EDM to host 2018 Grey Cup

CFL Talk
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Edmonton will play host to the 2018 Grey Cup.

A press conference to announce Edmonton as the site for the 106th Grey Cup, your correspondent has learned, will be held next week.

The fifth Grey Cup hosting in Edmonton’s history, the 2018 event will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Commonwealth Stadium and the completion of 70 seasons of Edmonton Eskimos football.

Previous Grey Cups were held here in 1984, 1997, 2002 and 2010, drawing crowds of 60,081, 60,431, 62,531 and 63,317, respectively.

With Hamilton in a new stadium and not having played host since 1996, Montreal not having held the game since 2008 and Calgary also technically ahead of Edmonton in “the rotation,? it wasn’t considered a slam dunk that the 2018 Grey Cup would be coming to Commonwealth Stadium.

There is a belief the Stampeders may have decided McMahon Stadium is no longer up to a standard that matches the new stadiums in Ottawa, Winnipeg and Regina and eliminated itself from consideration as a Grey Cup host until they, too, have a new home.

However, Saskatchewan decided to hold the game one last time in old Taylor Field, a.k.a. Mosaic Stadium while the new Mosaic, where the Roughriders begin play this year, was on the drawing boards

More here

[url=http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/cfl/edmonton-eskimos/terry-jones-edmonton-to-host-2018-grey-cup]http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/footb ... 8-grey-cup[/url]

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Congratulations Edmonton. :thup:

Hate those Esks, but it is not about that ( had to get it in ). :smiley:

Edmonton has always done a great job hosting and will do so in 2018.

Just hope Mother Nature is in a good mood. :wink:

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Good decision by the league :thup:

Though I’m confident they’ll pull off a good job but they can’t get too greedy either.

Hopefully this will get enough time for Hamilton to be ready in 2019 and perhaps Regina in 2020.

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Congrats to Edmonton :thup: I'm sure they'll do a terrific bang up job of it and it sure will be fun watching the Cats win the Cup in Edmonton :smiley: :wink: ..........that is of course after we win it in Ottawa this year . :slight_smile: 8)

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Realistically, Hamilton will have to have things sorted out within about 5-6 months to be putting in a bit for 2019. Is that likely?? I don’t know how far along that whole process is.

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Still love the look of Commonwealth even if some of the seating is farther back than need be from the field because of the track at one time.

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That's great that its in Edmonton. It will be nice to see a Grey cup with 50-60k fans at it.

Went to a Grey Cup in Edmonton once before and had a blast.

Hate the Esks, but congrats.

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Stamps in 2018 in Edmonton? Would love to see that.

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That would be a sweet make up.

I was in serious pain in 1993 , when I had to go to the Cup and watch Everybody’s Enemy win our Cup in our stadium. :cry: :cry:

It has been 24 years and I have never gotten over it.

What stands out was in the 93 WF, it was a near blizzard freeze that took the high octane Flutie O out of the game .

Next week, the Grey Cup was played in a warm chinook.

Mother Nature can be so cruel.

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I would disagree that Calgary pulled out.

Any franchise that has a chance to host , will want to host.

The Cup is a big time money maker.

Besides, if the Stamps did not want it, they would not have bid in the first place.

Further, there is only a 1 year difference between Stamps ( 2009 ) and Esks ( 2010 ).
So the " rotation " would not come into it anyway.

I will suggest the CFL looked at both and decided Edmonton was the best option.

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Finally, back to a Grey Cup crowd 60,000+ with hopefully more realistic Grey Cup ticket prices

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...good choice, Edmonton will do a great job hosting this GC...

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Edmonton has best combination of stadium infrastructure, hotel capacity, mass transit and fan support on the prairies. Simply the best choice for this Grey Cup.

I am confident they will sell out all 56,000 seats for the Grey Cup prior to the regular season provided they keep prices reasonable as they did in 2010. Get greedy with price points as hosts from 2014-16 did, and there is high likelihood Edmonton till struggle to sell out the game. Given the large capacity and no need for additional temporary seating there really is no need to charge exorbitant prices.

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I'm happy about the choice.

A 1 day train ride on the VIA, from Vancouver....no worries about driving.

Last yr 4 day trip on the Via to the TO Grey Cup turn the trip into a 18 day affair.

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Are planes not generally cheaper in a lot of Canada? I do love to do a nice train trip, don’t get me wrong, but long distance trips here are sadly not reliable for punctuality

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I love the train, and have the extra time to take it. If you go online on a Tuesday, they have deals up to 75%off.

Last yr for my hunny and I, it was 1650 all in for the round trip from Van to TO. (we booked it in July) West Jet was around the same price out of Abbotsford (I refuse to go to Vancouver airport)

Plus the stop in Jasper is one of my favs.

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Thanks for the tip. I loved taking the train through much of eastern and western Europe, but have not used it a lot in NA simply because the prices are often ridiculous. About 5 years ago we priced out going by train to the west coast, but I could have literally bought a brand new car for the price (it was stunning at well over 6k per ticket). I actually ran it online twice, then called in to verify because I thought there was an error. Needless to say, we flew.

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Very well said.

There is a belief the Stampeders may have decided McMahon Stadium is no longer up to a standard that matches the new stadiums in Ottawa, Winnipeg and Regina and eliminated itself from consideration as a Grey Cup host until they, too, have a new home.
Who’s BELIEF. No new stadium in the plans or on anyone’s table. Present stadium is as good as most in the league and Calgarians are great hosts. Calgary would have jump at the chance to host a grey cup over the next 5 years and they will. Gee’s

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I was at the Grey Cup in 2010, sold out crowd, Sask vs Montreal. Downtown was bumping and full of energy and over 120,000 fans. Honestly no better city in Canada to host it. We should be in the rotation way more often than every 8 years (I know there are other teams). It's a no-brainer to ditch Calgary until they get a new stadium. Edmonton could charge $99 for the bronze seating and up to $300 for the premium seats and more for box seats. We have 56,000 seats now instead of 63,000. It'll be an easy sellout. I'm pumped! :thup:

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First, there is no official " rotation ".

It is about bids. If there are 2 or 3 bids, the CFL will take into consideration who has had the longest wait.

If there was a rotation, Hammer would have had it more than 1 time in 20 years.

Now, " no-brainer to ditch Calgary " Thanks.

Lets go one step further.
Calgary should not even host the West final because of the stadium.
That is right. Blackmail us . Even if we have first place we should be forced to play in the stadium of the semi final winner for the West Final.

Or better yet.
Suspend the Stamps until an unwanted tax payer funded stadium is built.
Yes dump millions into a stadium that will be used 10 x a year.

It would be best, to go back to 8 teams to make scheduling easier anyway.

Let’s do it. Kick Calgary out of the CFL.