Sports
 

Visiting Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto from Australia in August/September. Can anyone let me know what sports would be in season at this time and worth seeing.

All four cities have Canadian Football League teams and the season will be in full swing. Canadian football is similar to American football, but rules are different enough to make the Canadian game more wide-open.

Toronto has a major league baseball team; Edmonton Trappers play in the Pacific Coast League, top level minor league baseball.

Near Calgary and Edmonton (especially in the small towns in between the two cities) there will be rodeos. There are some good Australian rodeo rifers working in Canada, by the way.

North-east of Toronto is the Mosport automobile race track, which has quite a variety of races, including Lemans style cars (Audi, Bentley, BMW, more)

You'll probably find some sailboat racing in Vancouver.

Plus the aforementioned professional level baseball and Canadian football.

The Trappers are leaving Edmonton, but not being a baseball fan, I'm not sure whether this year (2004) or next.

The NHL pre-season (hockey, and in Canada that means "ice hockey") begins sometime in the second half of September. All four cities mentioned have NHL teams.

Doesn't Toronto still have a NBA basketball team???

There are equine events (show jumping?) at Spruce Meadows in Calgary in September.

Your best bet would be as ron and BAK have mentioned - a CFL football game in any one of the four cities (check on line for Edmonton Eskimos, Calgary Stanpeders, BC Lions (Vancouver) and Toronto Argonauts; the Edmonton Eskimos won the championship in November 2003 - the Grey Cup).

Oops! That should read Calgary STAMPEDERS (not Stanpeders).

All the cities mentioned also have amateur Rugby and Soccer leagues-good for a laugh if you're at all interested.
The Sailboat racing as mentioned is said to be great fun when participating but I've seen it from shore more times that I can count and can't recall ever seeing a boat move at more than a walking pace-much like watching paint dry.

Toornto does have NBA basketball (Raptors) but pre-season may not be until late Sept.

Buffalo Bills are a National Football League (ie US football) team. Buffalo is about 2 hours from Toronto and 20 minutes from Niagara Falls.

Toronto also hosts cricket but I have no idea of schedule. In the past, India has played Pakistan in Toronto/Canada as it is a neutral site.

Lastly, Vancouver and Toronto has Indy car races, street courses. Toronto is in July (I think) and Vancouver is in late August/early September.

If golf is your thing, the Canadian Open, part of (US)PGA tournaments, is typically in early September but not sure whther it is in Toronto or Montreal area this year.