2nd Half - IG Field - Banjo Bowl
No one will be rushing to slap the slogan on the back of T-shirts, but make no mistake, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ 2023 season already has an unofficial rallying cry based on what has been heard from players and coaches since November 20th: Call it ‘The Redemption Tour.’
Yes, talk to anyone in Bomberland since last month’s Grey Cup loss to the Toronto Argonauts – a setback which denied the franchise a third consecutive championship – and the sting will fester like an open wound right up to and beyond the start of the Canadian Football League’s 2023 season.
The dates of that tour became official on Tuesday with the league unveiling its 2023 slate of games.
The Blue Bombers will begin on May 27th with a preseason game in Edmonton against the Elks, before returning home to face the Saskatchewan Roughriders in their final dress rehearsal on June 2nd.
Winnipeg’s 2023 curtain raiser will be its home opener on Friday, June 9th against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and, naturally, the slate of games includes the annual Labour Day visit to Regina and the Banjo Bowl against the Roughriders a week later.
The other notable nuggets from the Blue Bombers schedule:
- Winnipeg will play each of its four division rivals three times, the Ticats and Montreal Alouettes twice and the Ottawa RedBlacks and Toronto Argonauts only once. Oddly, the 2022 Grey Cup rematch won’t come until the Argos visit on September 29th.
- Of the 10 home dates – including preseason – four will come on Thursday nights with all of them in the summer – with another quartet on Friday evenings as well as a pair of Saturday games.
- The Blue Bombers will have three bye weeks again, coming in Week 8 (late July), Week 16 (late September) and Week 19 (mid-October).
- The club’s last three games all come against West Division rivals with trips to Vancouver and Calgary wrapped around a visit by the Elks.
- And, unlike last year’s absolutely bonkers stretch that saw the team play five of six on the road in a month during the summer, there is much more balance in the schedule. The Blue Bombers will be on the road for successive weeks just once – August 10th in Edmonton followed by the 18th in Calgary – with those Alberta dates coming after a back-to-back at home versus the Elks and Lions.
- There is only one back-to-back with the same opponent – there were three last year – with the Labour Day Classic/Banjo Bowl showdown with Saskatchewan.
- The Bombers tightest window between games comes in July, with a trip to Ottawa on July 15th followed by a home date against Edmonton on the 20th. Last year’s shortest turnaround saw the club in Toronto on Monday, July 4th before a trip to Vancouver on Saturday, July 9th.
- And as for when the Redemption Tour really takes hold, consider this: the playoffs start on November 4th with the semi-finals, followed by the division finals on November 11th – both Saturdays – and the 110th Grey Cup on Sunday, November 19th at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton.
Here’s a more detailed look at the Blue Bombers slate of regular season games, after the preseason contests in Edmonton and at home against Saskatchewan (all times Central):
WEEK 1 | HAMILTON AT WINNIPEG
When: Friday, June 9th, 7:30 p.m.
Notable: The Blue Bombers are a remarkable 23-2 at home in the last three regular seasons. The only two teams to beat Winnipeg at home over that stretch? Montreal last year in overtime, and the Ticats in a 33-13 win back on September 27th, 2019.
WEEK 2 | WINNIPEG AT SASKATCHEWAN
When: Friday, June 16th, 8 p.m.
Notable: The first trip for the Blue Bombers to Mosaic Stadium since the Grey Cup loss comes early – 208 days since the loss to Toronto in the 109th championship.
WEEK 3 | B.C. AT WINNIPEG
When: Thursday, June 22nd, 7:30 p.m.
Notable: Every team undergoes change every year. But with Kid Canada – B.C. quarterback Nathan Rourke – getting tons of NFL looks right now the question might be who could line up behind centre in ’23 if he departs. Vernon Adams, Jr. is under contract, but Michael O’Connor and Antonio Pipkin are both pending free agents.
WEEK 4 | WINNIPEG AT MONTREAL
When: Saturday, July 1st, 6 p.m.
Notable: The Blue Bombers have played on Canada Day five times in this millennium and have a 3-2 record in those games, with wins in Saskatchewan in 2017 (the official opening of new Mosaic Stadium), in Hamilton in 2011 and at home to Edmonton in 2013 and losses in Calgary in 2016 and vs. Edmonton in 2006.
WEEK 5 | CALGARY AT WINNIPEG
When: Friday, July 7th, 7:30 p.m.
Notable: Winnipeg won all three games against the Stamps last year – including both meetings at IG Field – by a slim margin of 16 points combined. All three were CFL classics.
WEEK 6 | WINNIPEG AT OTTAWA
When: Saturday, July 15th, 3 p.m.
Notable: The Blue Bombers will be in the nation’s capital for the third time in three seasons (the two teams did not meet in the abridged ’21 campaign) and face their third different head coach over that span. Winnipegger Bob Dyce will lead Ottawa in 2023 as he was named the replacement to Paul LaPolice earlier this month and with Rick Campbell the head coach in ’19. All three men, incidentally, were Blue Bombers assistants at one time.
WEEK 7 | EDMONTON AT WINNIPEG
When: Thursday, July 20th, 7:30 p.m.
Notable: Winnipeg is on a six-game heater against the Elks dating back to 2019. The average margin of victory over the past two years? A whopping 22 points.
WEEK 9 | B.C. AT WINNIPEG
When: Thursday, August 3rd, 7:30 p.m.
Notable: The Blue Bombers won both home games against the Lions in ’22 – 24-9 on October 28th and then 28-20 in the Western Final on November 13th. The Lions are just 1-8 in their last nine trips to Winnipeg, including playoffs.
WEEK 10 | WINNIPEG AT EDMONTON
When: Thursday, August 10th, 8 p.m.
Notable: The Elks have gone two seasons without a home win. They have lost 17 consecutive games at Commonwealth Stadium, a CFL record. This meeting will be their fourth home date of ’23.
WEEK 11 | WINNIPEG AT CALGARY
When: Friday, August 18th, 8 p.m.
Notable: Dating back to 2019 the Blue Bombers have won three of their last four at McMahon Stadium, winning 35-28 last season along with the Western Semi-Final and Grey Cup in 2019. The lone loss was a 13-12 setback at the end of 2021 when the club rested starters and limited the snaps of others in the regular season finale and with first place in the division sealed.
WEEK 12 | MONTREAL AT WINNIPEG
When: Thursday, August 24th, 7:30 p.m.
Notable: The Blue Bombers were 8-1 at home in the regular season last year and 7-0 in 2021. The lone loss over that span was the OT loss to the Als last August 11th, a result that ended a nine-game win streak to open the season.
WEEK 13 | WINNIPEG AT SASKATCHEWAN – THE LABOUR DAY CLASSIC
When: Sunday, September 3rd, 6 p.m.
Notable: The Blue Bombers have captured the last two Labour Day Classics, giving them back-to-back wins in this annual slugfest for the first time since 2003-04.
WEEK 14 | SASKATCHEWAN AT WINNIPEG – THE BANJO BOWL
When: Saturday, September 9th, 3 p.m.
Notable: The Blue Bombers have won seven straight against their arch-rivals and in last year’s Banjo Bowl had seven touchdowns, two field goals and just one punt in 10 offensive possessions in rolling to a 54-20 victory.
WEEK 15 | WINNIPEG AT HAMILTON
When: Saturday, September 16th, 3 p.m.
Notable: This is the CFL’s annual Canadian Football Hall of Fame Game. A year ago, the Blue Bombers coughed and sputtered in a 48-31 loss to the Ticats that marked the most points surrendered by the club since a 52-26 loss to Hamilton in July of 2015.
WEEK 17 | TORONTO AT WINNIPEG
When: Friday, September 29th, 7 p.m.
Notable: The Blue Bombers have not hosted the Argos at IG Field since August 13, 2021. The two sides met only once last year – July 4th in Toronto – and, if he hasn’t retired and is healthy, this would be the first game back in Winnipeg for Andrew Harris, the future hall of famer.
WEEK 18 | WINNIPEG AT B.C.
When: Friday, October 6th, 9 p.m.
Notable: The Blue Bombers split their two games in Vancouver last year, with Zach Collaros starting the first game and – with the two-time CFL Most Outstanding Player rested in the second match-up – Dru Brown getting his first start. In those two games at B.C Place Collaros and Brown combined to throw for 613 yards with six touchdowns and two interceptions.
WEEK 20 | EDMONTON AT WINNIPEG
When: Saturday, October 21st, 6 p.m.
Notable: Collaros is 9-6 in 15 career starts against Edmonton, and a perfect 5-0 since joining the Blue Bombers at the trade deadline in October of 2019. Worth noting – in posting that 5-0 record Collaros has thrown nine TDs, but also been intercepted six times.
WEEK 21 | WINNIPEG AT CALGARY
When: Friday, October 27th, 7 p.m.
Notable: A stat that hasn’t received nearly enough attention – but will now: Winnipeg was 10-1 vs. the West this past season, was 8-1 in 2021 and 7-3 in 2019. That’s a remarkable 25-5 mark vs. division opponents over the last three seasons.
