‘Bigger than sports’: Riders preparing for all options for 2020 season

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are still planning to host all scheduled home games for the 2020 CFL season, but they know the situation is a fluid one.

On Tuesday, the CFL announced it is postponing the start of the regular season until at least the beginning of July due to COVID-19.

Roughriders president and CEO Craig Reynolds said Wednesday the organization hasn’t released the 2019 numbers quite yet, but the team made around $17 million in 2018 from the gate.

“It’s no secret we’re a gate-driven league and we’re certainly a gate-driven team. About 50 per cent of our revenue comes from the gate and a vast majority of our other revenue is all dependent on us playing games,” Reynolds said on a video conference call with media. “A large portion of our sponsor revenue, all our concessions and even our merchandise business is really game-dependent.”

Reynolds said the league’s decision to postpone games comes with the health of all Canadians at the top of mind.

“There’s much bigger things at play here than sports and entertainment,” Reynolds said. “That’s how I viewed it — this is bigger than sports right now.”

Reynolds said the Roughriders are going ahead with business as usual in terms of planning for their game-day experience, but he admitted there is a lot of uncertainty.

“The reality is we’ve got to continue our planning on all fronts and as we learn more, we adjust,” Reynolds said. “We do learn more every day and we do make tweaks and adjustments to our plans.”

The Roughriders are to host the 108th Grey Cup at Mosaic Stadium on Nov. 22. Reynolds said as of now, the plan is still to play the game on that day but there are discussions about moving it.

“I think it’s wise to open your mind to any possibility so I’d be lying if that concept (of moving the game) didn’t come up,” he said. “But that’s not the one we’re immediately focused on at this moment.”

Reynolds said there will be a number of options available to season-ticket holders if games begin to get cancelled.

“We understand the impacts to our season-ticket holders and we also understand the broader economic situation in the province,” Reynolds said. “One of those options would be a refund.”

Reynolds said the Roughriders have had team employees get tested for COVID-19 but all have come back negative.