City says initial feedback of test event at new Mosaic Stadium 'overwhelmingly positive'

The City of Regina is saying initial feedback from the community has been “overwhelmingly positive” following the first test event at new Mosaic Stadium.

An announced crowd of 16,500 people watched as the University of Regina Rams defeated the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, which is a new Canadian Interuniversity Sport – Canada West regular season attendance record.

The city said the test revealed no major issues.

“The test game was an absolute success,” said Kim Onrait, Executive Director of City Services and Major Projects. “Fans came to the stadium to do exactly what we wanted them to do – enjoy a provincial rivalry on the field, and test everything around them, from various seating locations to crowd movement through the gates and on the concourse level.”

The city did admit there were a few things that went wrong, noting that fans raised concerns about the public-address system, particularly in the south end of the stadium. The city said that issue will be fixed when speakers will be installed for the official opening in summer 2017.

Another issue that was brought up was the congestion on the main concourse around the food vendors.

“We will make modifications for the second test based on people’s movement,” Onrait said. “This will also improve when vendors move into their permanent spaces.”

Saturday saw more than 3000 fans use the free charter service to get to the game. As of right now, a typical Saskatchewan Roughrider game has 1,000 fans use public transit.

The City of Regina also said that an online survey will be sent out for fans for formal feedback of the event.

The second stadium test is scheduled for late spring of 2017.