UPDATE 4:58 PM
End of first half with Blue Bombers taking a 10-9 lead.
Next up: Jonas Brothers!
UPDATE 4:45 PM
Argos take a penalty. Blue Bombers' Willie Jefferson sacks Toronto, forcing a field goal.
Score: 10-6 Winnipeg
UPDATE 4:30 PM
With roughly eight minutes of play until the Jonas Brothers halftime show, Argos sack Winnipeg as the Blue Bombers push hard.
Score: 10-3 Winnipeg after successful field goal.
UPDATE 4:15 PM
And quarterback Terry Wilson scores the Blue Bombers first touchdown at the 111th Grey Cup.
Score: 7-3.
UPDATE: 3:30 PM
Coin toss used a special coin from 19 Comox Wing, and Winnipeg Blue Bombers win.
READ MORE: Grey Cup makes final stop at 19 Wing Comox
UPDATE 3:20 PM
Prince Harry is here at BC Place, ahead of the 2025 Invictus Games in Whistler.
He was joined on the sidelines by B.C. Lions owner Amar Doman and Canadian Invictus Games athlete Wenshuang Nie.
Nie, a former diesel mechanic and medical officer in the Royal Canadian Navy, is set to compete in wheelchair rugby, swimming, biathlon, and skeleton when the Invictus Games are held in Vancouver and Whistler from Feb. 8 to 16. The trio appeared on the big screen before Prince Harry gave Doman a black and gold Invictus Games jersey. Doman gave him a Grey Cup 2024 jersey in return.
Prince Harry, a former soldier, founded the Games in 2014 as a place for wounded, injured or sick service personnel and veterans from around the world to compete in a variety of sports.
The B.C. iteration will feature winter sports for the first time, including sit-skiing, sit-snowboarding, curling, biathlon and skeleton.
Ontario's Owen Riegling also kicked off the Grey Cup with a pre-game perfomance.
ORIGINAL:
The 111th Grey Cup, set to draw crows to BC Place in Vancouver, will be either a story of redemption or doubling down as the culmination of the latest CFL season brings a final match between Toronto and Winnipeg.
The Argonauts, who upset the Blue Bombers 24-23 in the 2022 championship, have 15 players who have played in a Grey Cup. Of those, only three have played in two or more.
Toronto head coach Ryan Dinwiddie's advice for players making their Grey Cup debuts Sunday was "don’t make it bigger that it is."
"It’s just another football game," he continued. "Sometime when you look at the magnitude of the game, you play a little bit tighter.
“We’re going to have ups and downs throughout the course of the game. We just can’t make those critical mistakes. When you start over-thinking things, that’s normally when they come about. I told them, just trust the process. Trust your decision making. Go make a play.”
The Bombers will play in a fifth consecutive Grey Cup and is the first team to do so since Edmonton appeared in six straight between 1977 and 1982.
Of Winnipeg's 18 players with previous Grey Cup experience, nine have played in three or more games.
For Toronto rookie defensive back Benjie Franklin and receiver Makai Polk, having family in the stands makes Sunday’s game extra special.
“A great moment for me in life,” said Franklin. “I’m looking at moments to cherish.”
Blue Bomber veteran offensive tackle Stanley Bryant intends to soak up as much of the atmosphere, again, as possible.
“People say it’s a job, but you’re really just having fun,” he said. "You always want to leave on your own terms but it’s beautiful. You can’t take it for granted."
The Bombers finished the regular season atop the West Division with an 11-7 record and topped the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the western final to earn a berth in the CFL's championship game for the fifth year in a row.
The Argos went 10-8 in regular-season play and won playoff games over both the Ottawa Redblacks and league-leading Montreal Alouettes to get into the Grey Cup.
