Photo: Bob Butrym/3DownNation. All rights reserved.
The CFL will soon be one step closer to awarding the 2027 Grey Cup to a host city as the bidding process is set to close this month.
“We expect that final bids will be due probably within the next 30 days,” CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston told 620 CKRM on Sunday. “Then there’s an evaluation, probably some back and forth with ironing out some details, and ultimately an award. I would love to get that announced sooner rather than later.”
The league awarded this year’s Grey Cup to Winnipeg in the spring of 2023 — over 30 months before the game was set to be played. Randy Ambrosie, who was then the league’s commissioner, indicated the goal was to announce future Grey Cups at least two years in advance, an increase of around six months from the previous norm.
This arrangement held for next year’s Grey Cup in Calgary, which was announced last November. If the same timeline holds for the Grey Cup in 2027, the location should be announced in around ten weeks.
The Edmonton Elks reportedly bid on next year’s Grey Cup, though it doesn’t appear they’d be a fit for 2027 as that would mean playing two consecutive Grey Cups in the same province. Hamilton, Regina, Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Calgary also seem like unlikely choices, given that each city will have hosted the league’s championship game since the cancelled 2020 season.
As there’s currently no venue capable of hosting a Grey Cup in Montreal, this leaves Ottawa and Toronto as the most realistic suitors for 2027. Looking at the construction calendar in the nation’s capital, Ottawa seems like the best bet.
According to previous reporting from 3DownNation, the construction of Ottawa’s new event centre and hockey arena is expected to conclude by the fall of 2027. The next phase of development will include the demolition of TD Place Stadium’s north side stands, which are over 50 years old, to be replaced by 2030. The venue’s south side stands were rebuilt shortly before the Redblacks returned to the CFL as an expansion franchise in 2014.
Toronto could also be a strong candidate given that BMO Field is currently undergoing renovations ahead of next year’s World Cup. Canada’s largest city last hosted the Grey Cup in 2016, while Ottawa most recently hosted the following year in 2017.
As for the 2026 regular-season schedule, Johnston is skeptical that an announcement could be made before this year’s Grey Cup but didn’t fully rule it out. Regardless, he’s hoping to see it unveiled sooner rather than later.
“We’re working on it and we’re trying every year to get out ahead of that faster and faster — that’s the plan and we’re going to hopefully have something announced in the next number of weeks,” said Johnston. “I can tell you the motivation of the league, and the motivation of our clubs is the faster we get that out, the better it is for the fans who get to know when the schedule is and when they want to go out and see those games.”