REGINA —
Grey Cup week in Regina won’t go ahead in 2020, according to the CFL.
The event was scheduled for Nov. 22 at Mosaic Stadium.
“We are quite disappointed,” CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie said at a town hall Wednesday. “With all the things all of the things going on with the pandemic, having a traditional Grey Cup just is impossible.”
The CFL has awarded Regina the 2022 Grey Cup.
“Along with the Riders we made the decision that we would shift the Grey Cup away from Regina this fall. We’ve awarded the Grey Cup 2022 to the Riders and the province of Saskatchewan,” said Ambrosie.
If the season goes ahead, the team with the best record heading into the championship game will host the Grey Cup final in 2020. All nine CFL teams will have a chance to host the Grey Cup this year.
The Roughriders had discussions with a CFL committee comprised of representatives from past and future Grey Cup cities. They came to the decision that it was in the league’sd and the team’s best interests to postpone Grey Cup plans in Regina this year.
Next year’s event will take place in Hamilton. That host city was announced last year and work is already underway for the festival.
“It’s a disappointing day,” Craig Reynolds, the Roughriders president and CEO, said. “Most of it is just around the excitement that I know our fans had.”
Although the team is disappointed, Reynolds said the team is glad to have confidence that the big game will happen in 2022.
“If there’s any relief it’s just that we have certainty,” Reynolds said. “We just understood that increasingly we weren’t going to be able to deliver what we had planned.”
Although the team is disappointed, Reynolds said the Riders organization is glad to have confidence that the big game will happen in 2022.
“If there’s any relief it’s just that we have certainty,” Reynolds said. “We just understood that increasingly we weren’t going to be able to deliver what we had planned.”
The Riders have already spent around $500,000 on 2020 Grey Cup planning, but Reynolds said those costs can be applied to future festivities.
“We feel the majority of the costs that were principally planning focused, we will be able to incorporate or make use of in 2022.”
Reynolds said six staff members were hired for Grey Cup planning. The team will be retaining these employees until the end of July to make plans for budget and programming for 2022, and then they will be released.
Grey Cup tickets hadn’t gone on sale yet for the general public, but seats were sold to Riders’ season ticket holders. The club says a $50 per seat deposit will secure a seat for the 2022 Grey Cup Festival in Regina and the balance will be refunded automatically.
The Riders say season ticket holders will also get an email on Wednesday with information on the shortened season.
The league also announced on Wednesday that play won’t start before September. The league has discussed pushing back the season, with a potential December Grey Cup.
“We’re even looking at how we extend our season,” Ambrosie said. “In the spirit of looking at all possibilities were even considering pushing the game back a little bit, giving us a little bit more elbow room, so that we have the possibility of getting games in this year.”
While an even later Grey Cup could be colder than usual, it may be the compromise the CFL needs to make in order to play a 2020 season.
“We’re looking at every option to try to get a season, and so that meant shifting the Grey cup into December,” said Reynolds. “Certainly to try to get that game in in November, should we be able to, would be optimal, but the reality is we may not be able to do that.”
The Regina & District Chamber of Commerce said the deferral of the Grey Cup to 2022 is the best scenario, in a statement Wednesday.
“Clearly, we would have loved to have seen a normal Grey Cup, but people’s safety comes first. We respect the CFL’s decision. Moreover, we are appreciative that the Grey Cup will come to the Queen City in 2022.”
The chamber estimates the economic loss in Regina of not hosting the Grey Cup is in the range of $100 million.
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings signed forward Lucas Raymond to an eight-year, $64.6 million contract Monday, completing a deal with one of their best young players less than 72 hours before training camp begins.
Raymond will count $8.075 million against the salary cap through 2032. The 22-year-old was a restricted free agent without a contract for the upcoming NHL season and was coming off setting career highs with 31 goals, 41 assists and 72 points.
The Red Wings have another one of those in defenceman Moritz Seider, who won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2021-22.
Detroit is looking to end an eight-year playoff drought dating to the Original Six franchise’s last appearance in 2016.
Raymond, a Swede who was the fourth pick in 2020, has 174 points in 238 games since breaking into the league.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kirk Cousins led a flawless last-minute drive for Atlanta and connected with Drake London for a 7-yard touchdown with 34 seconds left to give the Falcons a 22-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night.
Saquon Barkley dropped a short pass that stopped the clock with 1:46 left and forced the Eagles to settle for a field goal instead of a game-sealing first down. That was plenty of time for Cousins — especially against an Eagles defense playing soft coverage with a nonexistent pass rush.
The 36-year-old veteran, playing his second game since tearing his Achilles tendon last Oct. 29 while playing for Minnesota, shook off an uneven effort and hit Darnell Mooney for 21 and 26 yards on consecutive plays during the decisive drive.
Cousins found London on a short pass to his right for the tying score, and Younghoe Koo put Atlanta (1-1) on top with a 48-yard extra point after London was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. The go-ahead drive took just 65 seconds.
Jalen Hurts had his final pass intercepted by Jessie Bates III to seal Atlanta’s win and set off a wild celebration on the sideline.
The Eagles (1-1) went ahead on Hurts’ 1-yard tush push score with 6:47 left. Barkley finished with 95 yards on 22 carries in his home debut for Philadelphia, but his drop provided the Falcons with some hope.
And then Cousins started playing like the QB Atlanta thought it was getting when it signed him to a four-year, $180 million contract.
Cousins finished 20 of 29 for 241 yards and two touchdowns. Atlanta’s first TD was a 41-yarder from Cousins to Mooney, who finished with three catches for 88 yards.
Hurts was 23 of 30 for 183 yards, including a touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith. With No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown out with a hamstring injury, Smith led the Eagles with seven catches for 76 yards and a score.
Jake Elliott kicked two field goals for the Eagles. His 28-yarder with 1:39 left made it 21-15.
Atlanta kept stalling in the red zone, getting three field goals from Koo, before Cousins fired over the middle to Mooney, who shook loose from C.J. Gardner-Johnson and left him on the turf before he somersaulted into the end zone with 1:21 left in the third quarter for a 15-10 lead. Cousins failed on the 2-point conversion pass.
Hurts had some juice in his step during a second-quarter TD drive, running with abandon for big plays much like he did in the 2022 season. He spiked the ball in a rare, raw show of emotion on a 23-yard run, earning a delay-of-game penalty. He shrugged off the 5-yard setback and scrambled for 9 yards and 15 yards to move the Eagles to Atlanta’s 19.
With comedian Shane Gillis and actor Bradley Cooper among the fans cheering on the Eagles, Hurts connected with Smith in the back of the end zone for a 7-yard TD that made it 7-3.
Under new defensive coordinator Vince Fangio, the Eagles have established an early knack for allowing long drives that end with three points instead of seven. Koo kicked field goals of 39, 22 and 34 yards, the last one enough for a 9-7 lead in the third quarter. In their opener, the Eagles held the Packers to just three field goals when they drove inside the 20.
Questionable call
Rather than take a chip-shot field goal from Elliott, the Eagles’ fourth-and-4 gamble at Atlanta’s 9-yard line in the first quarter failed when Hurts threw an incomplete pass.
Elliott kicked a 29-yarder with 4:31 left in the third quarter for a 10-9 lead.
Running wild
Bijan Robinson ran for 97 yards for the Falcons. The Eagles stuffed him late on fourth-and-1 at the Atlanta 39.
Barkley was quiet until the go-ahead drive, a week after he rushed for 109 yards and scored three touchdowns against Green Bay. Eagles fans booed when the opening drive of the game ended without Barkley touching the ball. They went wild when he had consecutive 9-yard runs to open the second drive. Barkley had 40 yards rushing in the first half.
Foles honored
Former Eagles QB Nick Foles, who led the franchise to its only Super Bowl title, served as an honorary captain and led the crowd in a rendition of “Fly, Eagles, Fly.”
Injuries
The Falcons played without LB Nate Landman (calf, quad).
Up next
Atlanta hosts Super Bowl champion Kansas City on Sunday.
TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.
The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.
Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.
Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.
“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”
Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.
Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.
Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.
Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.
Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.
Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
