40,000 fans at Commonwealth Stadium ‘very realistic’ for West Final: Edmonton Elks president Chris Morris

Photo: Edmonton Elks

The Edmonton Elks are rapidly nearing their best fan turnout in seven years for Saturday’s West Final matchup with the B.C. Lions.

“We’re creeping up on 32,000 (tickets sold) now, so we’re going up. We’ve had up to 5,000, 6000 walk up on previous game days. It’s very, very realistic to say we could be over 40,000 for this game, which would be an incredible accomplishment for the league and for us,” team president Chris Morris told reporters on Thursday.

Attendance at Commonwealth Stadium last surpassed 40,000 fans on September 7, 2019, when a crowd of 40,113 fans was on hand for their rivalry rematch with the Calgary Stampeders.

The Elks enjoyed by far the biggest year-over-year attendance increase in the CFL this season with average crowds of 22,421 — a 17.7 percent boost. This will be their first home playoff game since 2015, which is also the last time they won the Grey Cup.

“I think the energy in the city is what’s really struck me,” Morris said. “You see that people are really getting back behind the team. The amount of tickets we’re selling and the energy, the positive energy, is just incredible.”

Once the league’s perennial attendance leaders, Edmonton saw fan support collapse in recent years for a variety of reasons, including a record 22-game home losing streak. The team averaged crowds of 35,000 as recently as 2010 and 30,000 in 2018.

Morris, who played 14 years along the offensive line in Edmonton, was hired in October 2024 to turn the franchise around. He took a photograph around that time that has motivated him ever since.

“I have a picture on my desk from my first few days here, and there was no one in the stands. I keep it there just to remind me of my responsibility here to help the Thompsons (team ownership) and to make sure that the city has something that they can be proud of to show up and watch,” he said. “I look at that picture, and I think about what it’s going to look like on Saturday afternoon — it’s good.”

The Edmonton Elks (13-5) will host the B.C. Lions (10-8) for the West Final at Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday, November 7, with kickoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET. The teams met twice during the regular season, with both teams winning at home.

The game will be broadcast on TSN and RDS in Canada and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune in on 730 CKNW (English) or Sher-E-Punjab Radio AM 600 (Punjabi) in Vancouver or 880 CHED in Edmonton.