'What's next?' Riders' Armstead focused on showdown with Ottawa
13h ago
"I have a 'What's next?' mentality," said Ryquell Armstead, who faces his former team on Saturday.
Do you miss your spot in the stands at Mosaic Stadium?
Craig Reynolds sure does. The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ president and CEO joined the Green Zone with Jamie Nye and Drew Remenda on Wednesday.
Reynolds discussed the announcement made Tuesday, when Premier Scott Moe said Step Three of the province’s Re-Opening Roadmap would include the end of gathering restrictions — welcome news for the man with the keys to Saskatchewan’s football mecca: Mosaic Stadium.
Lifting those restrictions could happen as early as July 11 if vaccination targets are met.
“That was fantastic news; (we) were really excited to hear that. It really helps us in our planning and it has been so difficult through this pandemic because you’re just running through a million scenarios,” Reynolds said.
“To know that at Phase 3, once we get that 70 per cent number of 12 and over (vaccinated) we could potentially host fans without restrictions at Mosaic, that just really helps us through the planning process.”
President and CEO of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Craig Reynolds, pictured. (riderville.com)
When it comes to revenues, prior to the pandemic, Reynolds said 90 per cent of the money coming in was directly from game day. During the pandemic, the Roughriders were able to get an extra look at their business operation as the league worked to stay afloat.
When that money was suddenly gone, thanks to the lack of CFL football in 2020, the pandemic allowed Reynolds and Co. to change the way the Riders operated.
“It allowed us to take a step back. We made a tremendous amounts of changes,” he said. “On the flip side, we’ve looked at unique and creative ways to grow revenue. We were so game-dependent on our revenue … We realized the brand and the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the association with that, that (there’s) real value there and sponsors see real value in there.”
Changes included cost-based aspects, including how money moved around the organization. It included a lot of idea sharing league-wide, said Reynolds.
Planning was a constant for the management as well, with so much unknown in the world throughout the pandemic.
“The conversations we were having (with the province about returning to play) back in March were entirely different than the conversations we’re having now,” Reynolds said. “The good news is we’ve been forced to plan for a number of scenarios. We’ve been forced to plan under certain restrictions and what does that do for capacity.
“Now knowing that there might not be capacity restrictions, we’re able to turn our head towards actually potentially putting tickets on sale and how we’d go about that. So it simplifies things in some ways. But the nice thing is we built those other plans. If we have to go back to them, they’re there for us.”
Reynolds said the club did surveys to engage season-ticket holders on their level of comfort returning to the mass gathering that would be a CFL game night.
“Sitting next to someone at the Rider game and high-fiving them after a big play, that probably will take some time,” he said. “The good news is, we have until August, so I think there’s going to be a gradual coming out of this pandemic — at least here in Saskatchewan.”
The thought of reopening safely and responsibly was top of mind for Reynolds. He said the team is looking at things such as staggered entry and exit times, having the field of play restricted, and using digital ticketing to diminish interaction points on game day.
Reynolds said at a minimum, the team’s roughly 21,000 season-ticket holders will have a spot after the regular season opens Aug. 5.
Single-game tickets have yet to go on sale, but Reynolds said even the thought of selling those tickets makes him excited for the upcoming season.
“We have a uniting focus and a pride focus,” he said of the team. “I really think that’s the theme and that’s how we’re going to approach this year. We want to reunite the province.
“We’ve been apart for so long and, in my mind, nothing sort of defines Saskatchewan like coming together at Mosaic Stadium on a beautiful summer night and enjoying watching CFL football and watching the Riders.”