Edmonton Elks looking to clinch first place in West Division

Photo: Edmonton Elks

It’s been 11 years since the Edmonton Elks hosted the West Final, but the team is only one win away from ending that drought and ensuring to path to the 113th Grey Cup runs through the Concrete Castle of the North.

After winning back-to-back games against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to improve their record to 6-1 over their last seven outings, the Elks can clinch first place in the West Division with a win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers this week, and team they’ve already beaten twice this year. For franchise quarterback Cody Fajardo, the timing seems perfect.

“I’ve been telling the guys this week, this is almost like two games because if we find a way to win this football game, we guarantee ourselves that (first-round playoff) bye, and so essentially you’re winning that West Semi-Final by playing the bye week, so it’s big,” Fajardo told the media on Monday.

“I’ve played on both sides of it — I’ve been in the West Semi-(Final), East Semi-(Final). I’ve been in the West Final, I’ve been in the East Final, and sometimes it’s that rest versus rust mentality, but I’m happy that we’re taking this to the wire because now you don’t put yourself in that situation where you have to think about (whether or not to rest players down the stretch).”

The Elks are 7-1 at home this season, which has led to increased ticket sales.

The club is averaging crowds of 22,412 so far in 2026, a 17.6 percent year-over-year increase. Before the season started, team president and CEO Chris Morris told 3DownNation that the team would need to average between 22,000 and 25,000 fans per game in order to be profitable.

Commonwealth Stadium once played host to the CFL’s biggest crowds, which dwindled amid the COVID-19 pandemic and a record-setting 22-game home losing skid. Edmonton has officially turned the corner, and the team is clearly thrilled to be giving their fans plenty of reasons to cheer.

“It means everything, it‘s what we’ve been working for. We’ve always wanted to play well at home, and then if you win enough games, you earn that opportunity to play in front of your fans in a meaningful game, and that’s important,” said head coach Mark Kilam.

“We said that going way back to last year, we wanted to honour the fans with the style of football that we played, and I think that we’ve been doing that.”

Fajardo was the quarterback with the Montreal Alouettes when the team was the consensus Grey Cup long shot back in 2023.

The club was coming off a tumultuous offseason at the time, which included the CFL taking control of the franchise from then-owners Gary Stern and the estate of Sid Spiegel. The uncertainty led to the departure of several key free agents, including Trevor Harris, Eugene Lewis, and Adarius Pickett.

The Alouettes ended up finishing second in the East Division that year at 11-7, then won the East Semi-Final and East Final in convincing fashion. Montreal then upset the 7.5-point favourite Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the 110th Grey Cup at Hamilton Stadium by a score of 28-24.

It appears Fajardo hasn’t forgotten about the team’s fateful run, and drew a parallel to this year’s Elks.

“We had the largest [sic] odds to win the Grey Cup, and here we are with a chance to claim the West Final. The last time this league did that to me, everybody else knows what happened, so I take that stuff personal,” said Fajardo.

“We’ve got a good opportunity ahead of us against a good Winnipeg team to clinch the West and do something that I don’t think anybody outside this building thought we could do.”

The Edmonton Elks (12-4) will host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (8-8) on Friday, October 16 with kickoff scheduled for 9:30 p.m. ET. The Blue Bombers got a key win over the Calgary Stampeders last week, while the Elks completed their sweep of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

The game will be broadcast on TSN in Canada and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune-in on 680 CJOB in Winnipeg or 880 CHED in Edmonton.