Touchdown Atlantic

Touchdown Atlantic (French: Touché Atlantique) is a series of neutral site Canadian Football League games played in the Maritime provinces of Canada.

In 2003, the league had struck a committee to examine the feasibility of adding a tenth team, with the leading candidate cities being Quebec City and Halifax.[1] Before the suspension of the Renegades, league commissioner Tom Wright had indicated that Halifax was the leading candidate for expansion.[2] With the success of Touchdown Atlantic 2010, Moncton was also considered for CFL expansion.[3] No Touchdown Atlantic was played from 2014 to 2018, but it returned in 2019 due to the renewed interest in an Atlantic expansion team.

Exhibition games

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Prior to the official Touchdown Atlantic series, Saint John, New Brunswick, hosted a pair of exhibition games. In 1986, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeated the Montreal Alouettes 35–10 at Canada Games Stadium before a sellout crowd of 11,463 fans.[4][5] The following year, the Alouettes returned to the Port City and lost 14–13 to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats; the Alouettes would fold a week later.[4][6] An exhibition game between the Ottawa Renegades and Montreal was held in Quebec City in 2003 at PEPS Stadium, with the Alouettes winning 54–23 in front of 10,358.[7][8]

The first game of the Touchdown Atlantic series was an exhibition pre-season match played in Halifax, Nova Scotia, at Huskies Stadium in June 2005. The game, between the Toronto Argonauts and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, ended in a 16–16 tie.[9] The game was to gauge Halifax's support for a potential CFL expansion team, which would likely be named the Schooners. Temporary seating was added to boost the capacity, and a sellout crowd of 11,148 attended. It was also used by the league to test its instant replay challenge system[10] which was implemented in the 2006 CFL season.[11]

A second game was to be played on June 3, 2006, at Halifax's Huskies Stadium, with temporary seating for a capacity of 11,000 fans.[12] This game was canceled after the suspension of the Ottawa Renegades, who were scheduled to play the Montreal Alouettes.[13][14]

Regular season games

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In October 2009, it was officially announced that the Edmonton Eskimos would face the Toronto Argonauts in Moncton, New Brunswick, on September 26, 2010, in the first regular season game in Atlantic Canada. That game was referred to as Touchdown Atlantic.[15] The game was played at the new Moncton Stadium on the campus of Université de Moncton in front of a reported sellout crowd of 20,725. Tickets went on sale to the general public on March 25, 2010, with a one-day pre-sale being conducted the day before. After 32 hours of being up for sale, the 2010 Touchdown Atlantic was announced as a sellout on March 25, 2010.[16] The Eskimos won the game 24–6 thanks to their 247 interception return yards on six interceptions, the second most interception return yards in CFL history.[17]

A 2011 Touchdown Atlantic game, somewhat erroneously known as Touchdown Atlantic II, took place during the 2011 CFL season, again in Moncton.[18] The Hamilton Tiger-Cats were the designated home team and faced the Calgary Stampeders on September 25 at Moncton Stadium.[19] Hamilton won the game, 55–36.

No Touchdown Atlantic was held in 2012. The 2013 edition of Touchdown Atlantic featured the Tiger-Cats hosting the Montreal Alouettes in Moncton on September 21. The game was held in Moncton due to their stadium in Hamilton being replaced; although Moncton attempted to have the Tiger-Cats play the whole season in Moncton, the team opted to only play one game there and have the rest of the season closer to Hamilton (specifically Guelph). Hamilton won the game 28–26.

No Touchdown Atlantic was held from 2014 to 2018 as the league lost momentum for the event. However, there was renewed interest in football in the Maritimes when a group of businessmen began discussions with the league for a franchise based in Halifax.[20][21] While a stadium would still need to be built in Halifax, the discussions were legitimate enough for the league to encourage a season ticket campaign and led to the naming of the team as the Atlantic Schooners (the same as the proposed team from 1982).[22] To promote interest in the event, a Touchdown Atlantic game was announced for 2019 with the event being hosted by this same group, Schooners Sports and Entertainment (SSE).[23] The Argonauts were designated the home team and the Alouettes the visiting team. TSN's Dave Naylor reported that SSE was considering Halifax, Moncton, and Antigonish, Nova Scotia, as potential game sites, with Moncton being the eventual selection.[24][25] Unlike the 2010–2013 versions, Moncton Stadium was not expanded to host the game, and a sellout crowd of only 10,126 watched as the Alouettes defeated the Argonauts (hosting the game in Moncton to avoid a short-notice conversion after Toronto FC hosted a home game the night before) on August 25, 2019.

On January 23, 2020, it was announced that the Saskatchewan Roughriders would play the Argonauts in a Touchdown Atlantic game that would be the first regular season game to be played in Halifax.[26] The game was scheduled to be played at Huskies Stadium on the campus of Saint Mary's University, where temporary seating would have brought the seating capacity up to 10,000. However, the game was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[27]

While no game was scheduled in 2021 due to the pandemic, it was confirmed on March 24, 2022, that the Argonauts would host the Roughriders in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, at Raymond Field for the first Touchdown Atlantic game to be played in Wolfville.[28] The series continued the following season with the Toronto Argonauts hosting the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Huskies Stadium (Saint Mary's University) in Halifax on Saturday, July 29, 2023. This was the first regular season game held in Halifax after the city hosted a pre-season match in 2005. In June 2023, the league announced the game had sold-out.[29]

Other "Touchdown"-branded games

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CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie said in December 2022 that the league was considering hosting other "Touchdown"-branded games in neutral markets outside of Atlantic Canada from 2024.[30] Langford, British Columbia (part of Greater Victoria) was discussed as a potential location for a Touchdown Pacific game at Starlight Stadium beginning in 2024,[31][32] but on November 29, 2023, it was confirmed that the BC Lions and Ottawa Redblacks would play at Royal Athletic Park in Victoria on August 31, 2024, part of the Labour Day weekend slate of games. Temporary seating was added to expand the capacity to 14,000.[33] The Lions won 38–12, and the attendance was 14,727.[34]

Potential for an Atlantic expansion team

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See also: Atlantic Schooners § Attempted revival, and Schooners Sports and Entertainment

The initial success of the Touchdown Atlantic games placed Moncton in the position of frontrunner for a Canadian Football League franchise in Atlantic Canada, according to commissioner Mark Cohon.[3] Moncton is also well positioned because of its centralized location in the region; a team based in Moncton would represent all three maritime provinces due to the region's small population. Moncton officials negotiated to temporarily host the Tiger-Cats for the 2013 season while Ivor Wynne Stadium was demolished and Tim Hortons Field was under construction. However, citing a desire to be closer to home, the Tiger-Cats announced they would play eight of their nine home games at nearby Guelph, with the ninth being the Touchdown Atlantic contest.[35][36]

By 2015, the potential for an expansion to the Maritimes had once again faded, in part due to Cohon's resignation and the failure to sell out the 2013 contest.[37] Focus by this point had shifted to the Northern Kickoff contest at Shell Place in Fort McMurray, Alberta; it was here, rather than in Moncton, that the league chose to host regular season games that had been displaced because of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup or 2015 Pan American Games. Negotiations to bring a CFL team to the Maritimes resumed under the commission of Randy Ambrosie in 2017, with Halifax and Moncton considered as potential homes for the team.[25]

List of games

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Game Date Visitor Score Home City Stadium Attendance Ref
Preseason June 11, 2005 Hamilton Tiger-Cats 16–16 Toronto Argonauts Halifax, NS Huskies Stadium 11,148 [38][39][40]
Preseason June 3, 2006 Montreal Alouettes Cancelled Ottawa Renegades Halifax, NS Huskies Stadium — [41][42][43]
Regular season September 26, 2010 Edmonton Eskimos 24–6 Toronto Argonauts Moncton, NB Moncton Stadium 20,725 [44][45]
Regular season September 25, 2011 Calgary Stampeders 36–55 Hamilton Tiger-Cats Moncton, NB Moncton Stadium 20,153 [46][47]
Regular season September 21, 2013 Montreal Alouettes 26–28 Hamilton Tiger-Cats Moncton, NB Moncton Stadium 15,123 [48][49][50]
Regular season August 25, 2019 Montreal Alouettes 28–22 Toronto Argonauts Moncton, NB Croix-Bleue Medavie Stadium 10,126 [23][25]
Regular season July 25, 2020 Saskatchewan Roughriders Cancelled Toronto Argonauts Halifax, NS Huskies Stadium — [26][27]
Regular season July 16, 2022 Saskatchewan Roughriders 24–30 Toronto Argonauts Wolfville, NS Raymond Field 10,886 [28][51]
Regular season July 29, 2023 Saskatchewan Roughriders 13–31 Toronto Argonauts Halifax, NS Huskies Stadium 11,555 [52]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "CFL considering Quebec or Halifax expansion". CBC Sports Online. November 14, 2003. Archived from the original on June 3, 2007. Retrieved December 4, 2006.
  2. ^ Adam Richardson (January 27, 2006). "CFL returning to Halifax". Halifax Daily News. Archived from the original on March 22, 2007. Retrieved December 4, 2006.
  3. ^ a b Moncton CFL franchise possible: commissioner
  4. ^ a b "2011 Canadian Football League - Game Notes" (PDF). Canadian Football League. September 25, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 29, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  5. ^ "1986 Montreal Alouettes". The Pro Football Archives. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  6. ^ "1987 Montreal Alouettes". The Pro Football Archives. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  7. ^ "Calvillo, Alouettes hammer Renegades". CBC Sports Online. June 9, 2003. Retrieved December 4, 2006.
  8. ^ "Schedule". Archived from the original on February 5, 2005. Retrieved October 25, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. ^ Canadian Press (June 11, 2005). "Argos, Ticats tie in Halifax". TSN.ca. Archived from the original on September 26, 2007. Retrieved December 4, 2006.
  10. ^ Canadian Press (June 13, 2006). "Instant replay has kinks to work out". TSN.ca. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved December 4, 2006.
  11. ^ "CFL to introduce instant replay for 2006". CFL.ca. June 13, 2006. Retrieved December 4, 2006.
  12. ^ TD Atlantic returns to Halifax
  13. ^ Canadian Press (January 26, 2006). "Argos, Ticats tie in Halifax". TSN.ca. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved December 4, 2006.
  14. ^ Canadian Press (April 9, 2006). "CFL suspends operations of Renegades". TSN.ca. Archived from the original on March 18, 2007. Retrieved December 4, 2006.
  15. ^ "Our League is coming to Atlantic Canada". Canadian Football League. October 15, 2009. Retrieved February 13, 2010.
  16. ^ Tickets to Touchdown Atlantic sold out
  17. ^ "Turnover Atlantic: Esks enjoy East Coast win". Canadian Football League. September 26, 2010. Archived from the original on September 29, 2010. Retrieved September 26, 2010.
  18. ^ "Touchdown Atlantic returning to Moncton | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. February 7, 2011. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  19. ^ "2011 CFL schedule is here". Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
  20. ^ Francis Campbell (October 31, 2018). "Some say Halifax should take a pass on Shannon Park CFL stadium". The Chronicle Herald. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  21. ^ "O'Leary: An exclusive Q&A with Maritime Football's Anthony LeBlanc". CFL.ca. November 7, 2018. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  22. ^ "Name Game: Potential tenth franchise to be named Atlantic Schooners - CFL.ca". CFL.ca. November 23, 2018. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
  23. ^ a b "A new Touchdown Atlantic one of 2019 schedule highlights". cfl.ca. December 20, 2018.
  24. ^ "CFL returning to Atlantic Canada for regular season game". tsn.ca. December 20, 2018.
  25. ^ a b c "Moncton to host 2019 edition of Touchdown Atlantic". cfl.ca. March 29, 2019.
  26. ^ a b "The biggest CFL Touchdown Atlantic ever is coming to Halifax this summer". Canadian Football League. January 23, 2020.
  27. ^ a b "CFL provides update regarding 2020". Canadian Football League. May 20, 2020.
  28. ^ a b "CFL touches down with Atlantic Canada game in July". Canadian Football League. March 24, 2022.
  29. ^ "Catch of the Day: 2023 Touchdown Atlantic sold out". CFL.ca. June 15, 2023. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
  30. ^ Barnes, Dan (December 20, 2022). "Canadian Football League hopes to score Touchdowns across the country". Toronto Sun. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  31. ^ "CFL eyes Starlight Stadium for new 'Touchdown Pacific' game in 2024". CHEK. January 7, 2023. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  32. ^ Dheensaw, Cleve (January 6, 2023). "B.C. Lions in Langford? Annual CFL game eyed for Starlight Stadium". Times Colonist. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  33. ^ "LIONS TO HOST TOUCHDOWN PACIFIC IN VICTORIA AUG. 31". bclions. November 29, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
  34. ^ "Island CFL fans revel in Touchdown Pacific atmosphere and Lions reward them with win". Times Colonist. September 1, 2024. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  35. ^ Radley, Scott (August 31, 2011). The Moncton Tiger-Cats? Hmmmmmm. Hamilton Spectator. Retrieved August 31, 2011.
  36. ^ Naylor, Dave. TICATS MULLING OPTIONS FOR HOSTING GAMES IN 2013. TSN. Retrieved August 31, 2011.
  37. ^ CFL may take a time out from Moncton games, Cohon says. CBC. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  38. ^ "Game stats". Canadian Football League. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  39. ^ "2005 CFL Schedule". Canadian Football League. Archived from the original on December 28, 2013. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  40. ^ "Touchdown Atlantic returns to Halifax". The Sports Network. January 26, 2006. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  41. ^ "Touchdown Atlantic returns to Halifax". Canadian Football League. January 26, 2006. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  42. ^ "Renegades Announce 2006 Game Schedule". January 27, 2006. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  43. ^ "CFL suspends operations of Renegades". The Sports Network. April 9, 2006. Archived from the original on March 18, 2007. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  44. ^ "Game stats". Canadian Football League. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  45. ^ "Turnover Atlantic: Esks enjoy East Coast win". Canadian Football League. September 26, 2010. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  46. ^ "Game stats". Canadian Football League. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  47. ^ "Ticats get Thiggy with it in Moncton win". Canadian Football League. September 25, 2011. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  48. ^ "Game stats". Canadian Football League. Archived from the original on September 24, 2013. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  49. ^ "Tiger-Cats head East and close out Alouettes". Canadian Football League. September 21, 2013. Archived from the original on September 24, 2013. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  50. ^ "2013 CFL Schedule". Canadian Football League. Archived from the original on December 28, 2013. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  51. ^ "Saskatchewan Roughriders vs Toronto Argonauts". Canadian Football League. July 16, 2022.
  52. ^ "Touchdown Atlantic returns in 2023". CFL.ca. December 20, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
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