Brandon Banks Signs One-Day Contract to Retire with Tiger-Cats
Brandon Banks signed a one-day contract with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Wednesday, making his retirement official as a member of the team where he built most of his career. The 38-year-old ended that chapter after nine seasons in Hamilton from 2013 to 2021.
His Tigers-Cats run left a long statistical trail. Banks is the club’s all-time leader in kickoff return yards with 3,773, punt return yards with 3,049, missed field goal return yards with 779 and missed field goal return touchdowns with five.
Hamilton Tigers-Cats retirement
Banks also ranks second in franchise history with 62 total touchdowns, 13,686 combined yards and seven punt return touchdowns. He was the CFL’s Most Outstanding Special Teams Player in 2015 and Most Outstanding Player in 2019, and he made four All-CFL teams and six All-East Division teams.
The one-day deal closes the book with Hamilton after Banks last played in 2022 for the Toronto Argonauts. He helped Toronto beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the 109th Grey Cup at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, then was honored by Hamilton at a regular-season game the following year.
Brandon Banks in Hamilton
Banks told CHCH Sportsline two years later that he was retired, and Wednesday’s contract made that status official in the uniform of the franchise that defined his prime. He moved to Hamilton last year, started a business training young athletes and hosting football camps, and has also said he volunteers at the high school level.
Montreal Alouettes on Thursday
He will be on hand Thursday night when the Tiger-Cats open their regular-season schedule against the Montreal Alouettes at Hamilton Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. EDT on June 4, with the game set for TSN and RDS in Canada, CBS Sports Network in the United States and CFL+ internationally.
For Hamilton, the move gives one of its most decorated modern players a final team identity that matches the numbers he left behind. For Banks, it means the end of a career that still sits at the top of several return categories and near the top of the club record book in nearly every major all-purpose measure.
