Thanksgiving Day Classic
The Thanksgiving Day Classic (French: Classique de jour de l'Action de grâce) is an annual doubleheader held on Thanksgiving in the Canadian Football League (CFL). It is typically one of two days in which the league plays on a Monday afternoon; the other is the Labour Day Classic. Unlike the Labour Day Classic, the teams in the Thanksgiving Day Classic rotate each year. Purolator is the presenting sponsor of the event as of 2022.[1]
The Montreal Alouettes have traditionally been given hosting duties for the opening game. This was originally started in 1997 to compensate for not being part of the Labour Day Classic festivities; Montreal and the various Ottawa franchises normally play on Labour Day when both franchises are active. The Alouettes' permanent hosting of Thanksgiving remained in place after Ottawa returned to the league in 2014. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats played CFL games annually in all but three years between 1958 and 1982, hosting the vast majority of them; Hamilton also hosted three times in four years from 1990 to 1993 and again hosted a Thanksgiving matchup in 2013 due to stadium construction disrupting their hosting of the 2013 Labour Day Classic.
Since the CFL's creation in 1958 to the 2018, there have been 120 games played on Thanksgiving Day.[2] The 2019 CFL season was the first in league history to feature no games on Thanksgiving Day.[3] The league scheduled the Classic for the 2020 CFL season, with one game being played on Thanksgiving Day.[4] However, due to financial issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, the entire 2020 CFL season was cancelled and this game was not played.[5]
Despite Canadian Thanksgiving being a legal holiday in the United States (as Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples' Day), none of the CFL's American teams ever played the Thanksgiving Day Classic. The games have also not been televised live in the United States since 2009, although one of the two was broadcast on tape-delay in 2013.
Possible discontinuation or reformatting
In late 2017, a proposal emerged to move the start of the CFL season to five or six weeks earlier than it begins in the present day, so that the Grey Cup would be held on the third weekend of October, as opposed to the fourth Sunday in November as it stands as of 2018. The change, designed to accommodate a potential U.S. television agreement with NFL Network, has support among CFL owners and would, if approved, take effect for the 2019 CFL season. If the proposal were to take effect, Thanksgiving Day weekend would overlap with the CFL's conference championship games.[6] While this change was not implemented and the season schedule remained the same, the league did not schedule any Thanksgiving Day games in 2019.[3] The league has indicated that such a schedule change would need to be negotiated in the league's collective bargaining agreement with the players' association. The CBA at the time expired in 2019; at the same time, the league renewed its existing agreement with ESPN, making a schedule change unnecessary, and the new CBA approved that year made no provision for a change.[7]
Results
By year
By appearance
Appearances | Hosted | Team | Wins | Losses | Ties | Win % | Streak |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
33 | 27 | Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 17 | 15 | 1 | .530 | W1 |
36 | 28 | Montreal Alouettes | 17 | 19 | 0 | .472 | W1 |
29 | 11 | Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 18 | 10 | 1 | .638 | L1 |
33 | 19 | Edmonton Eskimos/Elks | 19 | 13 | 1 | .591 | L1 |
28 | 11 | Calgary Stampeders | 14 | 14 | 0 | .500 | W2 |
28 | 8 | Toronto Argonauts | 11 | 17 | 0 | .393 | W1 |
23 | 10 | Saskatchewan Roughriders | 11 | 11 | 1 | .500 | W1 |
21 | 6 | Ottawa Rough Riders/Renegades/Redblacks | 9 | 12 | 0 | .429 | W1 |
15 | 3 | BC Lions | 5 | 10 | 0 | .333 | L6 |
See also
References
- ^ "CFL and Purolator deepen commitment to food security". Canadian Football League. October 6, 2022.
- ^ 2018 CFL Game Notes, Calgary at Montreal
- ^ a b c "2019 CFL season schedule". cfl.ca. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
- ^ a b "2020 CFL season schedule". cfl.ca. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
- ^ a b "CFL not to play shortened season in the fall". Canadian Football League. August 17, 2020.
- ^ Baines, Tim (November 24, 2017). "Grey Cup in October? NFL Network TV deal could follow for CFL". Sun Media. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
- ^ "CFL players search for unified voice as CBA talks loom". cbc.ca. March 23, 2018. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
- ^ "1958 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1959 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1960 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Archived from the original on 2013-01-15. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1961 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1962 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1963 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1964 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1965 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1966 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1967 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1968 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1969 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1970 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "1971 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1972 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1973 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1974 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1975 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1976 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1977 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1978 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Archived from the original on 2012-09-22. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1979 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Archived from the original on 2012-09-22. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1980 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Archived from the original on 2012-12-13. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1981 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1982 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Archived from the original on 2013-01-15. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1983 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Archived from the original on 2013-01-15. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1984 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
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- ^ "1986 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "1987 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Archived from the original on 2013-01-15. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
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- ^ "CFL Teams". 2003-12-11. Archived from the original on December 11, 2003. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
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- ^ "CFL Schedules". 2004-12-04. Archived from the original on December 4, 2004. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "2005 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Archived from the original on 2009-04-19. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "2006 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Archived from the original on 2012-05-24. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "2007 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Archived from the original on 2012-05-27. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "2008 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "2009 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Archived from the original on 2013-07-20. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
- ^ "2010 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
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- ^ "2013 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Archived from the original on 2013-12-28. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
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- ^ "2023 Schedule | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved December 13, 2022.