Stampeders game to be broadcast in Blackfoot language

The Calgary Stampeders are hosting an Indigenous celebration tonight when they take on the Montreal Alouettes at McMahon Stadium.

The game will feature an Indigenized halftime show, a special logo design and play-by-play action on the radio spoken entirely in Blackfoot. 

Butch Wolfleg of Siksika Nation will be on the microphone, along with broadcast partner Jacob LeBlanc of the Aboriginal Multi Media Society. He's called hockey games in Blackfoot for the Calgary Hitmen, but he says football is different.

"Hockey is just a constant motion, whereas football, it's a few seconds of action that needs to be described, and then afterwards just a matter of reviewing what has happened and … describing what the elements are, describing how the players are moving around and how the play is going.… So there's different descriptions I have to come up with," Wolfleg told CBC News.

"There's a lot more time for colour and a lot more time to review what they just did."

He says Blackfoot speakers really enjoy hearing games being called in their language, particularly when he injects humour into the call.

"Things are much funnier in Blackfoot," he said.

"We have a lot of Stamps fans in our communities, so that becomes a focal point. And with our involvement, it just expands the awareness that much more, and people appreciate that they're included within the whole context of a professional sport," Wolfleg said.

Along with the special radio broadcast on 88.1 FM, the Stampeders will honour Indigenous night with members of the Treaty 7 Nations holding the Stampeders flag while Dilayna Blackhorse sings the national anthem in the traditional Blackfoot language.

At halftime, there will be a demonstration of the traditional Indigenous game Two