'In no scenario did we have a global pandemic': Riders president
Team adjusts season plans for changing world
The work continues for Saskatchewan Roughriders staff, sorting the new merchandise and planning the game day experience for all nine home games on the 2020 schedule.
And there's Grey Cup week too, scheduled for November 22 at Mosaic Stadium.
But Riders' president Craig Reynolds knows full well, it may all be for naught.
COVID-19 controls the agenda, health officials the timeline.
"There's so much uncertainty, so many unknowns." said Reynolds during Wednesday's video chat with the media.
"The reality is, we've got to continue our planning on all fronts and as we learn more we adjust, that's the way we have approached this through this crisis."
What Reynolds learned this week is that the season will not start on time — the CFL has officially pushed back opening kickoff until July at the earliest.
The Riders were to have hosted a pre-season game and their home opener by then. Will games be shoved into a condensed schedule or cancelled outright? That, like everything else, has yet to be determined.
There will be no complaints from the Riders' office as Reynolds says what they are facing is much bigger than sports.
"It's hard to speculate on what a post COVID world looks like in terms of Grey Cup, your mind has to go there, our Grey Cup team is thinking about how that could potentially impact the plans."
Reynolds also has to balance a budget without revenue coming in.
"It's certainly having an economic impact on us. It's no secret we're a gate-driven league... the vast majority of our revenue is dependent on us playing games. Merchandise sales and concessions are really game dependent."
Which is why it would make no sense whatsoever for CFL games to be played without fans, in empty stadiums.
That may fly for awhile in the NFL which draws in billions of dollars annually from network television agreements. The CFL with TSN/RDS, not so much.
The Roughriders have yet to finalize their 2019 financial statement but based on 2018 numbers, the team received 17 million dollars in gate revenue.
That means the organization would take roughly a 1.75 million dollar hit for every home game that gets cancelled.
Reynolds assures season ticket holders they will get refunds.
But they're not at that point yet.
Reynolds says no staff has been laid off or been asked to take a pay cut.
The team has a rainy day fund. It was sitting at 25 million dollars before the team moved into the new stadium. Reynolds wouldn't say how much is in the cookie jar today.
"It is a nice nest but when we do the modelling with the board around that rainy day fund, in no scenario did we have a global pandemic. We will now."
Players however will not be paid until there is a training camp and a game has been played. Reynolds says the CFLPA is currently discussing that issue with the league.
Just when exactly will the season start, and how long will it be? Reynolds believes it has to have legitimacy.
Otherwise, what's the point?
The million dollar question for the Riders' boss is the post-COVID-19 world in 2020.
If the season does get the go-ahead, how eager will fans be to sit elbow to elbow in a stadium?
"People may be reluctant to gather in large crowds after getting used to social distancing. There's the other school of thought that people will be craving to go out and to be together, to celebrate and to have some sense of normalcy."
Suddenly a missed field goal doesn't seem so terrible.
