Grey Cup arrives in Hamilton, Ont. to kick off week of CFL festivities

Home-field advantage for Tiger-Cats at Grey Cup Hamilton is preparing to host the 108th Grey Cup where they hope home-field advantage will lead their team to a championship.

The Grey Cup touched down in Hamilton, Ont. on Tuesday to kick off-festivities for the 108th Grey Cup.

The Canadian Football League's (CFL) iconic championship trophy was delivered by a Royal Canadian Air Force Griffon Helicopter to Bayfront Park where approximately two hundred boisterous Tiger-Cats fans gathered to welcome the Grey Cup back to SteeleTown.

"It's so exciting - I grew up in this city, we all rallied around it, super important," said fan James Lloyd.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Winnipeg Blue Bombers will meet Sunday in a rematch of the CFL's last championship game in 2019. The defending champion Blue Bombers won 33-12 two years ago.

The 2020 game was cancelled due to the pandemic.

"It's been a long journey to get to this moment," CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie told the crowd. "It's been a rough two years, we battled through it together, we've had some highs and we've had some lows, many Canadians have suffered significant losses, but I think being here is a testimony to our resilience."

The CFL says Tim Horton's Field is sold out for Sunday's championship game, with more than 24,000 thousand fans expected to attend. A limited number of additional standing-room tickets were put on sale due to the immediate demand.

"It's been a tough couple of years, I just want to go out there and have some fun, I'm so excited," said Brandon Lukasik who is a season ticket holder and will be attending the championship game.

It has been 25 years since Hamilton last hosted the Grey Cup in 1996.

"How much better does it get for a community, for a league, for our players than to play at home in the Grey Cup in Hamilton," said Hamilton Tiger-Cats owner Bob Young.

The Grey Cup's arrival kicks a weeks worth of festivities in Hamilton, but those events have been scaled down due to COVID-19.

At the End Zone Sport's Bar and Grill the owner says the phone has been ringing off the hook for tickets to CFL and Hamilton Tiger-Cats alumni events.

"We can house large capacity events and this weekend we're finally getting back to where we should be," said owner Grant Koropatnicki, who is expecting his sports bar to be the busiest it's been since the onset of the pandemic.

Hamilton has the longest championship drought in the CFL. The team last won the Grey Cup in 1999.

"We play good at home, obviously our fans ive us a big boost - what better way than to play the Grey in front of our own fan base," said Tiger-Cats Wide Receiver Brandon Banks. " The fan base definitely deserve it, obviously it's been years since we won a Grey Cup."

With homefield advantage, the Tiger-Cats will attempt to become the first team to win a title at home since the 2013 Saskatchewan Roughriders, who defeated Hamilton that year in Regina.

With files from The Canadian Press