Thursday, December 2nd 2021, 12:00 am - On December 1, 1962, the Grey Cup was postponed during the 4th quarter.It was completed the next day.
This Day In Weather History is a daily podcast by Chris Mei from The Weather Network, featuring stories about people, communities and events and how weather impacted them.
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On December 1, 1962, there were so many reasons why the Canadian Football League (CFL) should have had an epic Grey Cup game. Unfortunately, it goes down in Canadian sports history as the only Grey Cup game to be postponed.
The CFL was celebrating it's 50th Grey Cup Championship. It was the first time that an all-American network would be broadcasting a CFL game.
The two teams vying for the Cup were the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
The game was being played at the Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. It's an outdoor arena that is just a soccer ball-kick away from Lake Ontario.
There were 32,655 fans at the event and millions watching on television across North America.
The game started. The science started.
High pressure from the Great Lakes started to mix with the cold and moist air from Lake Ontario. A think advection fog pushed off the water and engulfed the stadium.
Though the teams tried to play through, the fog only got worse. By the fourth quarter, at 5:31pm, referee Paul Dojack suspended the game with Winnipeg leading 28–27.
Considering visibility was not a thing, Syd Halter, CFL commissioner at the time, decided that the game would be put on pause and resumed the following afternoon.
The next day, on a Sunday, the Blue Bombers won the Cup with a score of 28–27. The 50th Grey Cup Championship is also now known as The Fog Bowl
As a result of the hot mess that occurred, the American network, ABC, wouldn't air another CFL game for 20 subsequent years.
The Toronto Blue Jays' played their inaugural game on April 7, 1977, at the Exhibition Stadium. So the stadium also goes down in sports history as being the only major league baseball game to be postponed due to wind.
The good news is, because of the volatility of the Exhibition Stadium's weather conditions, Toronto got the SkyDome.
Listen to today's podcast to hear Meteorologist and CFL Super Fan Chris Murphy talk about "This Day In Weather History".
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