CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon said Regina hosting another Grey Cup isn't dependent on having a new stadium.
Cohon was a guest on John Gormley Live Wednesday morning to talk about all things Grey Cup, CFL and Riders.
At least one caller to the show wondered when Regina, the home of the beloved green and white, will be hosting another Grey Cup. The city has only ever hosted two Grey Cup championships. The last one was seven years ago.
Cohon says the next two are already set. Next year's will be in Vancouver and the 100th Grey Cup will be in Toronto.
“We haven’t announced where it is going to be after that, but soon I hope we will be making some announcements as the next phase, and (Regina) has a good shot at it.”
He doesn't think Regina needs a new stadium in order to host another championship game.
He thinks it is remarkable the amount of power the Rider Nation has to fill stadiums, sell merchandise and attract people to the TV.
In fact, the largest number of viewers ever recorded for a CFL play-off game was this past Sunday when the Riders took on the Stampeders in the Western Division Final. It peaked at just over 3 million people.
With an average of about 800,000 viewers per game, Cohon admits that the CFL has more viewers that tune into TSN than the NHL does.
“Eighteen of those games had over a million viewers in the regular season. I think 10 of those involved the Riders.”
Cohon also talked about the sale of merchandise of all teams in the league has increased over the last four years.
“We’re up about 150% in our licensing business; more and more people are wearing colours. Now, a lot of that, as you know, is driven by Rider Nation and the great success they’re having up there.”
He says he enjoys seeing people wear their teams' colours because it not only shows support for the team, but it also shows pride for the community they're a part of. Cohon won't say who he's cheering for until maybe after he's retired.
