With a Grey Cup win, there are the unavoidable ties.

Zip ties — used to ensure that the trophy’s case is securely shut for (sniffle) departure.

After spending five months with the CFL’s championship trophy, the Saskatchewan Roughriders parted ways with the Cup on Monday morning.

At 9:32 a.m., Karina Peterson (Manager, Game Entertainment and Community) and Ryan Jupp (Game Entertainment and Community Events Co-ordinator) left the chalice in the trusted hands of our ticket-office staff.

The final remaining step was for Purolator to pick up the Cup and transport it to Winnipeg. The keeper of the Cup, Winnipeg-based Jeff McWhinney, will then take the trophy to a non-Roughriders-related function, for a change.

The severing of ties — preceded by the expert application of zip ties — was not a ceremonial undertaking in the Roughriders’ business office.

Mondays being Mondays, there was plenty of work to be done.

But it was difficult not to become sentimental while taking a few final glances at a trophy that was presented to the Roughriders by CFL Commissioner Stewart Johnston at Princess Auto Stadium on Nov. 16. Now the Cup is going full circle, from Regina to Winnipeg.

Consider, too, that Jupp is originally from Winnipeg. Don’t hold that against him, because he is an extremely nice person, but those are the facts and we do not hide from them.

Peterson is proud to hail from Weyburn — one of 37 stops on the Roughriders’ Grey Cup Community Tour.

The first destination was Humboldt, for a Feb. 7 SJHL game between the Broncos and Estevan Bruins. The Tour concluded on Sunday with a visit to the First Nations University’s Spring Celebration Powwow, held at the Brandt Centre.

Prior to Feb. 7, the Grey Cup was here, there and everywhere as coaches, players and employees of all descriptions cherished their time with the trophy.

Head Coach Corey Mace, for example, embarked on a small-town Saskatchewan pub crawl.

The Cup was also spotted at a karaoke session … at schools … in living rooms … in basements … at hockey games … you name it.

It is one of those only-in-the-CFL phenomena.

The most beloved grail in Canadian sport is not kept under lock and key. Any application of zip ties is temporary.

If you want to see the touch, touch the Cup, or even give it a kiss, you can head to a skating rink in Earl Grey, a community hall in Foam Lake, or to someone’s basement.

The case is the home for the Cup between its many stops but, by and large, it is entrusted to the loving care of the triumphant team to allow the public to share in the celebration.

Without the fans, it isn’t much of a party.

“I truly believe that, in Saskatchewan, Grey Cups mean a lot more here,” President-CEO Craig Reynolds said.

“When you see the constant lineup of people getting pictures with it, it never gets old.”

Especially when you consider all the work that is done — all the blood, sweat and tears that are involved — to bring home a championship.

We waited 12 years to savour such a celebration.

In our history, there have been only five off-seasons of this nature.

The winters don’t seem quite as long after a Grey Cup win, even when the snow returns with a vengeance in mid-April.

But the evidence of last week’s storm will soon disappear. The climate will be conducive to training camp. The first workout of main camp is slated for May 11 at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon.

So, yes, it is time to relinquish the Cup.

“On the one hand, you wish you could hang on to it forever and allow every person in the entire province to see it and touch it,” Reynolds said. “On the flip side, you do have to turn the page.

“It’s 2026. Training camp is three weeks away. You’ve got to get prepped to start a new season.

“The goal starts over — to try to win it again.”