SportsCage analyst Arash Madani thinks the Toronto Argonauts should have played the teams home games at the University of Guelph instead of in opposing teams’ stadiums while the 2026 FIFA World Cup is played at BMO Field in the summer.
“Friday, May 29, they’re playing a preseason home game in Guelph. They’re playing regular season home games in Regina against the Riders, in Winnipeg against the Bombers. I get the sense we’re gonna be talking about this a lot this season,” Madani said to SportsCage host Barney Shynkaruk.
“I’m all for the Argos playing in Guelph through all of this. The BC Lions have decided they’re gonna play two games in Kelowna, awesome. You’re the British Columbia Lions, let’s do it.”
The World Cup runs from June 11 to July 19 and takes place in stadiums throughout the USA, Mexico, and Canada. Toronto and B.C. are the two cities where Canada will host World Cup games, which meant the Argos and the Lions had to make alternate arrangements.
That is why Toronto will play in Regina, Winnipeg, and Hamilton as the home team, whereas the Lions will play two home games in Kelowna. 3DownNation.com reporter Justin Dunk asked MLSE president and CEO Keith Pelley why Toronto is playing three away games as the home team in 2026.
“We did a lot, we spent a lot of time doing research. We looked at every possible option: we looked at Guelph, we looked at Queen’s, we looked at U of T. The best way that we thought to do it next year was to put it in Hamilton and Winnipeg and in Saskatchewan,” Pelley told 3DownNation.com.
“The reason being is we didn’t want to host a game with 5,000 or 7,000 fans, that was predominantly why we made the decision. We know that we could have probably easily have gotten 7,000 or 10,000 at a game, but we didn’t want to do that and we didn’t think that was great for the brand.”
The University of Guelph hosts Gryphons football games at Alumni Stadium, according to the school, the capacity is 8,500, but it can be expanded to fit more fans.