Touchdown Atlantic
{{Short description|Neutral site Canadian Football League games in the Maritime Provinces}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2014}}
Image:Touchdown Atlantic 2022 Logo.png
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.{{Cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2003/11/14/cfl-expansion031114.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070603075531/http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2003/11/14/cfl-expansion031114.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 3, 2007|title=CFL considering Quebec or Halifax expansion|accessdate=December 4, 2006|publisher=CBC Sports Online|date=November 14, 2003}} Before the suspension of the Renegades, league commissioner Tom Wright had indicated that Halifax was the leading candidate for expansion.{{cite web|url=http://www.smuhuskies.ca/01272006fb.html|title=CFL returning to Halifax|accessdate=December 4, 2006|publisher=Halifax Daily News|date=January 27, 2006|author=Adam Richardson |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070322030112/http://www.smuhuskies.ca/01272006fb.html |archivedate = March 22, 2007}} With the success of Touchdown Atlantic 2010, Moncton was also considered for CFL expansion.[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/moncton-cfl-franchise-possible-commissioner-1.873445 Moncton CFL franchise possible: commissioner] 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
Image:TouchdownAtlanticLogo.png
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.{{cite web|url=http://cfl.assets.mrx.ca/cgy/legacy/uploads/game_pdfs/110925_atHam.pdf|title=2011 Canadian Football League - Game Notes|date=September 25, 2011|accessdate=October 25, 2013|publisher=Canadian Football League|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029191900/http://cfl.assets.mrx.ca/cgy/legacy/uploads/game_pdfs/110925_atHam.pdf|archive-date=October 29, 2013|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}{{cite web|url=http://www.profootballarchives.com/1986cflmtl.html |title=1986 Montreal Alouettes |publisher=The Pro Football Archives |date= |accessdate=January 30, 2014}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.profootballarchives.com/1987cflmtl.html |title=1987 Montreal Alouettes |publisher=The Pro Football Archives |date= |accessdate=January 30, 2014}} 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.{{Cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/calvillo-alouettes-hammer-renegades-1.393392|title=Calvillo, Alouettes hammer Renegades|access-date=December 4, 2006|publisher=CBC Sports Online|date=June 9, 2003}}{{cite web|url=http://slam.canoe.ca/RenegadesResults03/home.html|title=Schedule|accessdate=October 25, 2013|url-status=usurped|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20050205180540/http://slam.canoe.ca/RenegadesResults03/home.html|archivedate=February 5, 2005}}
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.{{cite web|url=https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/news_story/?ID=127701 |title=Argos, Ticats tie in Halifax |accessdate=December 4, 2006 |publisher=TSN.ca |date=June 11, 2005 |author=Canadian Press |author-link=Canadian Press |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926214621/http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/news_story/?ID=127701 |archivedate=September 26, 2007 }} 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{{cite web|url=https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/news_story/?ID=127847 |title=Instant replay has kinks to work out |accessdate=December 4, 2006 |publisher=TSN.ca |date=June 13, 2006 |author=Canadian Press |author-link=Canadian Press |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929130745/http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/news_story/?ID=127847 |archivedate=September 29, 2007 }} which was implemented in the 2006 CFL season.{{cite web|url=https://www.cfl.ca/index.php?module=newser&func=display&topicnum=&nid=8949|title=CFL to introduce instant replay for 2006|accessdate=December 4, 2006|publisher=CFL.ca|date=June 13, 2006}}
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.[https://www.cfl.ca/article/td_atlantic_returns_to_halifax TD Atlantic returns to Halifax] This game was canceled after the suspension of the Ottawa Renegades, who were scheduled to play the Montreal Alouettes.{{cite web|url=https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/news_story/?ID=152406 |title=Argos, Ticats tie in Halifax |accessdate=December 4, 2006 |publisher=TSN.ca |date=January 26, 2006 |author=Canadian Press |author-link=Canadian Press |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929162306/http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/news_story/?ID=152406 |archivedate=September 29, 2007 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/news_story/?ID=161969|title=CFL suspends operations of Renegades|accessdate=December 4, 2006|publisher=TSN.ca|date=April 9, 2006|author=Canadian Press|author-link=Canadian Press|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070318231040/http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/news_story/?ID=161969 |archivedate = March 18, 2007}}
Regular season games
Image:Touchdown Atlantic 2010.jpg
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.{{cite web|url=https://www.cfl.ca/article/our-league-is-coming-to-atlantic-canada|title=Our League is coming to Atlantic Canada|accessdate=February 13, 2010|publisher=Canadian Football League|date=October 15, 2009}} 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.[https://www.cfl.ca/article/tickets-to-touchdown-atlantic-sold-out Tickets to Touchdown Atlantic sold out] 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.{{cite web|url=http://cfl.ca/article/turnover-atlantic-esks-enjoy-east-coast-win|title=Turnover Atlantic: Esks enjoy East Coast win|accessdate=September 26, 2010|publisher=Canadian Football League|date=September 26, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100929074343/http://cfl.ca/article/turnover-atlantic-esks-enjoy-east-coast-win|archive-date=September 29, 2010|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}
A 2011 Touchdown Atlantic game, somewhat erroneously known as Touchdown Atlantic II, took place during the 2011 CFL season, again in Moncton.{{cite web|url=http://cfl.ca/article/touchdown-atlantic-returning-to-moncton |title=Touchdown Atlantic returning to Moncton | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League |publisher=CFL.ca |date=February 7, 2011 |accessdate=January 30, 2014}} The Hamilton Tiger-Cats were the designated home team and faced the Calgary Stampeders on September 25 at Moncton Stadium.{{Cite web |url=https://www.cfl.ca/article/2011-cfl-schedule-is-here |title=2011 CFL schedule is here |access-date=September 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923202121/http://www.cfl.ca/article/2011-cfl-schedule-is-here |archive-date=September 23, 2015 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }} 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.
Image:Touchdown Atlantic 2018 logo.jpg
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.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/local/some-say-halifax-should-take-a-pass-on-shannon-park-cfl-stadium-255433/|title=Some say Halifax should take a pass on Shannon Park CFL stadium|work=The Chronicle Herald|date=October 31, 2018|author=Francis Campbell|access-date=December 20, 2018}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.cfl.ca/2018/11/07/oleary-exclusive-qa-maritime-footballs-anthony-lablanc/|title=O'Leary: An exclusive Q&A with Maritime Football's Anthony LeBlanc|date=November 7, 2018|work=CFL.ca|access-date=December 20, 2018}} 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).{{Cite news|url=https://www.cfl.ca/2018/11/23/name-game-potential-tenth-franchise-named-atlantic-schooners/|title=Name Game: Potential tenth franchise to be named Atlantic Schooners - CFL.ca|date=2018-11-23|work=CFL.ca|access-date=2018-11-24|language=en-US}} 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).{{cite news|url=https://www.cfl.ca/2018/12/20/new-touchdown-atlantic-one-2019-schedule-highlights/|title=A new Touchdown Atlantic one of 2019 schedule highlights|date=December 20, 2018|publisher=cfl.ca}} 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.tsn.ca/cfl-returning-to-atlantic-canada-for-regular-season-game-1.1229374|title=CFL returning to Atlantic Canada for regular season game|date=December 20, 2018|publisher=tsn.ca}}{{cite news|url=https://www.cfl.ca/2019/03/29/moncton-host-2019-edition-touchdown-atlantic/|title=Moncton to host 2019 edition of Touchdown Atlantic|date=March 29, 2019|publisher=cfl.ca}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://press.cfl.ca/the-biggest-cfl-touchdown-atlantic-ever-is-coming-to-halifax-this-summer|title=The biggest CFL Touchdown Atlantic ever is coming to Halifax this summer|publisher=Canadian Football League|date=January 23, 2020}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.cfl.ca/2020/05/20/cfl-issues-update-regarding-2020/|title=CFL provides update regarding 2020|publisher=Canadian Football League|date=May 20, 2020}}
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.{{cite web|url=https://www.tsn.ca/cfl-atlantic-canada-nova-scotia-1.1776000 |title=CFL touches down with Atlantic Canada game in July |publisher=Canadian Football League |date=March 24, 2022}} 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.{{Cite web |date=2023-06-15 |title=Catch of the Day: 2023 Touchdown Atlantic sold out |url=https://www.cfl.ca/2023/06/15/catch-of-the-day-2023-touchdown-atlantic-sold-out/ |access-date=2023-06-16 |website=CFL.ca |language=en}}
Other "Touchdown"-branded games
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.{{cite web|url=https://torontosun.com/sports/football/cfl/canadian-football-league-hopes-to-score-touchdowns-across-the-country|title=Canadian Football League hopes to score Touchdowns across the country|date=2022-12-20|accessdate=2023-01-06|first=Dan|last=Barnes|publisher=Toronto Sun}} Langford, British Columbia (part of Greater Victoria) was discussed as a potential location for a Touchdown Pacific game at Starlight Stadium beginning in 2024,{{Cite web |date=2023-01-07 |title=CFL eyes Starlight Stadium for new 'Touchdown Pacific' game in 2024 |url=https://www.cheknews.ca/cfl-eyes-starlight-stadium-for-new-touchdown-pacific-game-in-2024-1130490/ |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=CHEK |language=en-CA}}{{cite web|url=https://www.timescolonist.com/sports/bc-lions-in-langford-annual-cfl-game-eyed-for-starlight-stadium-6336066|title=B.C. Lions in Langford? Annual CFL game eyed for Starlight Stadium|first=Cleve|last=Dheensaw|date=2023-01-06|accessdate=2023-01-08|publisher=Times Colonist}} 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.{{Cite web |date=2023-11-29 |title=LIONS TO HOST TOUCHDOWN PACIFIC IN VICTORIA AUG. 31 |url=https://www.bclions.com/2023/11/29/lions-to-host-touchdown-pacific-in-victoria-aug-31/ |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=bclions |language=en-CA}} The Lions won 38–12, and the attendance was 14,727.{{Cite web |date=2024-09-01 |title=Island CFL fans revel in Touchdown Pacific atmosphere and Lions reward them with win |url=https://www.timescolonist.com/sports/island-cfl-fans-revel-in-touchdown-pacific-atmosphere-and-lions-reward-them-with-win-9462067 |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=Times Colonist |language=en}}
Potential for an Atlantic expansion team
{{see also|Atlantic Schooners#Attempted revival|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. 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.Radley, Scott (August 31, 2011). [http://www.thespec.com/sports/ticats/article/587510--the-moncton-tiger-cats-hmmmmmm The Moncton Tiger-Cats? Hmmmmmm]. Hamilton Spectator. Retrieved August 31, 2011.Naylor, Dave. [https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=374804 TICATS MULLING OPTIONS FOR HOSTING GAMES IN 2013]. TSN. Retrieved August 31, 2011.
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.[http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/cfl-may-take-a-time-out-from-moncton-games-cohon-says-1.1860727 CFL may take a time out from Moncton games, Cohon says]. CBC. Retrieved February 16, 2015. 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.
List of games
See also
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
{{wikinews|Canadian Football League to test Atlantic expansion with exhibition game}}
- [https://www.touchdownatlantic.com/home Touchdown Atlantic website]
{{CFL}}
Category:History of the Canadian Football League
Category:Sport in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Category:2005 in Canadian football