Saskatchewan Roughriders President and CEO Craig Reynolds knew the task would be tough, but doing whatever it took for the CFL to get back on to the field for 2021 was worth it.
“It was a challenging year,” said Reynolds. “When you’re playing football during a pandemic, it creates a unique set of challenges, but I think overall we were adaptable.
“We had to have some pretty stringent health and safety protocols and full credit to the CFL office and our chief medical officers who designed the protocols.”
In fact, Reynolds says the season was successful for the team on the business front, especially after the club took a $7.5-million hit the year prior due to the cancelled 2020 season.
“We had a really successful season on the field and obviously when you host a home playoff game, that has financial benefits to it as well,” said Reynolds. “A lot of our game day revenue actually exceeded our expectations and it bounced back quicker than we had thought, whether that be concessions or merchandise.
“Having two sellouts this year was really important,” he added. “When you only have seven home games, to have two of them sold out, that really helps the bottom line.”
The Riders led the league in attendance this season, however the team wasn’t able to sell out the home playoff game, but Reynolds says those attendance struggles aren’t unique to Saskatchewan.
“The biggest thing to remember is that we’re not in a normal operating environment,” said Reynolds “You’re really seeing this across the board in professional sports.
“Even beyond sports, live events and restaurants and those types of things, there just isn’t the same level of engagement. I think that all plays a part and we have to remember what we’re dealing with here.
“We’re dealing with a health crisis and when you’re doing that and trying to play football, there’s going to be some impacts.”
Historically, the Riders have been one the CFL’s flagship financial franchises, but next year, the Green and White will have to share some of its green, as the CFL is implementing a revenue sharing model.
“Every successful professional league in North America has some form of revenue sharing,” said Reynolds. “We revenue share right now, whether it’s the television contract or merchandise sales that aren’t in our respective stores.
“From the football club perspective, it’s really important that we have nine successful, sustainable franchises and hopefully ten one day.”
Reynolds says the Riders had lots of input in developing the model and it isn’t necessarily a negative thing for his club, even though the Green and White are a community owned team.
“We were able to have some pretty good input into that and really the model is such that we’re largely just going to share national revenues in a different way,” said Reynolds. “The amount that a club would have to contribute is going to be capped.
“It’s not so much about community ownership versus private ownership but it’s about what’s in the best interest of the league to make sure we’ve got a strong, sustainable franchise compliment in our league.
“At the end of the day, we’re comfortable with the model and it’s the right thing to do for the future of the league.”
Not only will revenue sharing be introduced this off-season, but the league and the players association will also need to agree to a new collective bargaining agreement before training camp opens, as the current CBA is set to expire in early May. And one of the key topics that will be addressed is one-year contracts, as the CFL announced its potential free agent list for next season, with many teams having dozens of players without a contract for 2022.
“We all would like to see greater continuity in terms of the player side of things and I think the players want that too,” said Reynolds.
And while the Riders have 50 players without contracts heading into next season, compared to just 14 who played in the West Final signed for 2022, the football operations department is stable, with O’Day and head coach Craig Dickenson. But Reynolds expects discussions on their futures will happen at some point next year.
“We’re extremely pleased with how Jeremy and Craig have performed,” said Reynolds. “Both Craig and Jeremy are under contract until the end of 2023 right now. As we get through to the end of 2022, we’ll look at what that looks like because it’s never in your best interest to have your key football folks in the last year of their contract but that’s really a 2022 discussion.”
And 2022 will be a big year for Saskatchewan, with the Grey Cup game being played at Mosaic Stadium.
“Coming off attending the Grey Cup in Hamilton, there’s a ton of excitement about our Grey Cup,” said Reynolds. “We’ve started to see the business recover probably quicker than we thought, so that gives us a lot of reason for optimism, coupled with the fact that we are hosting the Grey Cup and we think that’s going to bring a lot of energy and excitement to the club.”
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