The Grey Cup is returning to Saskatchewan.
A CFL source requesting anonymity said Friday the 2013 contest will be played at Mosaic Stadium. In fact, the Saskatchewan Roughriders will reportedly hold a news conference Oct. 13 to make the official announcement.
CFL commissioner Mark Cohon wasn't available for comment Friday as he and other members of the league's head office were en route to Vancouver to attend the B.C. Lions' game Friday against the Edmonton Eskimos at refurbished B.C. Place.
Riders' officials also weren't available as many were travelling to the club's game Saturday afternoon in Calgary.
The awarding of the 2013 game to Regina would seem to give the CFL a definite long-term plan regarding its championship contest. The 2014 Grey Cup was conditionally granted to Ottawa so long as its expansion club was up and operating at that time.
The CFL granted the Canadian capital a conditional expansion franchise that was expected to begin operating in 2013 and has even approved an expansion draft plan for the yet unnamed club. The thought was that staging the 2014 Grey Cup would certainly provide the new Ottawa franchise a financial boon.
Regina last hosted the Grey Cup in 2003, when seating at then Taylor Field was expanded to 50,000 with the addition of roughly 20,000 temporary seats for the CFL's title game. That year, the Edmonton Eskimos defeated the Montreal Alouettes 34-22, avenging a 25-16 Grey Cup loss to the Als the previous year at Commonwealth Stadium.
Regina staged the Grey Cup for the first time in 1995 and was a part of CFL history as the Baltimore Stallions defeated the Calgary Stampeders 37-20 to become the only American-based team to ever win the crown. What's more, the game was affectionately dubbed The Wind Bowl due to gusts of 85 kilometres an hour at Taylor Field.
This year's CFL championship will be decided at B.C. Place on Nov. 27, with Toronto hosting in 2012 at the Rogers Centre. That will mark the 100th anniversary of the Grey Cup.