TORONTO — The Grey Cup is returning to Toronto.
A CFL source requesting anonymity said Thursday the league will stage the 2012 Grey Cup at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. The CFL has scheduled a news conference for Friday afternoon to make a Grey Cup announcement.
Toronto last hosted the Grey Cup in 2007 when the Saskatchewan Roughriders defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. That marked the first CFL championship game at Rogers Centre since 1992.
The move is hardly surprising. The prevailing talk has been that the CFL would stage the 2012 Grey Cup in Toronto to celebrate the game’s 100th anniversary in its biggest market.
The source also said the CFL will also unveil former Canadian Olympic Committee chief executive officer Chris Rudge as its 2012 Grey Cup chairman.
Rudge is a friend of Toronto Argonauts and B.C. Lions owner David Braley and was a finalist for the CFL commissioner’s job in 2002, which ultimately went to Tom Wright. Rudge was named the COC’s chief executive officer in January 2003 and stepped down April 7.
There were reports earlier this month that Rudge would be named to the Grey Cup but he dismissed them as speculation.