The Saskatchewan Roughriders earned a berth in the Western Finals last weekend with a win over the Toronto Argonauts and now have a new goal: selling the game.
Last year the Roughriders hosted the Western semi-final to a relatively minuscule crowd of 26,125 – just 80 per cent of Mosaic Stadium's capacity. Although the team had won a home playoff game a few weeks prior, it remained unclear until the final day of the regular season whether they would make the Western Semifinals or the Western Finals.
“Sometimes it's very difficult to sell a home playoff game when you don't know a specific date because people have lives and plans and so they can't commit until the date is known. Now the date is known and we can start selling the thing.” Team President and CEO Craig Reynolds made the announcement to the media on Tuesday..
“Another thing that's really helpful for us is that we now have extra time – sometimes you get into the clinch very, very late and as a result you have a very short selling window.”
The Roughriders last hosted the Western Final in 2019 and drew a sell-out crowd of 33,300 after finishing top of the standings weeks earlier.
Home playoff games provide a significant financial incentive for CFL teams, although Saskatchewan reportedly lost $210,064 that year. This was due in part to the financial support the organization provided to the Montreal Alouettes, who remained ownerless throughout the season, although this support wiped out what would have been meager profits.
Saskatchewan earned $2.1 million last year despite a small crowd for the Western semi-final and an average regular-season attendance of 27,684, down 9.9 per cent from five years earlier. This year's team drew average crowds 28,803 – up just over four percent from last year – with one regular season game left to play. Thus, one could assume that the team will be in the black again in 2025.
“You have an additional game with ticket revenue, concessions and merchandise sales, and so it's our responsibility to make sure that Mosiak Stadium is sold out, and as a result, you essentially have an 11th home game that ends up generating all the revenue,” Reynolds said.
“You hope that because it's the Western Final, you can maximize your revenue in terms of selling the game, so that's our goal for every playoff game, but certainly for the Western Final.”
The Saskatchewan Roughriders (12-4) will face the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (8-8) at Princess Auto Stadium on Friday, October 17, with kickoff scheduled for 8:00 pm ET. Riders beat Toronto which allowed them to take first place in the Western Division, and Blue Bombers lost to Edmonton.
The weather forecast for Winnipeg calls for temperatures of up to 11 degrees and rain. The game will be broadcast on TSN in Canada and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune in to 620 CKRM in Regina and 680 CJOB in Winnipeg.
