The Grey Cup is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners of the CFL's East and West Divisional playoffs and is one of Canadian television's largest annual sporting events. The Toronto Argonauts have the most Grey Cup wins (18) since its introduction in 1909, while the Edmonton Elks have the most Grey Cup wins (11) since the merger in 1958. The latest, the 110th Grey Cup, took place in Hamilton, Ontario, on November 19, 2023, when the Montreal Alouettes defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 28–24.
The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place.
The 92nd Grey Cup game took place on November 21, 2004, at Frank Clair Stadium in Ottawa, Ontario. The game decided the championship of the 2004 Canadian Football League season. The Toronto Argonauts defeated the BC Lions 27–19.
The 2004 CFL season is considered to be the 51st season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 47th Canadian Football League season.
David Dickenson is a Canadian-American professional football head coach and general manager for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played as a quarterback with the Stampeders and the BC Lions, where he won the 2006 Grey Cup and was named the game's MVP. Dickenson played college football for the Montana Grizzlies, where he led the team to the 1995 NCAA Division I-AA college football championship.
The 1991 CFL season is considered to be the 38th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 34th Canadian Football League season.
The 1983 CFL season is considered to be the 30th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 26th Canadian Football League season.
Pasquale "Wally" Buono is a Canadian ex-football coach currently working as the vice president of football operations, alternate governor and the former head coach of the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and one of the most successful head coaches in league history. He spent 22 years as head coach of the Calgary Stampeders and the Lions, which is tied for the most seasons coached all-time. On September 19, 2009, Buono became the CFL's all-time winningest coach when his Lions beat the Toronto Argonauts 23–17, giving him 232 regular-season victories, passing Don Matthews. He retired in 2011 with a CFL record 254 regular-season wins as head coach, to focus on duties as general manager for the Lions. In 2016, Buono came out of retirement to coach the Lions again through the 2018 season. In the final home game of the 2018 season, Buono was honored with the Bob Ackles Award as he was retiring from football with the most wins as a coach.
Roy Dewalt is a former Canadian Football League (CFL) quarterback who, in a career lasting nine years, played for the BC Lions between 1980 and 1987, and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Ottawa Rough Riders in 1988. He led the Lions to their second Grey Cup championship in 1985 and was named the Grey Cup Most Valuable Player on offence.
Danny McManus is a former professional American football and Canadian football quarterback who passed for over 53,000 yards in seventeen seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He currently serves as the assistant general manager and director for U.S. scouting for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He played every season in the league from 1990 to 2006, as a member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, BC Lions, Edmonton Eskimos, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and finally with the Calgary Stampeders. He is a five-time Grey Cup champion, having won three times as a player and twice in a front office capacity. He is fifth all-time in passing yards in the CFL and is the all-time leading passer for the Tiger-Cats. He has also worked as a color commentator for TSN's CFL broadcasts, having previously appeared as a guest analyst on the CFL on CBC late in his playing career.
The 96th Grey Cup was held in Montreal, Quebec at Olympic Stadium on November 23, 2008. The East Division champion Montreal Alouettes hosted the West Division champion Calgary Stampeders. The Stampeders won the game 22–14, with quarterback Henry Burris winning the MVP award. It was the first time Montreal had hosted the Grey Cup since 2001, the first time since the 2002 Grey Cup that the host city played for the Grey Cup, and the first time since the 58th Grey Cup in 1970 that the Alouettes and Stampeders had met for the national championship. Hoping to break the record for highest attendance for a Grey Cup game, the organizers expanded Olympic Stadium to almost 70,000 seats. A crowd of 66,308 attended the game, failing to break the record of 68,318 set in 1977, but good enough to be the second-highest attended Grey Cup game of all time. Montreal has now played host to the four highest-attended Grey Cup games in history. It was the last time a Western-based team has won the Grey Cup in Eastern Canada until the Winnipeg Blue Bombers won the 108th Grey Cup against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton in 2021.
The 2008 CFL season was the 55th season of modern-day Canadian football, the 51st season for the Canadian Football League. It was also the first CFL season in which all of the league's regular season and post-season games, including the Grey Cup game, were aired on TSN. This meant the CFL was no longer aired on broadcast television in Canada. As of 2008, TSN was available in approximately 8.8 million of Canada's 13 million households. Montreal hosted the 96th Grey Cup at Olympic Stadium on November 23, when the championship was won by the Calgary Stampeders.
Lui Passaglia is a former professional Canadian football player. Passaglia was the placekicker/punter for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL) for a record-breaking 25 years from 1976 to 2000, and scored more points in that time than any professional gridiron football player in history. He is a member of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame, and the BC Lions Wall of Fame. Passaglia's #5 jersey is one of nine numbers retired by the Lions. In 2003, Passaglia was voted a member of the BC Lions All-Time Dream Team as part of the club's 50 year anniversary celebration. In 2006, Passaglia was voted one of the CFL's Top 50 players (#30) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network TSN.
The 88th Grey Cup was held in 2000 in Calgary. The BC Lions won the game 28–26 over the Montreal Alouettes. The Lions, who finished 8–10 with an overtime loss during the regular season, became the first team ever to finish with a regular season record below .500 and win the Grey Cup.
The 76th Grey Cup was the 1988 Canadian Football League championship game that was played at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa, between the BC Lions and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The Blue Bombers defeated the favoured Lions 22–21. This was the first Grey Cup game between two teams from west of Ontario, and the first to be won by a team which had only a .500 season.
The 71st Grey Cup was the 1983 Canadian Football League championship game played at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver between the Toronto Argonauts and hometown BC Lions. The Argos narrowly defeated the Lions 18–17, claiming their first Grey Cup victory in 31 years.
The 73rd Grey Cup was the 1985 Canadian Football League championship game that was played at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, between the BC Lions and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The Lions easily handled the Tiger-Cats with a 37–24 victory.
The 99th Grey Cup was a Canadian football game between the East Division champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the West Division champion BC Lions to decide the champion of the Canadian Football League in the 2011 season. The Lions defeated the Blue Bombers 34–23 and became the first team in CFL history to win the Grey Cup after starting the season with five straight losses. They also became the first team to win the championship game at home since the 1994 Lions did it in the 82nd Grey Cup, and were only the fourth team in the modern era to do so. This, a rematch of the 76th Grey Cup, was the second time that these two teams met for the championship.
Andrew Jones is a Canadian retired professional football player who was an offensive lineman for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Jones was drafted by the Lions in the fourth round of the 2007 CFL Draft. He is a three-time Grey Cup champion, having won with three different teams in a span of five years, 2011, 2012, and 2015. He played CIS football for the McMaster Marauders.
