Who says Roughriders lost touch with their fans?

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If this is a correct calculation admittedly done by a non-accountant, the Saskatchewan Roughriders paid $2.6 million in interest and carrying fees during their 2023 fiscal year. It turned a profitable year into a money-losing year.

But it’s not really a big deal. Not anymore.

Gone are the days, evidently, when losing $3 million would have meant the end of the community-owned CFL franchise. Now $2.6 million is pocket change, the cost of doing business and part of the price the Roughriders pay for playing in a city-owned ballpark.

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It was a small part of why the community-owned Roughriders lost $1.1 million on last year’s operations. Chief financial officer Kent Paul listed the major reasons for the deficit during a media briefing Tuesday morning, then he repeated the report that evening to shareholders at the community-owned franchise’s annual general meeting.

“Two consecutive years of a 6-and-12 record and not playing in the playoffs has challenged the team’s fan sentiment and ticket sales,” said Paul.

“The economy, with high inflation and increasing interest rates over the last couple of years, has affected everyone in Rider Nation and challenged their disposable income and ability to attend Rider games.”

Without those extra banking costs the Roughriders would have made $1.5 million on their 2023 operations. That’s earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization. Accountants have an acronym for it: EBIDA. For the Roughriders, most of their post-EBIDA payments cover the team’s ongoing contributions to the construction of $280-million Mosaic Stadium, a 33,000-seat facility which was completed in 2016.

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“EBIDA is a really important measure for us because the reality is in our operating income, we have a lot of amortization that’s reflective of past spend,” said Roughriders president/CEO Craig Reynolds. “So we contribute about $52 million to the stadium and as a result we’re recognizing that over a number of years.”

Those accountants! They speak in complicated sentences.

The Roughriders are, quite simply, big business. They can’t do anything about inflation. But they have a stabilization fund of $9.6 million, so they can survive the piddly $1.1 million loss. Or they can survive the cancellation of an entire CFL season, which happened in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Their assets total $49.1 million. Annual revenue of $35.6 million. Expenditures: $36.7 million. Ticket sales fell from $15.9 million in 2022 to $14 million in 2023. The CFL gave every one of the nine franchises $6.9 million last year, primarily from television rights. And the Roughriders still sell a whopping $4.1 million annually in merchandise.

Big business, indeed. What frequently happens to big businesses? They get accused of losing touch with their customers.

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Air Canada and WestJet constantly get accused of being too profit-oriented by squeezing seats together, charging extra for luggage and last-minute itinerary changes while shamelessly eliminating flights. Canadian shoppers are boycotting grocery giant Loblaw for perceived over-pricing.

In Rider Nation, every call-in show and newspaper hears from people complaining about ticket prices, concession costs and on-field performance while claiming the team has lost touch with its fan base.

Reynolds admitted the team’s back-to-back, non-playoff seasons have hurt the Riders’ connection with their supporters. He also believes the pandemic hurt the team’s ability to conduct community outreach events, which have been revived recently with hundreds of school visits across the province by Rider players. There are also numerous promotions attempting to appease the masses, such as half-price youth tickets, $99 family packs, $5 beer, upgraded in-stadium experiences and reduced prices for 9,000 seats.

The numbers get so large the Roughriders operate in percentages, telling their shareholders that 40 per cent of the franchise’s revenues came from gate receipts. Reynolds admitted season ticket sales dropped for a second straight season, by 10 per cent last year but with a 30 per cent increase in new buyers.

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Reynolds would not disclose an actual number of season tickets sold, explaining the team is still selling a variety of packages. There’s hope the Roughriders winning their first two regular-season games — with a new coaching staff in place — will help re-inspire the ticket-buying public.

“We need to do everything we possibly can to make sure we’re getting fans here because ultimately our financials are based on our fan base,” said Reynolds, noting the club received $8 million in sponsorships last year. “We get tremendous corporate support, but our fans are what drives our financials.”

And note the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation, which handles community involvement at arm’s length from the team, contributed $1.2 million last year to amateur football. That’s about equal to what the Roughriders lost last season, coming from a franchise that seems quite aware of its constituents.

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