Grey Cup will be in Hamilton Dec. 12, CFL says
‘We will play CFL football this year’ as league targets Aug. 5 start to regular season
It’s wise to remember — and probably impossible to forget — that the pandemic is behind the wheel and that the rest of us, including the CFL, are riding shotgun.
So, all plans are, in reality, targets. All schedules are working models. In all areas of life, we have already been through a full cycle of optimism attached to an inherent caution alert.
Still, it’s understandable that the CFL, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the City of Hamilton are viewing Wednesday’s two football postponements from the sunny side of the street, not the other one.
For one thing, all nine franchise owners actually agreed to agree on something. Pass the smelling salts.
Most importantly locally, the league reconfirmed its commitment to staging the 2021 Grey Cup at Tim Hortons Field. And
the Labour Day Classic is still on the table.
It’s also the first time that league commissioner Randy Ambrosie has unequivocally stated that “there will be CFL football in 2021.” He’d always hedged his bets on that one.
The target opening for a 2021 season, reduced from 18 games to 14, has been moved back nearly two months from June 10 to Aug. 5. And the Grey Cup Game has been postponed three weeks from Nov. 21 to Sunday, Dec. 12.
In a statement, Ticat owner Bob Young called Ambrosie’s announcement of the return to play target, “welcome news that we will be playing football this season. The Tiger-Cats organization has been steadfast in our commitment to playing football in 2021. Our business is all about entertaining our fans and delivering value to our partners by playing football.
“Moving the 108th Grey Cup game to Dec. 12 allows us to play as many regular season games as possible this year in light of the unavoidable delays to the start of the season. The priority for us is to get our players back on the field to play as much football as possible.”
Ryan McHugh is manager of tourism and events for Toursim Hamilton which has represented the city in Grey Cup discussions with the CFL and the Ticats. He says the decision to delay but reaffirm the Grey Cup in Hamilton was the CFL’s and that “we’re fully committed to having a successful and safe Grey Cup in Hamilton.”
No specific plans for the revised season were revealed Wednesday, but Ambrosie said the league will be flexible and creative, because with teams already facing huge losses over the past 14 months, the goal is to play when and where fans can attend. It’s an attendance-financed league, with more than half of its annual income derived from game days.
If hard-hit Ontario and Quebec, where all four Eastern teams are housed, cannot open venues to the public, more early-season games could be scheduled for western locales which are deemed safe for players, teams and fans who want to attend. There are no plans for a “bubble” concept.
Similarly, there was nothing specific about Grey Cup week other than its delay by three weeks. The Ticats emphasized in November that they were focusing intensely on plans for the 2021 Cup.
“Full marks go to Bob Young, and (Ticat executives) Scott Mitchell and Matt Afinec for their support,” Ambrosie told The Spectator a few minutes after Tuesday’s announcement. “We want to play as much football as we can this year, and they fully embraced the concept of ‘how do we successfully deliver what is a national celebration, the Grey Cup?’
“There is optimism built into this but I think, all things being equal, we can all agree that there is reason for optimism that by Dec. 12 we’ll have fought off this terrible health care crisis than to come together for a unifying Grey Cup. I can think of no better place for that than Hamilton.”
Ambrosie said that on Wednesday morning the league staff would turn its efforts to working more pointedly on details of several potential formats for the regular season. The Ticats have already been doing that, in regard to the Grey Cup, for months.
“The reason for not having specific details today is that the world is always changing before our eyes,” Ambrosie said. “Look at what has happened just the past few days in Ontario.”
Regina, announced as 2020 Grey Cup host two years ago on the same night Hamilton also got the 2021 nod, was awarded the 2022 Cup even before the 2020 season and Grey Cup were eventually postponed because it was clear that even if it were played in Saskatchewan that game wouldn’t reap the same economic benefits as anticipated.
Would Hamilton have the same benefit, should December’s Grey Cup have to have attendance restricted to the point the local economic impact is significantly reduced?
“We’re not entirely sure of what will be allowed or not be allowed, but our perspective is very simple: the Grey Cup game is fundamental to our league and Canadian culture and we want it in Hamilton this year,” Ambrosie told The Spectator.
McHugh says the city, is “preparing for 2021 and making it happen successfully and safely. We have to be prepared for any eventuality and we’re prepared to have any discussions related to any contingencies if circumstances require.”
For the immediate future, the Ticats football staff is working on the May 4 CFL draft. Training camp, which was to open a week later at McMaster is, of course, cancelled. To meet an Aug. 5 Opening Day target, camp would likely have to begin no later than the weekend of July 17-18.
It’s not known if training camp rosters will be reduced. Some sources have told The Spectator the usual 100-or-so players would be invited, others sources have said teams are also planning for a smaller invitee list.