Hope in the City Calgary

Calgary Hope in the City is returning to the Hyatt Regency on Thursday November 12 to kick off our 2026 Christmas season of giving. This year’s event will kick off Grey Cup week with CFL Commissioner Stewart Johnson. Joining us again as emcee is longtime reporter, producer and anchor Tara Nelson, of CTV Calgary.

The funds raised by Hope in the City support many of The Salvation Army’s year-round initiatives. We are so grateful to have the opportunity to make a difference in the community.

Presented by:

Time: 12 p.m.
Location: Hyatt Regency Calgary, AB

Featuring: Stewart Johnston, CFL Commissioner

Stewart Johnston has served as the 15th Commissioner of the Canadian Football League since 2025. The foundations of his tenure were formed through a childhood spent watching the legends of the game with friends and family.

Born in Toronto and raised in Ottawa, Johnston went on to graduate from Queen’s University with a degree in business. In 1997, his passion for sports led him to TSN, where over the next two-and-a-half decades, he advanced through the ranks of Canada’s Sports Leader to become President, while steadily growing the company into a world-renowned sports media juggernaut.

By 2024, Johnston had risen to the post of Senior Vice-President, Content and Sales at Bell Media – a position that allowed him to translate a successful career’s worth of knowledge gained through every facet of the sporting landscape into content development across Bell Media’s wide range of assets and platforms.

With an in-depth familiarity with sports business, and the unique dual perspective as an industry leader and as a passionate fan, Johnston has developed a strategic plan to modernize the game, enhance entertainment value for fans, and strengthen ties to the grassroots and amateur levels. In 2026, the first pillar of his plan came to fruition after he successfully negotiated the largest media rights agreement in CFL history.

Through innovative rules changes, a revamped playoff format, key partnerships, significant technological advances, and tentpole events, including the largest annual single-day sporting event – the Grey Cup championship – and the LA28 Olympic Games, Johnston forges ahead to realize his bold vision for the future of professional Canadian football.