Five of the Ticats’ first seven games, and four of their first five, will be played on Sunday evenings. Three of those will be on the road, and two at Tim Hortons Field, including the home opener on Father’s Day (June 16) against Saskatchewan.
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The CFL released its 2024 schedule early Thursday afternoon.
This will be the 10th season of play at Tim Hortons Field, which opened with the Labour Day Classic of 2014. The entire 2020 season was cancelled.
As is so often the case, the Ticats begin the regular season on the road, visiting Calgary on Friday, June 7, one night after the Montreal Alouettes play in Winnipeg, as the CFL returns to the concept of a Grey Cup rematch to open its season. If he’s still with the Ticats, which he has said he wants to be, quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell will play in Calgary for the first time as a non-Stampeder.
The Ticats play the Cup champion Alouettes only twice this season, in back-to-back weekends in early August. They play the other two East Conference teams three times: Hamilton is in Ottawa twice, including the season’s final game Oct. 25, and hosts the Redblacks on Sept. 14 in the Hall of Fame Game.
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The Montreal Alouettes, who won the Grey Cup in Hamilton last month, will visit Tim Hortons Field again Friday, Aug. 2.
The Ticats will come into that Hall of Fame Game off a bye week following the Labour Day Classic, one of two home games (Saturday, July 20) against Toronto. Their only trip to Toronto is Friday, Sept. 20.
The CFL is also returning to the concept of each team playing home and away against every team in the opposite conference. Last year, the Ticats didn’t visit Calgary and Saskatchewan didn’t come to Hamilton.
Although the Ticats start with three of their first four games on the road, they follow that with four of the next six at home, all in July and August.
It’s a good schedule for the Ticats, with only one game played on relatively short rest: the five days between Sunday, July 28 in Edmonton and hosting Montreal on Friday, Aug. 2. Otherwise, the shortest time between games is six days, which works well for rest and preparation.
That’s partly because the Ticats don’t play any Thursday night games. They’ll be featured eight times on Fridays, TSN’s showcase night. They also play four times on Saturdays, three of those at home, plus the Monday of Labour Day against the archrival Argos.
Hamilton will play an exhibition game Saturday, May 25 against Ottawa and close out the pre-season in Toronto on June 1, at a neutral site as yet to be announced by the Argos.
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The Grey Cup will be played Sunday, Nov. 17 at Vancouver’s B.C. Place.
NOTES: This week’s inking of offensive guard Brandon Revenberg, the four-time CFL all-star and three time East Conference lineman of the year, was massively important to the Ticats. He re-upped for a two-year deal.
has spent 33 years of his 42-year sports-writing career at the Hamilton Spectator, most of that as an award-winning columnist. He is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and the Skate Canada Hall of Fame and is also the author or co/author of 25 books.
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