Ottawa to host 2017 Grey Cup

Coincides with Canada’s 150th anniversary

The 2017 Grey Cup will take place at TD Place Stadium in Ottawa. Canadian Football League commissioner Jeffrey Orridge made the announcement prior to Sunday night’s matchup between the Ottawa Redblacks and Toronto Argonauts.

The 105th Grey Cup will coincide with Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation and take place on Nov. 26.

“I think it’s a perfect confluence of circumstances,” said Orridge. “We’re celebrating 150 years of the nation coming together. It’s the 105th Grey Cup, it’s a great stadium, great environment, great ownership group and certainly the fan base is incredible. All those things came together to make it the perfect choice for 2017.”

The 1976 Grey Cup winning Ottawa Rough Riders were also honoured prior to kick off for their victory 40 years ago and were on the field for the announcement.

A pre-game video montage featured Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Hon. Catherine McKenna. The video led into the on-field ceremony where the Royal Canadian Mounted Police handed the Grey Cup off to former Rough Rider Tony Gabriel.

Gabriel had the winning touchdown reception in the ’76 Grey Cup and carried the trophy to the centre of TD Place Stadium on Sunday.

“I won’t lie, I teared up,” said Jeff Hunt, the president of the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group. “It’s pretty special to see all this come together and to be able to announce it in front of fans is very special. We don’t want to just host it, we want to win it.”