The City of Edmonton and the CFL Eskimos "will play host" to the '18 Grey Cup, with a press conference to announce the news scheduled for next week, according to Terry Jones of the EDMONTON JOURNAL. The fifth Grey Cup hosting in Edmonton’s history, the '18 event "will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Commonwealth Stadium and the completion of 70 seasons of Edmonton Eskimos football." With the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in a new stadium and "not having played host" since '96, Montreal not having held the game since '08 and Calgary also "technically ahead of Edmonton in 'the rotation,' it wasn’t considered a slam dunk" that the '18 Grey Cup would be coming to Commonwealth Stadium. There is a belief the Stampeders "may have decided McMahon Stadium is no longer up to a standard that matches the new stadiums in Ottawa, Winnipeg and Regina and eliminated itself from consideration as a Grey Cup host until they, too, have a new home." The '10 Grey Cup in Edmonton "set all records for ticket sales including selling 17,500 in the first four hours on the first day they were available to the general public" (EDMONTON JOURNAL, 6/2).
