Plenty of London, Ont. area ties involved in Sunday's Grey Cup game in Hamilton

24,000 rowdy fans will pack the stands in Hamilton, Ont. for Sunday's Grey Cup game.

Twenty-four thousand rowdy fans will pack the stands in Hamilton, Ont. for Sunday's Grey Cup game.

"When we sell out Tim Horton's Field, there's not a better place in the CFL to have home field advantage," said Curtis Newton, a London, Ont. native who plays special teams for the Hamilton Tiger Cats.

Newton, an AB Lucas Secondary School graduate will be playing in the championship game just over an hour east of his family's home.

"My parents and my sister will be there physically at the game and I know I'll have countless people tuning in to watch on TV," said Newton, who made nine tackles during his fifth season in the CFL.

"I've been getting texts all day since we won that game Sunday in Toronto. So I know there will be a ton of people in London in the surrounding area watching and there will definitely be a strong contingent of friends and family," said Newton.On the visiting side, Nick and Noah Hallett will look up into the crowd of black and gold trying to pick out the mix of number 21 and number 23 jerseys.

"A couple of our family members already purchased tickets a couple of weeks in advance hoping that we get here and we did that," said Nick Hallett, a London, Ont. native who made seven tackles as a defensive back for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers this season.

“We're going to try and fill the stands as much as we can with family and friends supporting Winnipeg instead of Hamilton," said Nick, who will be playing in his second straight Grey Cup Game after winning the championship in his rookie year in 2019.