Calm Before the Storm

On Wednesday night the Saskatchewan Roughriders held their annual general meeting at the Conexus Arts Centre and unveiled a $2.2 million profit.

What the club also revealed as it transitioned from the Jim Hopson to Craig Reynolds era at CEO is an awareness of the strength and fragility of the franchise.

While the overall profit was down compared to 2013, which was not just a Grey Cup hosting year but a winning year, it was enough to be double what the Riders usually make in non-Grey Cup years. Taking into consideration the new stadium is 44 per cent completed and should be done by spring/summer next year, the Riders will need to count on years of accumulated surpluses and corporate partnerships to help meet its $40 million obligation to the new stadium. The club has already put aside $10 million, and will have to pay the City of Regina $25 million by June 2016 and have $15 million for the teams space including locker room, players area and business offices.

Wayne Morsky, chair of the Rider board of directors, said the Riders good health off the field was due to the fans and that contributes to the Riders success on the field. The Riders unveiled their marketing campaign around the theme All of Us, indicating the Riders were more than the team on the field, they were also the fans who supported the team at Taylor Field as well as across the country.

The stats were impressive to hear as the Riders are the number two most respected sports brand in Canada, trailing only the Montreal Canadiens. The Riders sell over half the merchandize in the CFL and are third in Canada. Consider this Rider fans – The Riders sold three million jerseys and there are only one million people in the province. Morsky said the NFL is paying attention to what the Riders are doing marketing-wise.

Lighting it up

P.A.'s Zablocki leads Regina to victory on Day 4 at Esso Cup

7h ago

WORLD SOFTBALL

Group stages officially set for Men's Softball World Cup in P.A.

14h ago

Safety first

Safety concerns and tips surrounding discarded needles in P.A.

Apr 23, 2024

The Riders are the top attraction in the CFL and an appearance by the Riders at an opposing stadium raises the attendance of that team by 20 per cent. While the Edmonton Eskimos may have had the top home attendance, the Riders home and away attendance was tops in the CFL.

Now with a marketing campaign aimed at rallying the Rider Nation nationwide – which wouldn’t be a bad idea to help Toronto out – there was a moment where the Riders seemed gingerly about to step out onto thin ice with transferring seat ticket seats from the old stadium to the new.

It would seem to be a no problem kind of situation, except the way the stadium is being planned, there could be luxury boxes where seats could have been and depending where, that will dislocate season ticket holders.

So consider this, you have been holding a Rider season ticket, as my family has in one member or another, since 1976. You have been sitting in the same seat, eight rows behind the Rider bench, close enough to hear the head coach chewing out the players or being able to call out to whatever Rider you want.

Now you are told that to make way for a luxury box, you will not have access to your seat. Considering you have been going for 40 years, what do you think your response would be? Or consider this, you drive from PA as I once did for many seasons, and your seat that you have paid hard money for and patiently upgraded over the years is being removed in exchange for a luxury box.

The result is a public relations nightmare. There will be people dislodged by the luxury boxes, but how the club handles it will go a long way to determining whether the stadium after its first year is filled or only partially.

The club undertook an initial survey of season ticket holders, which was handicapped by problems logging in, and will be doing more as plans solidify for the construction of seats and luxury boxes. Part of the problem is the rolling nature of the development of the stadium.  Until the Riders finish selling box seats, it’s tough to determine who will get dislodged or not. The builders can start on the Rider offices, locker room and the like before getting back to the seats, but in one sense, the luxury boxes will be helping to subsidize the seats that are remaining. For example, it would not be out of line to suggest that 15 seats in a luxury box would be going for $20 k to $30 k per game.

The Riders did not unveil too much news, in terms of talks are underway to start the season sooner and avoid having Grey Cups being played outdoors in Arctic conditions. TSN is worried about competition with the NHL and NBA, but both parties are looking to see what might be done.

Rider GM Brendan Taman said most of the penalties called in the Edmonton exhibition game were justified and people will have to get used to seeing more flags before the players fully adjust. In assessing the western conference, Calgary appears to be the team to beat, but Winnipeg has improved and Edmonton will be solid. The big question would be in BC where the health of Travis Lulay leaves things up in the air for rookie coach Jeff Tedford.

It was a vanilla question and answer period, but questions about sponsorship for the Rider cheer team, the transition to the new stadium for season ticket holders, where the Riders new practice field will be (Confederation Park located on the Exhibition Grounds appears to be the answer) for pre-game festivities, was an indication that while people are expecting the team to not take the fans support for granted.

It was a message that Morsky and Reynolds repeated throughout the meeting, noting that to mess with the brand of the Saskatchewan Roughriders would be suicide and the team this year is saying 23-18-6-2, referring to the years between Rider Grey Cup wins and indicating that the two refers to winning the Grey Cup this year in Winnipeg.

So when you listen to the Calgary exhibition game Friday night, consider that it isn’t important if John Chick plays, or if Weston Dressler only plays a quarter of the game. We and the Riders know they can play; it is the other players that need to be evaluated before the season kicks off for real. For what it is worth, I can calling Calgary to win this one, because the Riders know until the bullets fly for real, no will is going care in a month who won this game.