Saskatchewan Roughriders football is back!
The CFL announced Monday it will begin the 2021 season on August 5. That’s more than 600 days after the last Riders game.
The league says the Board of Governors voted unanimously to approve the 14-game season, with the Grey Cup being December 12 in Hamilton.
“To say this is a happy day for the CFL is monumental understatement. We’ve all been waiting for this for a long time,” CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said on a conference call with reporters.
“It was a thrill to make the announcement that we’ll kick off our season August the 5th and we’ll be in Hamilton for what I think will be one of the greatest Grey Cups of all-time.” Commissioner Randy Ambrosie said. ” A truly national celebration, not just of our great game, not just of our great teams, not just of our great players and coaches, but of what everything our league has meant, what our teams have meant to their communities and what our game has meant to Canada. This is an exciting day for Canadian football and for Canada itself,”
The league says it will release the full season schedule on Tuesday.
We're back. pic.twitter.com/AJiK2pAmp6
— Saskatchewan Roughriders (@sskroughriders) June 14, 2021
Riders President and CEO Craig Reynolds is obviously ecstatic knowing the green-and-white will be on the field. He says doing that will come with a price though, but it was something he knew had to happen.
“It will certainly be financially challenging but, having said that, our board recognized and internally we certainly recognize that it was completely vital that we get back playing football in front of our fans in 2021.” Reynolds said.
When it comes to fans, Reynolds is hoping games can be played with no restrictions, but he says the team will be following provincial health guidelines. The public health order will hopefully be removed by the time the first home game hits meaning there will be no mask mandate. That being said, Reynolds says there is nothing stopping you from wearing one if you choose. He adds the ability to gather in large numbers on a warm August night at Mosaic Stadium and celebrate being back and celebrate being on the other side, hopefully, of this pandemic will be very, very meaningful.”
Last week the CFL and CFL Players Association reached an agreement on terms to play the 2021 season. The CFLPA released a statement today saying “We are pleased the CFL Board of Governors did the right thing by voting in favour of a good and fair agreement that makes it possible for games to be played, with strong player safety standards in place, as soon as August 5.”
