New events announced for 2022 Grey Cup Festival in Regina

New events are being announced for the 2022 Grey Cup Festival in Regina.

It’s happening thanks to $2 million from the Government of Canada’s Major Festivals and Events Support Initiative.

The money will provide the Grey Cup Festival with support to help fund new and exciting events for kids and technology enthusiasts while promoting the festival around Canada.

The three new events that will be free for attendees include:

• Path to Glory $50,000 Smash Ultimate Tournament: See top Smash players from around the world compete for their chance at a piece of the prize pool. Working with SKL Esports, the Grey Cup Festival will host a Super Smash Bros Ultimate Esports tournament with the main event happening Nov. 18 and 19 at the Brandt Centre.
• Youth Football Programming: In partnership with Football Saskatchewan, the Grey Cup Festival will include player-led football programming, skills competitions with an interactive leaderboard and more. Hosted at the Affinityplex, youth of all experience levels will have a chance to learn the game and elevate their play.
• Digital Zone: The ultimate experience for families, sports fans and tech gurus alike, the interactive area connects the Family Festival with Riderville and the team party rooms. The Digital Zone will include video games, sports experiences and technology through the ages including virtual and augmented reality exhibits.

Roughriders president and CEO Craig Reynolds said the new events are meant to provide entertainment to engage a new generation of CFL fans.

“I think they’ll have a lot of fun and really, that’s what the Grey Cup Festival is about,” he said. “It’s about having a good time.

“We wanted a mixture of traditional paid events like the CFL awards and those types of things but we wanted a large number of family-friendly free events so that families don’t have any barriers to come to the festival site and experience the Grey Cup and really understand how special these festivals are in Saskatchewan.”

All Grey Cup events will be hosted in one place — in this case, the 100-acre area inside the REAL District space.

The campus will be the site of:

• Festival events and activities such as team parties, Riderville and the SaskPower Family Fair;
• A free, family-friendly outdoor street festival with more than 400,000 square feet of activities and adventures;
• An outdoor area at the south end of Confederation Park that will be home to local music acts, entertainers and community programming throughout the week; and,
• A ticketed tailgate event that will take place on the festival grounds in Confederation Park and will feature live entertainment for thousands of fans prior to gates opening at Mosaic Stadium on Grey Cup Sunday.

The festival is to run from Nov. 15 to Nov. 20, before the championship game takes place on the final night at Mosaic Stadium.

A full list of the schedule and a map of where events will be held can be seen below.