Mark Cohon
CFL.ca

As the 98th Grey Cup becomes part of CFL history, those of us who shared it are filled with gratitude.

Our heartfelt thanks go to:

- the city of Edmonton, the Festival Committee, and the hundreds of volunteers who treated us all like champions;

- our many partners who supported the Grey Cup and Festival, and are such an important part of our teams and league all year round;

- the more than 63,000 flag waving, anthem singing, constantly cheering fans who packed Commonwealth Stadium;

- the thousands who filled the streets, fanzone, parade route, hotels and bars and restaurants with fellowship and fun;

- and the millions who joined in the party through TSN and RDS's superb coverage, which was fueled by 33 game cameras and hundreds of the most talented television pros in the world.

Overnight ratings indicate an average audience of 6.04 million -- and almost 14 million Canadians watched some portion of the game.

That makes this year's Grey Cup the third most watched program ever on TSN, and reinforces the fact that nothing brings Canadians together as consistently and beautifully as the Grey Cup.

RDS’ French-language broadcast attracted an average audience of 1.1 million viewers making it the network’s second most-watched GREY CUP ever.

In particular, our thanks and admiration go to the stars of Canada's largest single sporting event: the Montreal Alouettes and Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Congratulations to the Alouettes, proud back-to-back champions of our league, and the legions of Als fans who have consistently supported them with sold out crowds and huge audiences on RDS and TSN.

The Riders fell just short of mustering one more dose of come-from-behind-to-win magic in front of stands that were, once again, amazingly and overwhelmingly green, and their centennial year was tremendous from start to finish.

My personal thanks go to the many fans who took time this week to say hello, ask a question, or make a point to me.

As I walked up the stadium stairs on Sunday, many of you in section B gave me a high five, and were kind enough to say that we who run the league are doing a good job, a message I heard from fans everywhere in Edmonton.

Thank you so much for that encouragement. But it's really you, our fans, who deserve the credit for the stronger foundation on which our league stands.

You buy our tickets, watch our games, wear our colours and support our teams. You celebrate our traditions, and define our brand. You are the CFL.

So our biggest thanks go to you, our fans.

As we bid farewell to the 98th Grey Cup, and look forward to the 2011 season, our future is bright. And you are the reason why.