Davis: Saskatchewan Roughriders bouncing back on and off the field

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It’s been a pretty good, bounce-back year for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

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So good, in fact, they just beat their landlord.

A month after their CFL postseason ended one game shy of earning a Grey Cup appearance, the Roughriders won a tussle against the City of Regina for $1.33 million in disputed stadium rent. City council forgave the requested amount rather than risk losing a potential legal case that would have reminded everyone of the football team’s financial plight during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Of course not everyone is happy about the city’s decision, or about the Riders’ threatening to take their appeal to court. But in sporting terms the Roughriders have been fighting for survival — on- and off-field — since losing $7.5 million during the CFL’s cancelled season of 2020.

In conversation with the Leader-Post before Regina’s new city council made its decision, Roughriders CEO/president Craig Reynolds was asked about the challenges of returning the community-owned franchise to viability following a period of economic stress, staff turnovers and on-field struggles in a nine-team league that just forced commissioner Randy Ambrosie to resign.

“I’m going to really miss working with Randy and I know our lead governor, Greg Yuel, will miss working with him, too,” said Reynolds.

“(Ambrosie) led with massive passion and I think he accomplished a lot of things during a very difficult time in the CFL’s history, in terms of losing a season to a pandemic and the number of ownership things he had to deal with.”

Despite helping assemble the strongest ownership group in CFL history, Ambrosie lost support by botching a funding request to the federal government during the pandemic, followed by a partnership/ownership agreement with Genius Sports that led to an entire season without CFL statistics being available.

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There’s no formal timeline for replacing Ambrosie, Reynolds said, but the league has begun searching for a replacement.

About a year ago, Reynolds was conducting his own assessments and an ensuing search after the Roughriders had suffered a second straight, seven-game, season-ending losing streak that kept them from qualifying for the playoffs. Reynolds told the Riders executive — despite an outcry from many fans — he was going to give general manager Jeremy O’Day a contract extension and support the GM’s plan to hire a new head coach.

“(O’Day) lives the values of the organization and understands what it means to be a Roughrider,” said Reynolds “And I had all the faith in the world that last year he was gonna go through a great process and hire an excellent head coach.”

A former centre who has been with the Riders since 1999, O’Day became general manager and vice-president of football operations in 2019. O’Day hired Corey Mace, a Grey Cup winner as a player and assistant coach, to replace Craig Dickenson. Despite a mid-season, seven-game winless skid, Saskatchewan qualified for the playoffs with a 9-8-1 record and won the West semifinal against the visiting B.C. Lions before being eliminated by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

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“When you meet Corey Mace you see a leader of men, a rising star who’s gonna be a great head coach,” said Reynolds. “From the moment he got here you just felt that energy and passion. He really embraced the province and the fan base and, like Jeremy, had a really good understanding of what it means to be a Roughrider.”

Although season ticket sales fell for the third straight season, average crowd sizes at Mosaic Stadium in 2024 remained about the same because the Riders sold more single-game tickets than any year in their history.

During the past two seasons, the Roughriders have reduced prices for about 1/3 of the stadium’s 33,000 seats. They’re offering lower-priced tickets for families and youths, using a long-term approach to rebuild a season-ticket base that has dipped to 15,500 from an all-time high of 20,000.

The Roughriders earn nearly 40 per cent of their revenue through ticket sales; about $14 million annually. With continuing support from corporate sponsors and a huge increase in merchandise sales, sparked by the introduction of a third “obsidian green” jersey, Reynolds said the Roughriders are going to exceed last year’s $1.2 million profit. And season-ticket renewals are progressing at double last year’s pace.

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“We have the right leaders from a football perspective; it’s very bright in that regard,” said Reynolds. “We’ve got some work to do rebuilding our season ticket base.

“But from an overall business perspective, I think the arrow is certainly pointing up. And on the field the arrow is also pointing up.”

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