The 96th Grey Cup was held in Montreal, Quebec at Olympic Stadium on November 23, 2008. The East Division champion Montreal Alouettes hosted the West Division champion Calgary Stampeders. The Stampeders won the game 22–14, with quarterback Henry Burris winning the MVP award. It was the first time Montreal had hosted the Grey Cup since 2001, the first time since the 2002 Grey Cup that the host city played for the Grey Cup, and the first time since the 58th Grey Cup in 1970 that the Alouettes and Stampeders had met for the national championship. Hoping to break the record for highest attendance for a Grey Cup game, the organizers expanded Olympic Stadium to almost 70,000 seats. A crowd of 66,308 attended the game, failing to break the record of 68,318 set in 1977, but good enough to be the second-highest attended Grey Cup game of all time. Montreal has now played host to the four highest-attended Grey Cup games in history. It was the last time a Western-based team has won the Grey Cup in Eastern Canada until the Winnipeg Blue Bombers won the 108th Grey Cup against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton in 2021.
Broadcast
This was the first Grey Cup not to be broadcast on CBC Television since they started broadcasting the Grey Cup in 1952. In Canada, the game was telecast solely on the cable channel TSN and its French-language sister network RDS. Internationally, both Versus, telecasting in the United States, and Canadian Forces Radio and Television, broadcasting to Canadian forces internationally, used the TSN feed and graphics.
The game was available in HD on both TSN HD and RDS HD and shown in HD in the United States on Voom HD Networks's WorldSport. It was also seen online at ESPN360.com.
Events
Much like in 2001, there was a Grey Cup Village at the Dorchester Square. Musical events included Porn Flakes, Kellylee Evans, Rock Story, Véronique Labbé, Guy Bélanger, Take the Boys, White Faze, Marc Parent et Wang Dang Doodle, Angel Forrest, Young Soul, and Sylvie Desgroseilliers (Motown Show). There also was the annual Montreal Christmas Santa Claus Parade on Saturday November 22/2008.
The Montreal Canadiens' decision to retire the jersey of Patrick Roy the same weekend caused controversy, as some felt that the hockey team — the city's dominant sports franchise — was trying to take attention away from the Montreal Alouettes and the CFL during their championship game weekend.
Attendance
The organizers of the 96th Grey Cup hoped to break the 70,000 attendance mark. The current record for highest attendance was set at the 1977 Grey Cup, also at the Big O in Montreal (68,318). The attendance was reported at 66,308 during the TSN broadcast of the game. In so doing, the 2008 game displaced the 2001 Grey Cup, for second-best attendance (65,255 in 2001, also played in Montreal).
Tickets were priced from $84 in the balcony to $274 in the platinum section. Tickets had three pre-sale days, one during the 95th Grey Cup, one in December and one during Super Bowl XLII. Regular tickets went on sale in March 2008.
Game summary
Calgary Stampeders (22) - TDs, Brett Ralph; FGs Sandro DeAngelis (5); cons., DeAngelis (1).
Montreal Alouettes (14) - TDs, Avon Cobourne; FGs Damon Duval (2); single Duval (1); cons., Duval (1).
First Quarter
MTL – FG Duval 14-yard field goal (4:34) Second Quarter CGY – FG DeAngelis 44-yard field goal (1:12) MTL – TD Cobourne 16-yard run (7:18) (Duval convert) MTL – FG Duval 19-yard field goal (12:08) CGY – TD Ralph 20-yard pass from Burris (14:16) (DeAngelis convert) Third Quarter CGY – FG DeAngelis 12-yard field goal (8:22) MTL – Single Duval 63-yard kick went out-of-bounds 9 yards deep in end zone (11:13) CGY – FG DeAngelis 21-yard field goal (15:00) Fourth Quarter CGY – FG DeAngelis 30-yard field goal (2:46) CGY – FG DeAngelis 50-yard field goal (10:48)
Calgary quarterback, Henry Burris threw for 328 yards and one touchdown, leading all rushers with 79 yards, while kicker Sandro DeAngelis kicked five field goals as the Calgary Stampeders rallied for a 22–14 victory over the Montreal Alouettes to win the Grey Cup, in front of the 66,305 Montreal faithful at Olympic Stadium.
For his efforts, Henry Burris was named the game's Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player, while kicker Sandro DeAngelis kicked five field goals, connecting from 44, 12, 21, 30 and 50 yards out and took home the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Canadian honours.