Tyson Philpot has Olympic dreams — not only to win a medal in Los Angeles, but also to find out what CFL interest the event could generate.

“Can you imagine on that big of a stage someone [from Team Canada] makes a catch on an elite American player or wherever they are from, and the announcer says, ‘This is the Montreal Alouettes’ CFL receiver‘?” Philpot told 3DownNation.

“Now everybody’s Googling, ‘What’s the CFL?’ ‘Why isn’t this guy in the NFL?’ Little conversations like that I think can grow our league exponentially and that’s what it’s about — getting our names on the biggest stage.”

The Delta, B.C. native can perform on a big stage, look no further for proof than his game-winning catch in the 110th Grey Cup and being named the game’s Most Valuable Canadian. When asked what would be a bigger stage between the Olympics and the Grey Cup, the 25-year-old feels it’s the former.

“I would probably have to say the Olympics, because the outreach that you can get. You’re representing your country, not just a Canadian league, you’re representing the maple leaf,” Philpot said.

“I grew up watching hockey, I grew up watching track and field. Never in my dreams did I think I would watch football at the Olympics, so to think about that and to think about even being a part of that is surreal, a pinch-me kind of moment. With it being in LA, I feel like the U.S. will go beyond with everything that entails with the Olympics. Think about a Canadian gold medal at the Olympics of flag football, think about what that could do for us.”

Philpot could have a shot to be on Canada’s roster should the Red and White qualify for the 2028 Summer Olympic Games. He has a background in flag football, which includes three British Columbia provincial championships and also officiated for more than a decade. The six-foot-one, 195-pound pass catcher most recently officiated flag football at a local football camp hosted by teammate and Quebec native Geoffrey Cantin-Arku.

If and when the opportunity arises, Philpot is hopeful the Alouettes would allow him to participate. Especially after the B.C. Lions showed support for quarterback Nathan Rourke and his bid to be Canada’s quarterback.

“[Olympians are] going to be missing two to three weeks. Hopefully, the CFL can get a bye week in there, depending who’s playing. I’m curious to see how the NFL will go about it with them. I feel like as long as it’s not any important game, maybe I’d get a blessing,” Philpot said.

“I’m willing to do whatever for the organization, they pay me to play for the Alouettes. Whatever they want me to do, I’m going to do, but I feel like the Olympics is a thing you don’t want to miss. It’s something that really only happens maybe once in everyone’s career, so I would love to get their blessing to play. When the time comes, we’ll be able to sit down and do that.”

The Olympics are still two years away and Canada has yet to qualify. The most straight forward path in would be for Canada to finish in the top two spots at the IFAF Flag Football World Championships from August 13-16 in Dusseldorf, Germany. However, Philpot seems fired up for the chance to possibly compete for gold.

“I would love to get on board with this Team Canada stuff. Coach [Paul] LaPolice — I hope we’ll be having a conversation soon.”

Philpot reset the Canadian receiver market in December when he signed a two-year contract extension with Montreal worth $275,000 in 2026 and $285,000 in 2027. After recording 61 receptions for 804 yards and five touchdowns over 12 regular season games last season, the 2022 first-round CFL Draft pick is aiming to stay healthy and live up to his big-money deal.

“Shout-out Rob Fry, my agent, for doing all the work behind the scenes, and shout out [general manager] Danny [Maciocia] and the Montreal Alouettes, too. They’ve always told me they’re not going to let me go — it’s going to be on me to walk away from them. All season, we had a couple of conversations and laid the groundwork,” Philpot said.

“They knew I didn’t want to go anywhere else, I’m a Montreal guy at heart. I think it made the most sense. It didn’t take too long. I think it was appreciation on both sides of what we’ve done these last couple of years, but now I’m getting paid real money, so it’s time to meet all those expectations.”