‘This is home’: Adam Bighill speaks after announcing retirement as Bomber

Adam Bighill shares why he chose to retire as a Winnipeg Blue Bombers following a 13-year CFL career.

Winnipeg is home for Adam Bighill and that is why he decided to retire as a member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The linebacker signed a one-day deal with the club on Monday to retire as a member of the blue and gold.

He spent six seasons in Winnipeg, helping the team secure a pair of Grep Cup championships in 2019 and 2021.

He finished his career with the Calgary Stampeders last season, getting into six games, but he knew he needed to end everything with Winnipeg.

“This is home. We go to school here, play sports here. We are Blue Bomber fans and we will be for life,” Bighill said at a news conference Tuesday.

“What we’ve built here in the journey we’ve had to this point has been absolutely incredible. Sometimes, like I said, the best things that can happen are things you’re not looking for, and things happen to you organically.”

Bighill started his career in 2011 with the B.C. Lions before joining the Bombers in 2018 after a brief stint in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints the previous year.

When he got to Winnipeg, he said the organization felt different.

“This is the most fun I’ve had playing professional football in my life. Just being in a great organization, around great people, focused on all the right things,” said Bighill. “There’s a lot more people here I felt like when I came here that fought like me, that I thought we could win championships with.”

Even though the team won a pair of Grey Cups with Bighill on the roster, he believes they should have won more. But he called the stretch with the team “something special.”

“It’s been an incredible ride, so many different memories.”

When asked what he hopes his leagcy will be, he said he wants people to know he played the right way.

“A guy who just only had one motor and showed that he was unstoppable.”

Now that he is entering retirement, Bighill said his focus is shifting to his wealth management business that he operates in Winnipeg, as well as spending more time with his family, which includes coaching them in sports.

“I’m entering my full coaching era. Getting to coach these guys in sports has been unreal.”

Asked if coaching at the professional level is a possibility, Bighill said not right away, at the very least.

“I’d say coaching at some point in the future could be possible, but it’s not near our radar now, that’s for sure.”

Bighill still plans to be around the Bombers a lot moving forward, noting he has tickets for home games and he is also the treasurer for the Canadian Football League Players Association.

“We are Bomber fans.”