Riders reveal their first steps of the post pandemic recovery at the team’s Annual General Meeting

As the world continues to move on from the COVID-19 pandemic which created life lasting changes that affected different sectors of the globe, the Saskatchewan Roughriders announced their first results of the post pandemic recovery with their Annual General Meeting (AGM).

The AGM was held on Tuesday night at Harvard Media Lounge in Mosaic Stadium which addressed the financial state of the team.

Over 2021-22, the football club was able to post a profit of $3.9 million, compared to the prior years $8.4 million loss coming off the COVID-10 pandemic. With last year’s profit, the team’s combined loss following the pandemic is around $4.5 million.

The return of fans has had a positive impact for the team after there was no attendance in 2020. In 2021 the club received over $ 11 million dollars in gate receipts which is down from pre-pandemic levels of $17 million, back when the Riders played a full nine game home schedule. Gate receipts were responsible for one third of the team’s revenue in 2021-22.

With the financial numbers released today, Saskatchewan Roughriders President & CEO Craig Reynolds is looking forward to a brighter future.

“I think with the numbers we have released today that recovery has happened and it’s happening quickly, think that’s full credit to our fanbase, to sell out two home games last year in a midst of a pandemic it’s quite of an accomplishment for fans returning to the stadium”

The team’s report showed $83 million in total assets with $43 million is related to property and equipment primarily to Mosaic Stadium. There are $30 million in current assets including $7 million in the stabilization fund.

With liabilities the club had $40 million which of 42% or $33 million is related or deferred revenue which is ticket and sponsorship revenues pre-paid to the club for 2022 and beyond. The Riders recorded a new liability in the $1 million loan received under the Federal Government’s HASCAP program.

Reynolds acknowledged that the football team has to been forced to dealt with additional challenges following the pandemic, including fans spending more time watching the games at home as opposed to viewing them at Mosaic Stadium.

“Habits have changed there was an interesting stat we saw, it was a June stat 20% of people in Saskatchewan indicated that they stayed home from a large event because of COVID so that has some impact ”

The Riders President and CEO added there’s reason for the team to have optimism going forward.

“Our fans and our crowds have been really, really young, really, really diverse, lots of families, lots of young people, so we’re seeing a good demographic at our games as we get into the fall we’re going to see some higher attendance numbers, it’s something that we’re all conscious of. ”

In terms of revenues for the team, while gate receipts are down, Reynolds believes they have made great strides in other areas.

“We’re seeing great results in sponsorship, corporate support, we’re seeing great results in merchandise.”

Reynolds added one of the biggest boosters towards the recovery for the Roughriders will be hosting the 2022 Grey Cup. He says the team used the extra time from the cancellation of the 2020 Grey Cup festivities to plan for this year’s celebrations to hopefully result in more profitability

“That(Hosting the Grey Cup) will really accelerate the recovery that the two year loss we have talked about, we anticipate this year will get us back to pre COVID levels. ”

With the incoming PST tax increase for entertainment events in Saskatchewan which includes Roughriders home games at Mosaic Stadium, the team recently launched it’s season ticket renewal. Reynolds said the team won’t know how the tax increase will affect the Riders until they go through the season ticket renewal process.

Following the pandemic, Reynolds was hoping for a normal year but points to the team’s experience with the virus in July as a sign that COVID hasn’t vanished.

“COVID is so unpredictable.” The Riders President & CEO continued. “We had a COVID outbreak that had a game shifted, we thought we were past that, we didn’t think that was something we were going to have to deal with this year and we did.”

According to Reynolds, ticket sales for the team are down 9% as compared to pre-pandemic levels. The Riders President and CEO says this is likely due to a number of factors including the effects of inflation this summer, with the high price of gasoline.

Reynolds explains that this is a problem that the team is looking to address based on the feedback from the data that they’ve received, adding that this is a problem that the Riders aren’t alone in dealing with, as many sports and entertainment teams and facilities have felt the pinch of the recent effects of the post pandemic world.

He adds that it may take some time to feel the benefits of the recovery.

“It’s not like things aren’t happening they just may not be happening as quick as we would all like them to be and they may not be as visible as we would all like them to be, but that is all to come.”

Reynolds is encouraged by the number of family packs purchased this season. He is also happy to see the amount of children that are starting to come to Mosaic Stadium, including the game on Friday against the Lions.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers recently announced the 18th edition of the Banjo Bowl on September 10 had sold out. In response to sale about the upcoming Labour Day Classic at Mosaic Stadium, Reynolds says the team is very close to announcing a full capacity crowd of their own.