The #5 Manitoba Bisons (0-0) starts their 2016 Canada West football regular season at home against the #7 Calgary Dinos (0-0) with kickoff on Thursday, September 1 at 7 p.m. CT at Investors Group Field. The game will also be televised live as Canada West Shaw Game of the Week and radio broadcast can be heard live on 101.5 UMFM (online at: umfm.com).
To begin the 2016 season, the Bisons are ranked fourth and Calgary is ranked tied for first in the annual Canada West coaches' pre-season poll.
Last season, Manitoba played the Dinos only once and it was during the Bisons' home opener in 2015 and Calgary won 46-38 at IGF. Over
Brian Dobie's tenure with Manitoba (20 seasons), the Bisons have an 11-19 record against the Dinos and 7-8 at home during the conference regular season.
In the 2014 season, Manitoba went 5-3 in the regular season (third in Canada West) and lost in the conference semi-final to eventual CIS champion UBC Thunderbirds while Calgary was the Canada West regular season champion after a perfect 8-0 season and ranked #1 at the end of the CIS Top 10 poll before losing in the conference final to UBC.
Earlier this 2016 season, both teams played in pre-season action as Calgary won 37-13 over Regina at Medicine Hat, AB (Aug. 25) while the Bisons played in the first-ever CIS game played on Vancouver Island and defeated UBC by a 50-7 score in Langford, B.C. on August 26.
This is the first home game of the season for Manitoba and the Herd plays three of their first five regular season games at Investors Group Field.
Manitoba and Calgary will play once again during the conference regular season in 2016 when the Dinos host the Bisons on Friday, October 14 at 8 p.m. CT.
Bison Notes: Tickets for Manitoba Bisons football regular season games are available through any Ticketmaster location, walk up at Ticketmaster counter on Game Day, online at ticketmaster.ca or call Ticketmaster at 1-855-985-5000. In addition, U of M faculty and staff get in free for the Bison football home opener. To redeem tickets for the September 1 football home opener, go to ticketmaster.ca and use the promo code: umstaff2016. (Online redemption only. Promo code is valid Wed., Aug. 24 at 12 p.m. until Aug. 31 at 4 p.m. CT with Ticketmaster fees will apply.)
