WINNIPEG – A pair of Winnipeggers are playing a very important role in the Grey Cup this year – designing a new base for the iconic CFL trophy.

Winnipeg cousins Mark Block and Matthew Friesen, who both own shops in Winnipeg, have been working to repair the Grey Cup over the past few years. This year, though there is a bit of a dilemma.

The base that has been holding the cup since 1987 is running out of space.

The winner of the 107th Grey Cup Championship will take the last open spot on the trophy. The Grey Cup designers said after this year, previous winners’ names will be removed to make way for new champions.

The two Winnipeggers say this new Grey Cup 2.0 also comes with some improvements.

“It’s built to be reparable,” said Block. “The old one was more like a traffic cone with strips of metal screwed on to it from the outside. That’s not a bad thing, but it did mean if there was any kind of impact, you would have to go in from the inside and knock that dent out.”

The plaques with the champions’ names on it are now made up of individual plaques, which have been darkened to make it easier to see.

Even with the improvements, Mark said the cup is still the same iconic look that fans know and love.

“It’s a shape that is too good to change.”

According to a May news release from the Canadian Football League, this is the third time in the cup’s 110-year history it has been given a shiny new base.

“This is our holy grail, a symbol of Canadian spirit and unity, as well as the trophy every Canadian Football League player wants to claim in victory,” Randy Ambrosie, the commissioner of the CFL said in the news release. 

“We wanted any change to its appearance to be absolutely minimal as well as tasteful. We’re thrilled with the final product.”

The CFL said starting in 2020, the Grey Cup champions will replace the 1909 plaque. Any plaques removed will remain on display at the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

The cup will be making its first appearance in a Grey Cup Championship on Sunday.

“This will be the proper unveiling. When a couple Mounties carry it onto the field and people are turning it upside down and pretending to drink out of it, I think that is the real christening,” Block said.

“I’m sure if you rub it hard enough, some sort of football genie will come out and grant you a touch down or something.”

-with files from CTV's Mike Arsenault