Calgary to host 2026 Grey Cup game

November 8, 2024 Canuck

Calgary will host the 113th Grey Cup when the CFL championship game is held in 2026, league commissioner Randy Ambrosie announced on Friday.

The game is scheduled to be held at McMahon Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026.

“It is a city that is renowned for its hospitality and its ability to throw a good party,” Ambrosie said. “We are looking forward to one of the great Grey Cup parties of all time.”

Ambrosie made the announcement Friday at McMahon alongside Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek, Calgary Sports and Entertainment president and CEO Robert Hayes, Calgary Stampeders president Jay McNeil and Alberta Minister of Tourism and Sport Joseph Schow.

The event will mark the sixth time that Calgary has hosted the game, after it was previously played at McMahon in 1975, 1993, 2000, 2009 and 2019.

McNeil announced that Stampede Park will host a Grey Cup Festival through the week leading up to the game, with plans for a series of concerts to run each night. He added that another Grey Cup Rodeo, which was included ahead of the 2019 Grey Cup, is also being planned for 2026.

This year’s championship game is scheduled for Nov. 17 at B.C. Place in Vancouver. The CFL’s division finals are set for this weekend with the Toronto Argonauts battling the Montreal Alouettes, and the Saskatchewan Roughriders taking on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The two winners of these games will face off at B.C. Place a week later.

When Calgary hosted the Grey Cup in 2019, Ambrosie called for the city to begin discussing plans to replace McMahon Stadium, saying it “is not up to the standards of modern sport.” He also said at the time that he’d like to say 2019 would be the last time the league would host a Grey Cup at McMahon.

Calgary's McMahon Stadium will host the CFL's Grey Cup for the sixth time on Nov. 15, 2026. — Calgary’s McMahon Stadium, one of the league’s oldest stadiums, will host the CFL’s Grey Cup for the sixth time in 2026. (Dayne Patterson/CBC)

The aging stadium opened in 1960. On Friday, Ambrosie acknowledged McMahon is an old stadium that lacks modern features compared to Mosaic Stadium in Regina and Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg.

“You can’t hide from the fact that this is an old stadium,” said Ambrosie, who noted his CFL career began in Calgary when he was a first round draft pick taken by the Stampeders in 1985, and he later won a Grey Cup at McMahon when it hosted the Grey Cup in 1993.

“I love it. I won a Grey Cup here. This stadium will always hold a special place in my heart. But it’s an old stadium with old facilities. They are going to do everything they can to make it as shiny and hospitable as they can.”

McNeil said the team will have to work with the CFL and the McMahon Stadium Society to see what can be done to prepare the stadium ahead of next year’s game. On Friday, he suggested expanding the stadium’s concourses to create more space for food and beverage options and washrooms.

He added that now that Calgary is getting a new hockey arena, he’ll have a conversation with anyone who will listen about a new stadium for the team.

Schow touted the economic benefits the game will bring to Calgary, saying he expected it to generate more than $50 million in economic return, with the province contributing $4 million to the event. He added that the province’s funding is not going toward renovating McMahon Stadium, and that conversations about the facility’s needs are still ongoing.

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