The Saskatchewan Roughriders like many others, are finding themselves trying to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
At their Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, the football club highlighted that their ability to return to a full schedule in 2022 also saw their revenues and expenses return to the same level.
The team also reported that the 109th Grey Cup and the 2022 Grey Cup Festival delivered strong financial results for the Roughriders and the Canadian Football League (CFL) to aid their economic recovery.
The 2022-23 fiscal year for the Roughriders saw the revenues for the team exceed the expenses from operating activities of just under $3.9 million, similar to the previous season.
From the financial success of the Grey Cup this past November, the model saw the CFL and the team split the profit, with the league receiving 60% and the team getting 40%. With a profit from the Grey Cup of $7.5 million, the CFL received $4.5 million and the team received $3 million.
The combination of the income from the past two seasons along with the financial success 109th Grey Cup in Regina should help recover from the $8.37 million loss the organization suffered following the cancellation of the 2020 season.
Although the club has bounced back from the financial setback caused by the pandemic, they acknowledge the potential difficulties that may continue to arise. Due to inflation, increased interest rates, and the overall state of the economy, fans are facing financial challenges, which have affected the team’s ticket sales.
Roughriders Chief Financial Officer Kent Paul said the affordability issues are affecting fans from all areas of the province and that the organization will try to provide accessible options.
“Price of gas, price of travel, so we try and create the most affordable options that we can.”
Some of the ways the Roughriders have tried to make the game-day experience for fans more affordable include $99 Family Packs, reduced menu items and the reduction of prices on 9,000 seats at Mosaic Stadium.
Paul added that the world has adapted following the pandemic and the football team has to evolve to meet their demands.
“They might be more comfortable staying at home, watching the game from home, we all pretty much lived at home from 12-18 months. ”
The primary source of revenue for the Roughriders was from gate receipts. Since the team was able to host a normal season schedule last year, the income returned to some normalcy at just under $16 million which was an increase of five million dollars from the previous year when the team took part in a shortened season.
Season ticket numbers for the 2023 season weren’t available, but they are down slightly from last year. Paul noted that it’s typical that a year after a team hosts the Grey Cup to have their season ticket sales decrease.
“Affordability, having a great team on the field will contributes to the fans coming to the games, so we hope that drop is quickly recovered.”
The Roughriders managed to raise their stabilization fund to $9.1 million by increasing it by slightly over $2.5 million.
Paul adds the Roughriders are not the only ones who have to manage the post-COVID world.
“As a club we’re not immune to the inflationary cost so it’s a bit of that balance of you know, everyone would love to have a lower price point but there are incremental costs.”
