Uncertainty around REAL makes booking live events challenging: CEO

Uncertainty between the Regina Exhibition Association Ltd. and Regina City Council could be slowing down the process to bring more musical acts to REAL District and Mosaic Stadium.

There have been a number of big-name performances at the REAL District over the past year, but no act has been booked into Mosaic Stadium since 2019. Rick Bennett, the association’s new CEO, said REAL is in a holding pattern until the city resolves a motion about its governance.

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“Live entertainment, recruitment and retention is all slowed down and become challenged for us until that report is tabled back to council,” explained Bennett.

The motion reviewing the governance of REAL came to council in February. The exhibition association currently operates as a third party at arm’s length from city administration, with its own board. With the motion, the city could bring REAL back under its own governance, keep it the way it is or create a new, hybrid structure.

Council voted in February to request a report from administration outlining options, but that could take until August to complete. Bennett said that’s a problem when the association is trying to book performers.

“The live entertainment industry wants certainty – when they’re booking an act that has a year’s lead time, they want to know who the end entity is going to be when it comes time to deliver that concert,” he said.

When it comes to how the association would be run between each option, Bennett said it’s the difference between a city and a commercial enterprise.

“(The) City of Regina’s set up to provide services. Are they there to generate a profit on entertainment events? I don’t think so. And I don’t believe the City of Regina’s structure is set up to be able to accommodate that, whereas an independent commercial enterprise is better suited to go and market live promotion,” he said.

In order to realize the best potential of the REAL District, Bennett said there needs to be a commercial element to it.

Bennett said the future of the association’s governance is something the city is going to have to resolve, and REAL has been encouraging the city to deal with the issue as quickly as possible.

But despite all the uncertainty, REAL is still working on bringing big acts to the Queen City.

Bennett previously said that REAL reached out to pop star Chappell Roan after she released a song which mentions Saskatchewan. On Monday, he said he’d love to be able to announce a new stadium concern, and REAL is negotiating an agreement right now for very high-profile concert in 2026, separate from the “Subway” singer.

“Let’s also be cognizant that the touring industry is fickle, and half the battle is for the artist to say ‘I want to play Regina.’ And once that’s done, then we can move into the promotional side and locking it up,” said Bennett.

If it goes ahead, Bennett said the concert will be announced after Christmas.