This article is about the Canadian Football League tradition. For the college football rivalry in the Houston area, seeLabor Day Classic.
TheLabour Day Classic (French:Classique de la fête du travail, branded asOK Tire Labour Day Weekend for sponsorship reasons) is a week of theCanadian Football League (CFL) schedule played over theLabour Day weekend (which includes the first Monday in September). Labour Day weekend, roughly 12 or 13 weeks into the CFL season, is known for its matchups that do not change from year to year, unlike other "rivalry" weeks of the CFL schedule. Labour Day weekend is also one of typically two weeks (theThanksgiving Day Classic being the other) in the CFL schedule that the league plays on a Monday. MultinationalBalkrishna Industries' OK Tire brand is the presenting sponsor of the event as of 2022.
The usual weekend matchups involves theMontreal Alouettes playing against theOttawa Redblacks on the Friday before Labour Day, with host duties alternating between the two teams. TheWinnipeg Blue Bombers then visit theSaskatchewan Roughriders on Sunday and on Labour Day itself, theHamilton Tiger-Cats play at home against theToronto Argonauts, while theEdmonton Elks visit theCalgary Stampeders.[1][2] TheBC Lions have no geographic rival and typically have a bye, having played just three times on Labour Day Weekend (2015, 2023 and 2024) since the return to nine teams in2014. The Lions most recently played in2024 against the Redblacks, inVictoria, British Columbia, which was the first Labour Day matchup between the Lions and an Ottawa team since2002 and the first neutral site Labour Day Weekend game to be played.[3]
The Labour Day Classic Logo from 2016. Mark's was the presenting sponsor of the event from 2014 to 2021.
The Labour Day Classic began in 1949 and pre-dates the founding of the CFL by nine years.[citation needed] The matchups have remained mostly the same throughout history, except during Montreal and Ottawa's periods of hiatus or due to scheduling conflicts.
During the early 1980s, the Montreal Concordes played the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the remaining three teams (Toronto, Ottawa and BC) rotated each year. Ottawa and BC faced each other during the late 1980s and early 1990s while the league had no team in Montreal.
Because Ottawa had no active team from 1997 to 2001 and 2006–2013, the Alouettes usually played the Lions during those seasons, creating a "coast-to-coast" rivalry.
Due to scheduling conflicts, the Tiger-Cats temporarily revived its rivalry with the current incarnation of the Alouettes in the Labour Day game for the2011 season; the change in opponents led Hamilton to dub the game theLabour 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 being1995).[7] It was also the first time that they did not host a game on that weekend. BecauseIvor Wynne Stadium was demolished to make way for the newTim Hortons Field, the team played out ofAlumni Stadium inGuelph. TheUniversity of Guelph Gryphons (along with mostOntario 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 toprime time Labour Day evening.[8] That year, the OUA'sMcMaster Marauders football team moved its Labour Day matchup with theToronto Varsity Blues football squad to Tim Hortons Field, creating adoubleheader with a series of concerts in-between games.[9] This was moved back to a 1:00 pmEastern start in 2019.[10]
Although not directly associated with the Labour Day Classic, the week after Labour Day often has a repeat match-up of the Bombers vs Roughriders (seeBanjo Bowl), Stampeders vs Elks (seeBattle of Alberta), and Tiger-Cats vs Argonauts (a rivalry which began in 1873),[11] with home field advantage now to the team that did not have it during the Labour Day weekend.
As the league has been increasing in popularity in recent years, print ads for the Labour Day Classic try to evoke the tradition of watching Canadian football on the last weekend of summer. Slogans include "Long Live the Rivalries" and "Watch the Team You Love Play the Team You Love to Hate". Some of the teams wear specialthird jerseys orthrowback uniforms if they play at home.
Starting in 1989, Calgary and Edmonton have played a Labour Day home-and-home series. The Labour Day Classic game has been held in Calgary on Labour Day Monday, and the Rematch has been held in Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium the following Friday or Saturday. In 1992, the game in Edmonton was held the week before the Labour Day Classic instead of the week after.
Starting in the 2004 CFL season, in the week following the Winnipeg vs Saskatchewan Labour Day Classic matchup, the two teams rematch annually in theBanjo Bowl.
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 afterHarold Ballard, who owned the Tiger-Cats for much of the 1980s and ownedMaple 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 asFootball Day in Hamilton and has its own presenting sponsor, WeatherTech Canada. For the first several years afterTim Hortons Field opened,Football Day in Hamilton consisted of a Tiger-Cats game as well as a concert and either aMcMaster Marauders football or aHamilton Hurricanes (CJFL) matinée (this tradition has since been abandoned as of the 2020s).[13]
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 aHamilton 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.
