The Toronto Argonauts announced on Tuesday the team’s schedule for the upcoming 2021 CFL season.

Normally when sports leagues release their schedules, it’s a time for fans to speculate on how many wins they think their team can accumulate during the season. While a lot of that will occur in the coming weeks ahead, the truth is that the last two days have felt like victories for the entire Canadian Football League and all of their fans. After all the hardships of the last two years, just getting to this point feels like a Giant W.

On Monday, the CFL made their long-awaited return to play official as the league’s Board of Governors voted unanimously on a 14-game regular season that will kick off August 5th and lead to the 108th Grey Cup on December 12, in Hamilton, Ontario. The Toronto Argonauts, who have undergone a massive facelift since the last time they took the field two years ago, hope to be in a position to be playing for the league’s championship.

A New Kind Of CFL Season

It may seem far-fetched to project a 4-win team in 2019, like the Argos as a potential championship contender. Still, a lot has changed for Toronto in the last two years, and everything about the 2021 CFL season will be unique and different. Better late than never, but the new calendar for the CFL (August-December) will produce a season unlike any other that has come before or after.

The elimination of the preseason and fewer regular-season games will greatly enhance the importance of early-season success and teams staying healthy over the long haul. As the season progresses, the presence of fans at all nine CFL teams stadiums could vary and grow based on the fluidity of capacity guidelines and government restrictions.

One thing is clear that the absence of the CFL has made the heart grow fonder, and the atmosphere for games should be electric. Regardless of how many fans are allowed into each stadium.

2021 Toronto Argonauts Schedule

The Argos’ regular season will open on the road in weeks one and two against the Calgary Stampeders on Saturday, August 7th. And then on Friday, August 13, at Winnipeg to face the Blue Bombers. The following week, Toronto will host Winnipeg in their home opener at BMO Field on Saturday, August 21, at 4 pm. The Argos will be tested early on, facing off against the defending Grey Cup champs in successive weeks.

Toronto’s schedule is a unique one. Fittingly matching up with the uniqueness of this upcoming CFL season. Some of the odd scheduling quirks have the Argos’ playing out of their timezone only once and four of their 14 games against Hamilton.

The Double Blue’s regular season will wrap up in Week 15 at home against The Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The Argos’ will have byes in weeks 8, 11, and the final week of the regular season in Week 16. Toronto is one of only two CFL teams with three bye weeks this season. (Ottawa).

Other highlights and notes from The Toronto Argonauts 2021 Schedule:

• The site of the 108th Grey Cap will also be the site of the 50th Labour Day Classic on Monday, Sept. 6, when the Toronto Argonauts travel to Tim Horton’s Field to face their longtime rivals, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The following week, The Boatmen host the Tiger-Cats at home. It’s one of four meetings between these two heated rivals, the first time that has happened in nearly a decade. The last time it occurred, the Argos hoisted the Grey Cup trophy in 2012.
• The Labour Day showdown won’t be the only prestige game on the Argos docket with the Tiger-Cats in 2021. Toronto will head to Hamilton to be a part of the Thanksgiving Classic on Monday, October 11th.
• Newly minted Argos’ Head Coach Ryan Dinwiddie will make his long-awaited debut in week one against his former team, the Calgary Stampeders. Former Stamps QB Nick Arbuckle could also be facing off against his former squad.
• The Double Blue are opening their season against four straight Western Division opponents. Calgary, Winnipeg, twice, and the newly christened Edmonton Elks in week four at home.
• Toronto’s prized extended offseason addition, Henoc Muamba, Canada’s Most Oustanding player in 2019, will play against his former team, the Montreal Alouettes, in Week 8. Muamba will lead his new troops into his former home in week 12.
• Toronto will be playing five of its seven home games in primetime. 7:30 pm tilts on three Friday nights and games on a Wednesday and Thursday night.
• Four of Toronto’s final five home games will feature Eastern Division rivals. This will be a crucial stretch in the Argos’ quest to make the playoffs.
• Toronto catches a break having three bye weeks in a shortened season. The Boat is Back, but if the Double Blue makes its way back into the playoffs. Having a bye at the end of the CFL regular season could end up giving them an added competitive advantage heading into it.