The Banjo Bowl is the annual rematch game between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL) after the Labour Day Classic. While the traditional Labour Day Classic game is always played on the Sunday before Labour Day at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Saskatchewan (previously held at Taylor Field), there is usually a rematch on the following weekend between these two rival prairie teams at Princess Auto Stadium (previously held at Canad Inns Stadium) in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

History

From 1982 to 2003 consecutively, Saskatchewan hosted Winnipeg in the Labour Day Classic. This game was always held in Regina on the Sunday before Labour Day Monday. Some of these Labour Day Classic games were part of a home-and-home series. In 1984 and 1988, Winnipeg hosted Saskatchewan in the game before the Labour Day Classic. In 1986, 1991 to 1995, and 1998, Winnipeg hosted Saskatchewan in the game after the Labour Day Classic. Dave Ritchie, Winnipeg's head coach from 1999 to 2004, would ask, "Why can’t we play [the Labour Day Classic] game in Winnipeg once in awhile?" Ritchie knew the visitors should have a clear disadvantage playing in a jacked-up, jam-packed stadium, and felt that Winnipeg should benefit once in a while. At one time, there were discussions about occasionally letting Winnipeg enjoy the home-field advantage and perhaps alternating year by year the site of the Labour Day Classic. Every year starting in 2004, Saskatchewan has hosted the Labour Day Classic and Winnipeg has hosted the Labour Day Rematch. As of the 2024 season, Winnipeg leads the series 13–7. As on Labour Day weekend when many Winnipeg fans visit Regina to support the Bombers, many Saskatchewan fans visit Winnipeg the following weekend to support the 'Riders. Many come, tongue-in-cheek, with banjos. Despite not being an official event, the Canadian Football League website promotes the game by referring to it as "Banjo Bowl" in some of its online coverage as does the league's official television broadcaster, TSN. In 2013, the Premier of Saskatchewan, Brad Wall, joined in the spirit of the event by posting a video on his YouTube channel making reference to the rivalry and the Banjo Bowl game. The Riders themselves have avoided the use of the title "Banjo Bowl" in official communications, referring to the game as the "Labour Day rematch".

Name

The "Banjo Bowl" moniker was coined by Blue Bombers board member David Asper in early 2004, inspired by an infamous comment made by Bombers placekicker Troy Westwood in the week prior to a 2003 Western Division Semi-final game between the two teams. Westwood was quoted in the media as saying that people from Regina were "a bunch of banjo-pickin' inbreds." He later apologized halfheartedly for those comments, saying that "the vast majority of the people in Saskatchewan have no idea how to play the banjo." This further fuelled the Winnipeg–Saskatchewan football rivalry and has made the rematch game even more of an event. The game has been sold out every year since 2005.

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