would have been the first time the Grey Cup was played outside of Canada but the Stallions were relocated to Montreal and the game was moved to Edmonton. The halftime show was Trooper.
The heavily favoured Toronto Argonauts under the helm of head coach Don Matthews and quarterback Doug Flutie faced off against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. A sell-out crowd of 60,431 was in attendance. The temperature was around -10 with wind and snow. The final score was 47 to 23 Argos.
90th Grey Cup: Nov. 24, 2002
The Edmonton Eskimos would finally get a chance to win the Grey Cup on home turf in 2002. The team was led by quarterback Ricky Ray and head coach Tim Higgins. A win would also be significant for the Montreal Alouettes, who hadn’t won a Grey Cup since 1977.
The game was played on Nov. 24 in front of 62, 531 fans. Shania Twain performed the halftime show.
The temperature was 2 C. It was a close battle that included a 17-yard touchdown pass to Ed Hervey with 19 seconds remaining in regulation. But in the end it wasn’t enough, and Montreal won by a score of 25 to 16.
98th Grey Cup: Nov. 28, 2010
The Grey Cup game returned to Commonwealth Stadium on Nov. 28, 2010 for a rematch of the 2009 final of Montreal and Saskatchewan.
This time, attendance swelled; 68,317 were in attendance and for the first time in Edmonton the championship game was played on artificial turf. The halftime show was Bachman & Turner.
The Grey Cup featured Montreal and Saskatchewan, and the Alouettes once again beat Saskatchewan by a score of 21 to 18 to hoist the Grey Cup. The temperature hovered around -7.
READ MORE: Calgary to host Grey Cup in 2019
WATCH BELOW:The big game is still a few days away but Grey Cup celebrations were well underway Thursday. While the Calgary Stampeders are in enemy territory, they’re keeping tradition alive. Lisa MacGregor reports.
Alberta will be home to back-to-back championship games. Calgary is scheduled to host the 107th Grey Cup on Nov. 24, 2019. Like Edmonton, it will also be the city’s fifth time hosting. The last time the final and the festival were in Calgary was in 2009.
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