CFL fans descend on Moncton

Thousands of football fans are arriving in Moncton for a weekend CFL contest.

On Sunday, the Toronto Argonauts will take on the Edmonton Eskimos as part of Touchdown Atlantic, the first regular-season CFL game to be played in New Brunswick.

The success of the event could play a role in determining if Moncton eventually lands its own CFL team.

The new Moncton Stadium on the campus of the University of Moncton sold out of its 20,000 tickets in 32 hours and fans are arriving from across the country.

Dave Miller drove to Moncton from Calgary this week. He is a part of the Grey Cup Committee, a group of CFL fans, and he said he came to show Maritimes fans some Calgary spirit.

"Well we came down here because of this whole festival," he said.

The committee will be hosting two community breakfasts; one Saturday at the Moncton Coliseum and one at the game's tailgate partySunday morning.

They'll be serving up pancakes, cowboy hats and footballs, Miller said.

A franchise in Moncton?

Toronto residents Carol and Khalid Mohammad are huge Argonauts fans. The couple said they made plans to come as soon as they heard there was going to be a game in New Brunswick.

Like some other fans, the pair believe that Moncton will one day get a CFL team of its own.

"This coast to coast [league] we believe in it and we want to see it happen. And certainly I think there's passion in the league to welcome the Atlantic provinces into our league," Khalid Mohammad said.

"We want to spread the joy really to you guys. People here are so friendly you walk by and they smile at you."

The federal and provincial governments invested $1.5 million in the weekend event and argued it would generate up to $4 million in economic activity in the city.

In March, CFL commissioner Mark Cohon said Moncton is a frontrunner for landing an expansion team. He said a successful weekend match would further those chances.