Fort McMurray celebrates Northern Kickoff

CTV Edmonton: Northern kickoff success Although the Eskimos beat the Roughriders fans say the winner of the Northern Kickoff was Fort McMurray.

The Edmonton Eskimos came out on top during their pre-season match against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

In front of nearly 12,000 fans the Eskimos beat the roughriders 31-24 during the Northern Kickoff in Fort McMurray Saturday night.

However, according to most fans the winner was the City of Fort McMurray.

“We are so proud, so proud of Fort McMurray for hosting this. You have no idea,” resident Mercy Jahn said.

Doug Lacey told CTV News he was happy to have the game closer to home.

“We've been driving down to Edmonton for years. What a thrill. We had a tailgate party. We had 30 people in our backyard, a dream come true.”

Even the players were impressed with the event.

“The stadium's awesome,” Eskimos’ Matt Nichols said.

“These green and gold lights back here are pretty sweet.  It's a good atmosphere.”

The league said it will now consider having more pre-season games outside of home stadiums.

“Any opportunity that we have to take it out into other communities that may not have a CFL team and expose the game to that community and for the community to be more part of the CFL, it's a win for everybody,” CFL commissioner Jeffrey Orridge said.

The Eskimos will be returning to Fort McMurray to play the Toronto Argos at the end of June.

With files from Amanda Anderson, The Canadian Press