Elks optimistic of brighter 2024 after several seasons of futility

EDMONTON — The Edmonton Elks won all of four games in the 2023 season. The Green and Gold has just 11 wins over the previous three CFL campaigns. The team hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2019.

Yet, as training camp wrapped up, two words were consistently on the lips of general manager and head coach Chris Jones and his players.

“Grey Cup.”

How could a team that’s been so far out of the playoff races over the past half-decade see itself as a contender for the league crown in 2024?

There’s a different feel in training camp, and a mood of optimism that hasn’t been evident in years.

“We want to win the Grey Cup,” said Jones. “I mean, that’s why you play the games. You’ve got to be a loser if that’s not your goal going in.”

Jones, who is entering his third season of his second stint as the Elks coach, said he doesn’t have a target when it comes to a number of wins. In 2012, he was the defensive co-ordinator for a Toronto Argonauts squad that went 9-9, but won it all.

In his first stint as Edmonton’s head coach, he led the team to the 2015 Grey Cup after a 14-4 season. He knows that all a team needs to do is be one of the six that make the playoffs — and then get hot.

“We want to play well enough to get into the playoffs, play good solid football,” said Jones. “We want to play good football here in front of our fans. And we want to win enough games to win the whole thing.”

A lot will have to go right for the Elks in order for them to reach that lofty goal. And, for the last half-decade, a lot has gone wrong for this team.

In a city where pro football was once a close No. 2 to Oilers hockey, crowds have dwindled. The search is on for a new team president, and the Elks’ board is looking at the feasibility of selling a