Labour Day Classic

Hamilton

Due to scheduling conflicts, the Tiger-Cats temporarily revived its rivalry with the current incarnation of the Alouettes in the Labour Day game for the 2011 season; the change in opponents led Hamilton to dub the game the Labour Day Classique in reference to Montreal's francophone community.^[5][6] Therefore, in 2011, this automatically resulted in Toronto and BC facing each other.

In 2013, the Tiger-Cats' did not host a game on Labour Day for only the second time in franchise history (the first being 1995).^[7] It was also the first time that they did not host a game on that weekend. Because Ivor Wynne Stadium was demolished to make way for the new Tim Hortons Field, the team played out of Alumni Stadium in Guelph. The University of Guelph Gryphons (along with most Ontario University Athletics teams) were playing that same day, so the Tiger-Cats could not host the game. To make up for it, the Toronto at Hamilton matchup was played in the Thanksgiving Day Classic.

For the 2016 contest, to avoid any further conflicts with OUA games, the CFL moved the Toronto/Hamilton matchup to prime time Labour Day evening.^[8] That year, the OUA's McMaster Marauders football team moved its Labour Day matchup with the Toronto Varsity Blues football squad to Tim Hortons Field, creating a doubleheader with a series of concerts in-between games.^[9] This was moved back to a 1:00 pm Eastern start in 2019.^[10]

Edmonton Eskimos/Elks vs Calgary Stampeders

Longest Winning Streak (Edmonton): 7 (1950–1961)
Longest Winning Streak (Calgary): 8 (2012–2019)

Did not play in the following years: 1954–1958, 1964–1968, 1973, 1981, 2020

Television (since 1985): CTV (1985–1986); CFN (1987, 1990); CBC (1988, 1991–2007); TSN (1989, 2008–2019, 2021–2024)

Winnipeg Blue Bombers vs Saskatchewan Roughriders

Starting in the 2004 CFL season, in the week following the Winnipeg vs Saskatchewan Labour Day Classic matchup, the two teams rematch annually in the Banjo Bowl.

Longest winning streak (Saskatchewan): 11 (2005–2015)
Longest winning streak (Winnipeg): 4 (1978–1982)

Did not play the following years:

Television (since 1982): CTV (1983–1985); CBC (1982, 1986, 1989, 1993); CFN (1987–1988); TSN (1990–1991, 1994, 1997–2000, 2002–2019, 2021–2024); No TV (1992, 1995–1996, 2001)

Toronto Argonauts vs Hamilton Tiger-Cats

The Toronto—Hamilton Classic is one of the components of the Harold Ballard Trophy, an award given to the winner of the season series between the Tiger-Cats and Argonauts. The trophy is named after Harold Ballard, who owned the Tiger-Cats for much of the 1980s and owned Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment for most of that time. A trophy has been awarded to the winner of the series since 1979.^[12]

The Toronto—Hamilton contest is officially known as Football Day in Hamilton and has its own presenting sponsor, WeatherTech Canada. For the first several years after Tim Hortons Field opened, Football Day in Hamilton consisted of a Tiger-Cats game as well as a concert and either a McMaster Marauders football or a Hamilton Hurricanes (CJFL) matinée (this tradition has since been abandoned as of the 2020s).^[13]

Longest Winning Streak (Hamilton): 7 (2014–2021)
Longest Winning Streak (Toronto): 3 (1994–1997, 2006–2008)

Did not play the following years: 1962, 1965–1966, 1969–1970, 1972–1974, 1976–1977, 1979, 1981–1986, 1990, 1995, 2011, 2013, 2020

Ottawa Rough Riders/Renegades/Redblacks vs Montreal Alouettes

Longest Winning Streak (Ottawa): 7 (1961–2003)
Longest Winning Streak (Montreal): 6 (1954–1959)

Did not play in following years: 1950–1952, 1962, 1964–1966, 1968–1970, 1972–1977, 1979–1986, 2002, 2015, 2019–2020, 2023–2026

Notes

No Montreal team 1987–1995

No Ottawa team 1997–2001, 2006–2013

BC Lions vs Montreal Alouettes

BC Lions vs Ottawa Rough Riders/Renegades/Redblacks

Montreal Alouettes vs Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Hamilton has played and hosted the Labour Day Classic against Montreal (aka Labour Day Classique) nine times in CFL history, including all four years in which the team was known as the Concordes. According to a Hamilton Spectator article, 2011 marked 25 years since Montreal had battled Hamilton in this Classic at home. In previous years, Montreal has played as either the Alouettes or Concordes. The Classique has been a notoriously one-sided rivalry; Hamilton is undefeated in the Labour Day series, and Montreal is winless, with their best result being a tie in the first Classique in 1962.

BC at Saskatchewan (since 1949)

Montreal at Saskatchewan (since 1949)

Edmonton at Saskatchewan (since 1949)