Mark Kilam, Cody Fajardo ask Edmonton Elks fans to sell out Grey Cup in Calgary

Photo courtesy: Edmonton Elks

The Edmonton Elks are officially the home team for the 113th Grey Cup in Calgary, and the club is hoping their fans sell out the game.

“We just made it down here in about two hours and a bit, so it’s an easy drive,” said head coach Mark Kilam following his team’s arrival in the city on Tuesday. “Let’s go. Let’s pack this place. Paint the city green and gold.”

According to the map on Ticketmaster, there are a few thousand tickets still available for Sunday’s game, though a noticeable amount have sold since Edmonton won the West Final over the B.C. Lions on Saturday.

The Elks hosted a crowd of over 40,000 for their recent playoff win, which was a tremendous accomplishment for the club given recent trends.

Once the league’s perennial attendance leaders, Edmonton saw fan support collapse over the last decade due to a variety of factors. The team averaged crowds of 30,000 as recently as 2018. In 2025, average attendance fell to 19,050.

The Green and Gold enjoyed by far the biggest year-over-year attendance increase in the CFL in 2026 with average crowds of 22,421 — a 17.7 percent boost. The West Final drew almost double that number.

“How awesome was that? I just got chills thinking about it again,” said Kilam. “It was wicked. It’s the way it’s supposed to be up there, so proud of Edmonton for showing up, and I was so pleased that we could get it done for them.”

Franchise quarterback Cody Fajardo credited the fans for the victory, Edmonton’s first in the playoffs since 2019.

“They were the difference in the West Final, without a doubt,” he said. “Some procedure penalties on B.C. gave us life offensively. We were just trying to make a big play so we can hear the crowd erupt. Our defence was flying around to that energy.”

“I think there’s no other sport that fan support can change the outcome other than football. Football is the only game where there’s so much communication at the line of scrimmage, there’s so much stuff as a quarterback with snap count, breaking the huddle, communication. The crowd can affect that and can make that tough on teams.”

The 34-year-old celebrated the win by heading down to Rogers Place, where the Edmonton Oilers won 4-2 over the Vancouver Canucks.

“There was a ton of people that were basically booking their (Grey Cup) tickets at the Oilers game, so I think they were waiting to see if we were in it,” said Fajardo. “Now that we’re in it, hopefully the influx of tickets will increase.”

Last month, Calgary Stampeders president Jay McNeil told 3DownNation that he couldn’t confidently say the Grey Cup would sell out.

With the Red and White’s provincial rivals now in the game, Elks fans appear to be the key to ensuring McMahon Stadium is packed come Sunday.

The Montreal Alouettes (15-4) and Edmonton Elks (14-5) will meet in the 113th Grey Cup at McMahon Stadium in Calgary on Sunday, November 15, with kickoff scheduled for 6:00 p.m. ET.

The Alouettes and Elks split their two meetings during the regular season. In June, Edmonton won 32-29 in overtime at Commonwealth Stadium, as running back Justin Rankin recorded 230 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns. In August, Montreal won 48-30 at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, led by a 131-yard, three-touchdown performance from Tyson Philpot.

The weather forecast in Calgary calls for a high of 10 degrees with a mix of sun and cloud. The game will be broadcast on TSN, CTV, RDS, and Crave in Canada, and CFL+ internationally.