Labour Day Classic

The usual weekend matchups involves the Montreal Alouettes playing against the Ottawa Redblacks on the Friday before Labour Day, with host duties alternating between the two teams.

[1][2] The BC Lions have no geographic rival and typically have a bye, having played just three times on Labour Day Weekend (2015, 2023 and 2024) since the return to nine teams in 2014.

[citation needed] The matchups have remained mostly the same throughout history, except during Montreal and Ottawa's periods of hiatus or due to scheduling conflicts.

During the early 1980s, the Montreal Concordes played the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the remaining three teams (Toronto, Ottawa and BC) rotated each year.

[4] Due to scheduling conflicts, the Tiger-Cats temporarily revived its rivalry with the current incarnation of the Alouettes in the Labour Day game for the 2011 season; the change in opponents led Hamilton to dub the game the Labour Day Classique in reference to Montreal's francophone community.

For the 2016 contest, to avoid any further conflicts with OUA games, the CFL moved the Toronto/Hamilton matchup to prime time Labour Day evening.

As the league has been increasing in popularity in recent years, print ads for the Labour Day Classic try to evoke the tradition of watching Canadian football on the last weekend of summer.

In the week following the Winnipeg vs Saskatchewan Labour Day Classic matchup, the two teams rematch annually in the Banjo Bowl.Longest winning streak (Saskatchewan): 11 (2005–2015) Longest winning streak (Winnipeg): 4 (1978–1982) Did not play the following years: 1955–1960, 1964–1969, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1981, 2020 Television (since 1982): CTV (1983–1985); CBC (1982, 1986, 1989, 1993); CFN (1987–1988); TSN (1990–1991, 1994, 1997–2000, 2002–2019, 2021–2024); No TV (1992, 1995–1996, 2001) The Toronto—Hamilton Classic is one of the components of the Harold Ballard Trophy, an award given to the winner of the season series between the Tiger-Cats and Argonauts.