The Edmonton Elks are going to the Grey Cup for the first time in 11 years.
Edmonton beat the BC Lions 28-16 in Saturday’s West Final before an announced crowd of 40,182 at Commonwealth Stadium. Next comes the Montreal Alouettes at McMahon Stadium in Calgary on Sunday, Nov. 15, a championship matchup against quarterback Cody Fajardo’s former team.
It was the first playoff game in Edmonton since 2015, the year the franchise last won the Grey Cup. The crowd was the largest at Commonwealth since 40,113 watched Edmonton play Calgary on Sept. 7, 2019.
How it happened
For a half, nobody could find the end zone. Vincent Blanchard kicked field goals from 21 and 48 yards for a 6-0 Edmonton lead after one quarter. Sean Whyte answered with three for BC, the last as the clock hit zero, and the Lions led 9-6 at halftime. Nathan Rourke had 181 passing yards by then. The Elks defence had kept all of them out of the end zone.
The third quarter turned it. Blanchard tied it from 35, then Fajardo ran it in from five yards with 1:16 left in the quarter. 16-9 Edmonton.
Rourke tied it himself, an eight-yard run 34 seconds into the fourth. Then Edmonton pulled away. Blanchard from 46. Fajardo to Austin Mack for 23 yards and a touchdown with seven minutes left, the convert missed. Blanchard from 27 with 3:27 to play. 28-16.
Fajardo finished 25 of 30 for 274 yards, one touchdown through the air, one on the ground and no interceptions. Mack caught six passes for 85 yards and the score. Blanchard went five for five on field goals. Edmonton did not turn the ball over.
Rourke threw for 328 yards on 23 of 39 but never got the Lions into the end zone through the air. He said this week there was “a fine line between playing safe and making smart decisions” against the Elks defence. On Saturday that line held.
40,182
Three days before kickoff, the Elks said 35,000 was realistic and had not ruled out 40,000. Sales passed 36,000 on Saturday morning. The announced crowd cleared the mark the club was only hoping for.
The Elks averaged 22,421 at home this season. The upper bowl was closed for all of 2024. Saturday was the third time it opened this year.
For a franchise that lost 22 straight home games between 2021 and 2023 and spent five seasons out of the playoffs, the number under the score is the story. One longtime season-ticket holder put it this way on X before kickoff: “I saw the franchise fall apart. Rock bottom. I thought there was a legitimate chance they would fold. This game, with this crowd, is a testament that we are back.”
The fans who waited it out
A lot of the 40,182 sat through the losing to get here. One 19-year season-ticket holder wrote before kickoff that he had watched the franchise hit “rock bottom,” 22 straight home losses, and thought it might fold. “This game, with this crowd, is a testament that we are back.”
It was the biggest crowd at any CFL game this season. Sportsnet’s Arash Madani put it plainly: “The name change had nothing to do with struggles at the box office. Losing did. Winning is the most powerful thing of all.”
Fajardo had asked for it Tuesday. “We need our fans in this game.” They came. Now they have a week to get to Calgary. If you were there Saturday, tell us about it in the forum.
Fajardo vs. the team that traded him
Fajardo led Montreal to the 2023 Grey Cup and was named the game’s most valuable player after throwing the winning touchdown to Tyson Philpot with 13 seconds left. Thirteen months later, on Dec. 17, 2024, the Alouettes traded him to Edmonton for McLeod Bethel-Thompson.
He went 13-4 as a starter this season, threw for 4,788 yards and 25 touchdowns, ran for eight more, and took the Elks from five years of nothing to first in the West.
Now his route to a second ring runs through Montreal and Davis Alexander, the quarterback the Alouettes chose to build around instead.
Montreal is coming off a 33-23 win over Winnipeg
The Alouettes booked their spot earlier Saturday. Alexander completed 23 of 35 passes for 373 yards and two touchdowns and was named the East Final’s most outstanding player. Philpot caught nine passes for 129 yards. Tyrice Beverette stripped Zach Collaros in the fourth quarter to end a potential go-ahead drive.
It is Montreal’s second straight Grey Cup and third in four years. The Als won in 2023 with Fajardo and lost to Saskatchewan last year.
The most-played matchup in Grey Cup history
Edmonton and Montreal have met in the Grey Cup 11 times, more than any other two teams. Edmonton has won eight.
The run started with three straight Edmonton wins over Montreal in 1954, 1955 and 1956. It continued through the 1970s, when the two met six times in seven years. And it ended, until now, with three meetings in four seasons: Montreal won in 2002, Edmonton won in 2003, and Edmonton won the 2005 overtime classic 38-35 in Vancouver.
Nov. 15 will be the 12th.
Grey Cup week in Calgary
The 113th Grey Cup kicks off at 5 p.m. Mountain on Sunday, Nov. 15 at McMahon Stadium. Riley Green headlines halftime. Sarah McLachlan sings the anthem. James Barker Band and Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor are also on the bill. It is Calgary’s sixth time hosting and first since 2019.
Four days of free festival events run at Stampede Park before the game. The stadium is across town in the northwest, so plan the CTrain. Our Grey Cup guide has the full schedule, what’s free, and how to get around.
For Edmonton fans, it is three hours down the QEII to an Alberta Grey Cup with an Alberta team in it. The Stampeders are not there. Calgary will be green and gold for a week whether it likes it or not.
What’s next
Edmonton’s last Grey Cup appearance ended with its 14th championship. Eleven years later, the Elks get another shot at a 15th, against the team they have beaten in the final more than anyone else.
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