Starting September 9 at Pacific Central Station in Vancouver, the Grey Cup was placed on board the train during an official ceremony.
[10] Canada Post celebrated the 100th Grey Cup by issuing a series of commemorative postage stamps, designed by Bensimon Byrne of Toronto.
In her message, the Queen noted the monarchial ties of both championships and wished an enjoyable weekend for the teams, players and fans.
Calgary was led by running back Jon Cornish, whose total of 1,457 rushing yards during the season set a league record for most by a Canadian-born player.
[15] Stampeders' head coach John Hufnagel named first-string quarterback Drew Tate the starter even though it would be his first full game since suffering a shoulder injury on July 7 against Toronto.
Veteran backup Kevin Glenn, who was the team's primary quarterback for much of the season due to Tate's injuries, was named the starter against BC.
[23] Ray, meanwhile, completed 23 of 30 passes for 239 yards and led the Argonauts offence to a team-record 31 points in the second quarter en route to a 42–26 victory.
[28] Despite the outcome of their two regular season meetings, Calgary was named a two-point favourite over Toronto in the Grey Cup by sports betting agencies.
Calgary quarterback Danny Barrett set Grey Cup records of 39 pass completions and 56 attempts as the Stampeders more than doubled the Argonauts offensive production, 406 yards to 174.
Special teams were the difference in the game however, as Barrett was intercepted three times and Toronto's Rocket Ismail ran an 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown en route to a 36–21 Argonaut victory.
[31] Calgary, being the designated away team, made the call of heads for the coin toss; the result was a tails, allowing Toronto to choose to receive the ball for the first half of the game.
Calgary committed their first turnover of the game on their next possession when running back Jon Cornish fumbled the ball on a handoff from quarterback Kevin Glenn.
Toronto ended up opening up the scoring on the ensuing drive thanks to a five-yard touchdown run by the league's Most Outstanding Player Chad Owens.
[32] The Stampeders responded to the touchdown with a field goal by Rene Paredes to cut the score down to 7–3 and they quickly regained possession of the ball, but the drive was cut short when Glenn was picked off by Toronto cornerback Pacino Horne, who ran the ball in for a touchdown to put the Argos up 14–3 early in the second quarter.
[32] On their following possession, Toronto found themselves at Calgary's 12-yard line following a 62-yard pass from Ray to Jason Barnes, but were forced to settle for a field goal by the Stampeders defence.
On a second-and-long play by the Stampeders, a pass interference penalty was called on Argos defensive back Ahmad Carroll to put them in scoring range.
However, the Argonauts defence again prevented the Stampeders from reaching the end zone and Calgary settled for their fourth field goal of the game.
[32] Stampeders receiver Maurice Price scored his team's lone touchdown of the game with twenty seconds remaining on the clock and followed up with the two-point conversion.
The halftime show featured pop artists Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen, along with rock band Marianas Trench and balladeer Gordon Lightfoot.
CFL commissioner Mark Cohon explained that the lineup spanned multiple generations of music, was "quintessentially Canadian and undoubtedly world class", and would "command a huge and diverse audience, entertaining our most loyal fans and attracting new ones to our game's greatest showcase.