NFL pre-season date didn’t work, say Riders

The odds of an NFL pre-season game being played at Regina’s Mosaic Stadium are getting slimmer.

Reports have circulated for weeks that the Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers were going to play an exhibition game in the Queen City on Aug. 23.

But on Tuesday, sources told John Gormley that the game was not going to be played because of resistance from the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The CFL team responded with a statement in which it said it wasn’t opposed to the game being played, but rather with its timing.

“The Club worked collaboratively with Evraz Place, the City of Regina, the Canadian Football League and the National Football League around the potential event,” the statement read. “The Canadian Football League and the Roughriders raised concerns that a Friday evening game would not allow for Mosaic Stadium to convert back to the CFL playing standard in time for the Riders’ regular-season game on Saturday, Aug. 24 at 5 p.m.

“The Riders, along with the Canadian Football League, identified significant risks that the stadium would not be set to provide an outstanding game experience for fans, Club sponsors and the league’s broadcast partner in the short turnaround time allotted.”

Sources told 980 CJME that cleaning the stadium and returning the field to its CFL configurations – such as moving goalposts and repainting yard lines – would be difficult in a short period of time.

As well, sources suggested that the presence of the NFL game would keep TSN – the league’s broadcast partner – from setting up for the Aug. 24 contest the way it normally does.

The Roughriders’ statement added that the team “would openly support potential alternative dates that did not pose significant risk to previously scheduled Roughrider games and that would work for all parties.”

The Roughriders play a home game on Aug. 1 against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and then aren’t slated to play again at Mosaic Stadium until Aug. 24 against the Ottawa Redblacks. Saskatchewan is in Montreal on Aug. 9 to play the Alouettes and then has a bye the following week.

Tim Reid, the president and CEO of Regina Exhibition Association Ltd., confirmed in a statement that his organization had been in discussions with a promoter about the NFL pre-season game but nothing had been finalized.

“I can say with absolute clarity that the Saskatchewan Roughriders have been collaborative throughout this process and supportive of our organization in bringing great events to our community as we explore opportunities to program Mosaic Stadium,” Reid said.

“As with any organization looking to rent space at Mosaic Stadium, a contract is necessary. At this point, I can confirm we do not have a contract in place for an NFL game, and I strongly dispute any suggestion that the Saskatchewan Roughriders have acted as a barrier in this process.”

There were reports that Winnipeg and Edmonton were considering replacing Regina as the host city for the NFL game. Requests for comment from Edmonton weren’t answered, but a spokesman for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers did reply to an email from 980 CJME.

“The Winnipeg Football Club is always exploring opportunities to host events at Investors Group Field,” wrote Darren Cameron, the Bombers’ senior director of public and player relations. “At this time, the Club has no further comments.”