2 weeks Ago By Perry Bergson
The 2026 Memorial Cup will be held in Kelowna, dashing local hopes for a return of the national event. Read this article for free: Already have an account? As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support.
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Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community! The 2026 Memorial Cup will be held in Kelowna, dashing local hopes for a return of the national event. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? The 2026 Memorial Cup will be held in Kelowna, dashing local hopes for a return of the national event. The Brandon Wheat Kings were one of five teams in the running for the event, including the Kelowna Rockets, Lethbridge Hurricanes, Medicine Hat Tigers and Spokane Chiefs, the largest field of bidders in more than 15 years.
Brandon announced it would be bidding in June, and in September the Western Hockey League announced five teams were officially in the running. Wheat Kings owner Jared Jacobson said it was disappointing news on Wednesday afternoon. “Anybody who knows me knows how competitive I am,” Jacobson said.
“Probably the simplest word is that I just felt crushed. It was a huge bid we put together. It was really, really, really aggressive between all parties including the province and the city and us and all the stakeholders who gave us letters of support.
It’s tough. “Somebody has to win and somebody has to lose it: Maybe everybody thinks they have the best bid, but I was really confident in our committee and our bid to think we had a really good shot at it for our fans and our community. “I’m a little bit shocked and disappointed.
” The local bid was a joint effort including a committee led by chair Jason Roblin, the Wheat Kings and the Keystone Centre. The news was shared with Roblin by phone around 2 p.m.
, just before the official announcement was made. Brandon served as host in 2010, and previously held some Memorial Cup games in partnership with a pair of main hosts, Regina in 1980 and Winnipeg in 1949, 1953 and 1959. Interestingly, the Wheat Kings won the bid for the 2010 event over Kelowna and the Everett Silvertips on Oct.
15, 2008 under the old rules when each league determined its own host with a majority vote of its board of governors. Now the only path to the Memorial Cup comes on the ice with a WHL championship. “I said that win or lose, we were going to get there the old-fashioned way, which means winning the natural way,” Jacobson said.
“That’s our goal now, moving forward and not looking back. That will be what we do.” While the three individual leagues — the WHL, Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Maritime Hockey League — once chose their own hosts, the final selection is now settled upon by the CHL, with the bid process made to a panel in August.
The bids were evaluated on four categories, hockey operations, event logistics, business operations and local atmosphere/community engagement by Colin Campbell (National Hockey League’s senior executive vice-president of hockey operation), Graeme Roustan (chairman and owner of the Hockey News), Aaron Fox (chair of defence team for McDougall Gauley), Kalli Quinn (event specialist at KAQ Event Consulting) and Paul Graham (executive producer and vice president at TSN). The Rockets previously hosted the Memorial Cup back in 2004 in Prospera Place, which the City of Kelowna plans to upgrade with a new scoreboard, improved lighting and sound systems and a dedicated press box. Kelowna was also awarded the 2020 event, and the team made trades to beef up its roster, but the championship was ultimately cancelled due to the pandemic.
Even though they fell short this time, that doesn’t mean they won’t try again one day. Jacobson is hopeful the committee can get a debriefing from the bid selection team to ask some questions and better understand how they fell short. “Hopefully if we learn from that, if we feel confident enough in the answer we get back, then we can look at it another time,” Jacobson said.
“We always need stuff for Brandon and Manitoba.” But for now, Jacobson said it was a good try, and there was a lot of credit to be shared, including with Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, Winnipeg Blue Bombers president and chief executive officer Wade Miller, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, former Wheat Kings owner Kelly McCrimmon and team alumni. “I’m super proud of Jason and some help we got in Winnipeg too,” Jacobson said.
“There are lots of local people we had lined up if we got it, and (Wheat Kings head coach and general manager) Marty (Murray), all the time he put into it on the hockey side. “I’m just proud of everybody ..
. Government and city officials were huge and the Keystone is huge. They were willing to help us a lot too.
” The WHL hosts of the Memorial Cup since 2000 are Regina (2001), Kelowna (2004), Vancouver (2007), Brandon (2010), Saskatoon (2013), Red Deer (2016), Regina (2019) and Kamloops (2023). The event wasn’t held in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic ..
. Last year, the host Saginaw Spirit defeated the London Knights 4-3 in the final ..
. The 105th edition of the Memorial Cup is being held from May 22 to June 1, 2025 in Rimouski, Que., marking the first CHL championship in the province since the Quebec Remparts hosted it in 2015 .
.. The Memorial Cup began to be awarded to the CHL champions in 1972, although it didn’t adopt the current format with a host and the three league champions until 1983.
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