Stampede Bowl brings Calgary Stampeders, 'Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth' together at last
Article content
The Calgary Stampeders and the Calgary Stampede have never worked hand in hand with one another.
Until now.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Stampede Bowl brings Calgary Stampeders, 'Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth' together at last Back to video
With the Stampeders working these days from a “bigger and bolder” playbook in every aspect of their operation, the inaugural Stampede Bowl has them teaming up with ‘The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth’.
The regular-season contest — slated for home turf on the eve of the historic festival — is one such call they’ve got in their plans to shake off a “challenging” 2024 Canadian Football League season.
“We’ve talked a lot about this game and what it’s going to mean and what it’s going to signify,” said Stampeders president Jay McNeil, of the game pitting his charges against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at McMahon Stadium on Thursday, July 3.
“We talk about change in 2025 and the two words we’re using are ‘bigger’ and ‘bolder’,” continued McNeil “We want to be bigger and bolder in everything we do on and off the field. And this is just one piece of that.
“So we’re really excited about it.”
What is the Stampede Bowl?
The Stampede sneak-a-peek-night game between the Stamps and the Bombers is slated for Thursday, July 3 — with a 7 p.m. kickoff …
• The winner gets two points for the CFL standings and the Stampede Bowl Trophy, a custom-made piece of hardware crafted by MST Bronze Limited, a Canadian art and design studio
• McNeil and his Blue Bombers counterpart, Wade Miller, have a wager in place that sees the losing team donate $25,000 to Purolator Tackle Hunger in the winning team’s market
• The halftime show features Bret Michaels — a multi-platinum music icon as a solo artist and frontman of legendary rock band Poison — live on-field at McMahon
• Offers packages that include a ticket to the Stampede Bowl game and tickets to select Calgary Stampede events. Through the collective marketable fanbase of all partners, the ticket offers will be sent to more than two million people
The Stampede Bowl, especially with how it came about, is certainly a break from the norm for the CFL franchise, who were in need of one, in many ways.’
One big shift is partnering with the Calgary Stampede — something new that both major sports entities are embracing.
“We had discussed whether we should consider a game during Stampede in 2023,” McNeil said. “But it never really got any legs.
“And then when we had a change of leadership at Calgary Sports and Entertainment, we brought this up again and talked about the possibility of doing that,” continued McNeil. “And so, what the difference between the two years is we have partnered with the Calgary Stampede for the Grey Cup in 2026, and so through that partnership, and through those conversations, we talked about the concept of, ‘Would they ever get behind us having a game over the course of the Stampede?’ And they came back and said, ‘Yes, we think that’s very complementary. We’d love to support that and be a part of the thing. And it grew from there.”
Never before — at least in a deep dive back into history — have the Red & White played a home game during the famous exhibition.
The closest they’ve crossed paths was a game on the Wednesday night — two days ahead of the Stampede — but as McNeil puts it, the events “were very much independent of each other.”
The launch of the Stampede Bowl is, indeed, a team effort.
“I think part of it was the two organizations really didn’t communicate,” said McNeil, of the Stamps never hosting a game during the 10 days of Stampede. “I think we just assumed that the Stampede would not be happy if he held the game over that time period. And as turns out, they were very supportive of this.
“And so I just don’t think the question was ever asked of them. And then, from our own internal perspective, we didn’t really want to compete with the Stampede.
“So now we’ve taken the approach with the Stampede that we’re going to complement each other only to drive people into Calgary, which is better for both of us.
“I can’t say enough about the partnership with the Stampede, because they’ve really embraced this from all different aspects,” added McNeil. “We’re talking about building ticket packages that include tickets to our game and tickets to Stampede events. We’re talking about how to cross-promote from a sponsorship perspective.
“I think one of the things that’s really special about this game is that between ourselves, the Stampede, the CFL, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Bret Michaels — our halftime show is — this can touch millions of people from from a ticketing perspective leading into it.
“So then from the marketing perspective, there’s a lot of strength that comes with this partnership.”
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.