On Tuesday, the Edmonton Elks released the team’s official schedule for the CFL’s upcoming 2021 season. The schedule release would come following Monday’s announcement of the CFL’s Board of Governors approving the leagues’ return to play plans and August 5th start date.
The announcement was made by Grey Cup winner and Edmonton defensive back Aaron Grymes, who would appear in a video released by the Elks featuring children’s sketches of their 2021 opponents’ logos.
The Elks will kick off their season with 2 home games back to back in Commonwealth Stadium. Week 1 will take place on Saturday, August 7th at 7 pm MST versus the Ottawa Redblacks, with Week 2 being played against the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday, August 14th at 4 pm MST.
The Elks will then go on a 3-week road trip, playing the BC Lions on Thursday, August 19th at 7 pm MST, followed by the Argos on Thursday, August 26th at 4:30 pm MST. They’ll close out the road trip with their traditional Labour Day series versus the Calgary Stampeders on Monday, September 6th at 1:30 pm MST. The Elks will return home to Commonwealth for a week 6 rematch against the Stampeders on Saturday, September 11 at 4 pm MST.
In week 7, the Elks will face off against the defending Grey Cup Champions, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, for the 1st of 3 meetings over 5 weeks. The week 7 game will take place in Edmonton on Saturday, September 18th, at 6:45 pm MST. Week 8 will be the Elks first bye week, followed by a week 9 matchup in Ottawa versus the Redblacks on Tuesday, September 28th, at 4:30 pm MST.
Weeks 10 and 11 will be back-to-back games against the Blue Bombers, meeting in Winnipeg on Friday, October 8th at 5:30 pm MST, and returning home to Commonwealth Stadium for their final meeting of the season on Friday October 15th at 6 pm MST.
Week 12 will be the Elks final bye week of the season, before their week 13 matchup at home against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday, October 29th at 6:45 pm MST.
Their first game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders will come in week 14 in Saskatchewan on Friday, November 5th at 6:45 pm MST. The Elks will play their final home game of the year against the Roughriders yet again on Saturday, November 13th at 5 pm MST, and will close out the season versus the Lions in BC on Friday, November 19th at 8:30 pm MST.
Playoff games will begin on Sunday November 28th with the Eastern Semi-Final kicking off at 11 am MST, and the Western Semi-Final kicking off at 2:30 pm MST. The Eastern and Western Final games will take place on Sunday December 5th, with the East kicking off at 11 am MST and the West beginning at 2:30 pm MST. The 108th Grey Cup will be played on Sunday, December 12th at 4 pm MST in Hamilton, Ontario.
CFL teams will begin training camps on Saturday, July 10th, and there will be no preseason games in 2021. However, per TSN’s Farhan Lalji, the Elks and Stampeders are currently discussing holding combined practices/scrimmages during training camp.
Regarding stadium capacities for fans, the CFL says each team will update fans on what their plans for ticket sales will be as the season gets closer.
