The familiar sea of green was back at Mosaic Stadium Saturday evening, as the Saskatchewan Roughriders were up against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
More than 28,000 people paid for tickets for the home opener, according to the CFL team, but only about 24, 000 were actually at the stadium and the venue can hold more than 33, 000 people, which left about 8,000 empty seats on Saturday.
While the Riders came out on top at the end of the game, the large number of empty seats had many wondering, ‘Where are the rest of the fans?’
Rob Vanstone, who has been a sports editor with the Regina Leader-Post for more than 35 years, said there are slew of reasons that can be attributed to a number of fans missing out on some in-person football action this past weekend.
“You look at the economy, it’s not just the cost of gas or etc, etc, there’s general inflation and I think that the economic toll that’s been brought on as a result of the pandemic has just limited the amount of disposable or discretionary income that people have to devote to things, such as professional football,” Vanstone explained.
He also notes that a majority of those empty seats belonged to fans from out of town. A spokesperson with the Roughriders said roughly 50 per cent of their fan base travels from outside of Regina to attend games.
Ed Mayrt, a ticketholder from Katepwa, Sask., which is an hour outside of Regina, said although he is feeling the price increases, he’s not being discouraged by them when it comes to supporting his favourite CFL team.
“You know it’s costlier to come into town with fuel, food, and prices of tickets and you got taxes on the ticket, it’s going to affect some people,” he said. “Doesn’t affect me so much.”
He said his son is also a big fan of the Riders, however, he is feeling the brunt of high costs a bit more than his dad and plans on driving less this summer, especially with the cost of fuel expected to stay high and even increase at certain points.
Unfortunately, many others are struggling with their finances right now.
“We can’t afford to go to the games, that’s basically it in a nutshell,” said Nick Saschin, a longtime Riders fan.
“We used to have season tickets but no longer do, it’s just the way it is,” he added.
Saschin said he’ll still continue to support the team he loves, just not from within the stadium.
Despite no sold-out home opener, in a statement to Global News, a spokesperson for the team wrote the franchise is still proud to see an increase in attendance levels from last year’s numbers.
“We were so excited to have our fans back in Mosaic Stadium. They created an electric atmosphere that really energized our team to pull out the win,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“In comparing our June 11th Home Opener ticket sales to the July 1st, 2019 Home Opener, our ticket sales are bouncing back to pre-pandemic levels hitting about 95 per cent of 2019’s first game numbers.”
Vanstone said the team still has a strong base of at least 20, 000 fans attending games.
He adds, the Riders are looking quite competitive and promising this season, and that their future game outcomes do have the potential to bump attendance numbers.
“On field- success and popularity isn’t necessarily a guarantee things are going to improve, but with the Grey Cup this year and if people just get the scent of a champion, it can just take off,” he stated.
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