When the Saskatchewan Roughriders defeated the BC Lions in the Western Final on Saturday, the team was expected to have a home locker room at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg for the Gray Cup.
Traditionally, the winner of the Western Division is considered the home team of Gray Cups played at Western Division stadiums, and vice versa. Winnipeg had a home locker room for the 109th Gray Cup at Mosaic Stadium in Regina – a game they lost to the Toronto Argonauts 24-23 – so it stands to reason the Roughriders would be happy to return the favor to their prairie foes.
However, the league will now alternate annually between the winners of the West and East divisions as the Gray Cup host team, a spokesman confirmed. 3DownNation.
Thus, the Montreal Alouettes are officially named the home team for Sunday's championship game. The Eastern Division champions will wear a blue home kit and will use the Blue Bombers locker room while the Roughriders will wear white and use the Manitoba Bisons locker room.
The change was made because at least four consecutive Gray Cups will be played in the same half of the country – Vancouver in 2024, Winnipeg in 2025, Calgary in 2026 and Regina in 2027. Instead of forcing the Eastern Division champions to be the road team four years in a row, they will now be the “host” in 2025 and 2027. The winner of the West Division will remain the home team next year at McMahon. Stadium.
However, there is one caveat to this rule change: the host city club automatically becomes the home team if it qualifies for the Gray Cup, regardless of which division it represents. For example, the Blue Bombers would have been the home team for Sunday's game if they had qualified, negating the new rotation rule.
With Western Division markets hosting at least four Gray Cups in a row, it makes sense that Eastern Division markets will likely host multiple Gray Cups in a row starting in 2028 or so. Montreal has not hosted a CFL championship game since 2008, and Toronto and Ottawa have not hosted a CFL championship game since 2016 and 2017, respectively.
This new rule is intended to ensure balance between divisions – provided, of course, that the CFL does not change the divisional structure of its playoffs.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders (13-6) and Montreal Alouettes (12-8) will meet in the 112th Gray Cup at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg on Sunday, November 16, with kickoff scheduled for 6:00 pm EST.
The Alouettes defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Eastern final by a score of 19-16.Bye The Roughriders came back to defeat the BC Lions in the Western final, 24-21.. The teams split their two regular-season meetings, although Montreal quarterback Davis Alexander missed both games with a hamstring injury.
The weather forecast for Winnipeg calls for a high of two degrees, sun and clouds. The game will be broadcast on TSN, CTV and RDS in Canada, CBS Sports Network in the US and CFL+ worldwide.
This is the fifth time the Gray Cup will be held in Winnipeg and the second time it will be held at Princess Auto Stadium. The stadium's first Gray Cup was held in 2015, when the Edmonton football team defeated the Ottawa Redblacks 26–20 and Michael Reilly was named the game's MVP.
