By Canadian Press

Montreal’s Olympic Stadium expresses interest in hosting NFL games

Mar 31, 2021 | 12:42 PM

Operators of Montreal’s Olympic Stadium say they are interested in hosting NFL games.

Olympic Park, the organization that runs the indoor stadium for the Quebec government, said in a statement Wednesday the NFL could be a good fit for the facility.

On Tuesday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the league has set its sights on playing in Canada as part of it expanding its regular season from 16 games to 17. Starting in 2022, every franchise will play a game internationally at least once every eight years. 

The NFL says it will focus initially on playing games in Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Europe and South America.

Most of the biggest crowds in CFL history have been at Olympic Stadium, with the league-high being 69,093 for a Montreal Alouettes game in 1977. 

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The Alouettes now play at outdoor Molson Stadium, a smaller venue.

“We’re always open for opportunities to host sporting events,” Alain Larochelle, vice-president, business development for Olympic Park, said in a statement. “The Montreal Olympic Stadium has a rich history with North American football, especially with the CFL, the Grey Cup and the Montreal Alouettes, who still hold the record for the largest sport attendance in the history of the stadium. 

“We would be very interested in hosting an NFL game and we are eager to show the numerous planned investments and the many possibilities of the Montreal Olympic Stadium to the promoters around the globe.”

Officials at Toronto’s Rogers Centre, Vancouver’s BC Place and Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium, the three other biggest stadiums in Canada, did not immediately respond to interview requests. 

The NFL played a full season in 2020, while the CFL cancelled its campaign because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The CFL announced recently it is in discussions with the American-based XFL about a possible partnership.

The NFL has held numerous exhibition games in Canada but the Buffalo Bills were the only team to play regular-season contests north of the border. They staged one regular-season game annually from 2008 to 2013 at Rogers Centre as part of the Bills Toronto Series, an eight-game format (later reduced to seven) conceived by former Bills owner Ralph Wilson, Ted Rogers of Rogers Communications and Larry Tanenbaum of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.

The league has played at least one game every year in London, England (except last year) since 2007 and has staged three games in Mexico in recent years.

Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Hamilton and Winnipeg have hosted NFL pre-season games.

Winnipeg did so most recently in 2019, but it wasn’t a good night for game organizers.

The game between the Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers was played on a shortened field because of concerns about the turf in the end zones.

Minutes prior to the opening play, the Packers announced they would not dress 33 players.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31, 2021.

The Canadian Press