Reynolds says Riders’ have ‘fallen short’ of expectations

Craig Reynolds knows the Saskatchewan Roughriders have fallen short of the expectations he and the team had for 2022.

The Riders came into the season after two years of back-to-back CFL West Finals, and fans had dreams of repeating the magic of 2013, the last time the team hosted the Grey Cup.

But, after a 4-1 start, the Riders now sport a 6-10 record and the team has lost control of its destiny when it comes to making the playoffs by way of the crossover.

The Riders need to finish with more wins than either the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (5-10) or Ottawa Redblacks (4-11) in order to qualify for the crossover.

“There’s expectations this year when you host the Grey Cup. As of now, we’ve fallen short of those expectations and we’re disappointed in that and frustrated with that,” Reynolds, the Riders’ president and CEO, said Thursday.

The team’s recent slide has drawn the ire of fans, as the Roughriders have only won twice in their last 11 contests and have lost their past five home games at Mosaic Stadium. The team has even been met with boos from the hometown crowd.

Reynolds admitted that poor performance has been a factor when it comes to ticket sales.

“Especially when you lose home games – and that’s been one of the more disappointing parts of the season. We feel like we have a competitive advantage at home, and we haven’t been winning that home,” Reynolds said.

“Have we’ve seen some impact (on ticket sales)? Yes we have, for sure. But the crowd we have coming up on Saturday is looking consistent with what we’ve seen this year.

“There are lots of factors going on, but whenever you lose home games, it’s not good.”

The Riders have one final home game next Saturday against the Calgary Stampeders before finishing the regular season the following week in Calgary.

The team needs to win at least one of those games in order to stay in the crossover spot over the next few weeks.

“The season is not over yet and we’ve got two big games,” Reynolds said.

“We’ve got to win them, and we no longer control our own destiny, but the season is not over and the focus right now is on the next game and doing what we can to win that football game and put us in a position to get into playoffs.”