Roughriders CEO and President, Craig Reynolds stands behind the importance continuity going into this season (Saskatchewan Roughriders/Website)

By Austin Mattes

Building off last season

Craig Reynolds: A look ahead to the 2025 Riders season

Mar 5, 2025 | 12:05 PM

With the Canadian Football League (CFL) preseason just a few months away, Saskatchewan Roughriders president and CEO Craig Reynolds sat down with battlefordsNOW to discuss some of the biggest topics surrounding the organization during the off season, and what to look forward to for the 2025 season.

Fan Attendance/Ticket Sales

Despite having some of the most dedicated in the CFL, the Riders saw a decrease in ticket sales last season and only had one sell-out game, which was the Labour Day Classic against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Reynolds said he thinks the lower ticket sales were due to changed habits from COVID-19 and affordability.

“I think coming out of the pandemic it’s taking longer than any of us expected for people to get out there and do things like they used to do. There still is immense pride in the team and people want to come to one or two games but just can’t commit to come for the full season. I also think that affordability challenges we’re all sort of collectively feeling and seeing is a real thing and is having an effect at some level,” Reynolds said.

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Going into the 2025 season though, Reynolds mentioned that things have been looking positive so far, especially with new ticket sales.

“We’re seeing a really positive trend both in terms of renewals and new ticket sales. We’re significantly ahead of where we were last year with new ticket sales, so although we had a dip in seasons last year, we sold a lot of single-game tickets and group tickets and what we’re seeing this year is a nice trend in terms of new season tickets,” said Reynolds.

In terms of promotion and trying to get more people out to the games, affordability for families and themed games have been a focus for the organization, Reynolds added.

“We are really focusing on families and trying to be an affordable option for families and growing that next generation of fans that hopefully sustain and continue to come back…our theme games have also been successful we really lean into those and we really promote those themes and I think that drives single ticket behaviours as well,” said Reynolds.

Some things the Riders have done to promote affordability are reintroducing youth pricing last season as well as having family packs and now, going into this season, reducing seat prices in general, Reynolds said.

“We got family packs that for under $100, you get a family of four into the game. We reintroduced youth pricing last year, where most areas of the stadium will have tickets half off an adult ticket. Then this season we’ve actually reduced some of the pricing in some of the stadium, as well,” he said.

Off Season Signings/Continuity

It’s been no secret that during the off season, the emphasis on ‘continuity’ has been big for the Riders as they have re-signed 17 pending free agents for the 2025 season, including quarterback, Trevor Harris.

Reynolds agreed that ‘continuity’ is very important to the team as he believes they a good core and just need to continue building around it.

“Historically successful teams you see that are consistently competing for championships, there tends to be a lot of continuity. We had nine All Stars last year and we’re able to return all nine, which is very hard to do. We feel like we have a really good core and we have an outstanding coaching staff. They will still fill in gaps and try to improve where they can, but they really keep that same core together and they’ll continue to grow together.” Reynolds said.

Even though continuity is the focus, like Reynolds mentioned, they are still trying to fill in the gaps and have done so with some notable signings in Jake Maier, Mike Rose, Sean McEwen and Philippe Gagnon.

Reynolds credited General Manager Jeremey O’Day and Head Coach Corey Mace for the signings during the off-season and said that players want to come to the Riders.

“I just think Jeremy and Corey have done a great job of signing our guys and getting the continuity and then looking at some spots and trying to improve. Our coaching staff has an excellent reputation across the league and people want to come here and want to play for Corey and be part of this organization and really be part of Rider nation,” said Reynolds.

Apart from player signings, one of the biggest signings for the Riders was four-time Grey Cup champion, Andrew Harris as a running back coach.

Reynolds said that signing was made possible due to the connection between Mace and Harris from their time in Toronto.

“We were in the market for a running back coach and Corey had an existing relationship with Andrew from Toronto. So, that was just natural where the conversation sort of started, and Corey was able to talk to Andrew and convince him to join the green guys and he’s quite excited to start his coaching career with us,” he said.

Finances

One of the biggest headlines last year for the Riders was the $1.1 million net operating loss in the fiscal year. Now, with the financial reports coming out in the near months, Reynolds said that the finances were looking positive due to merchandise sales.

“Our results will be announced sort of in the May, June time frame, so I won’t say too much but I would say they’re trending really positively. A few factors are that we introduced the alternate obsidian logo and jerseys, we were hoping that they would hit, and we would see lots of merchandise sales through them and they exceeded all our expectations,” he said.

Apart from the merchandising side, one of the biggest things financially that helped the team was the fact they were able to host a playoff game.

“Being able to host our own playoff game, that was a really big factor as well and contributed quite positively. So, we had some really good things that happened this year and results have been really positive,” said Reynolds.

Next Step

Over the past 10 years with Reynolds as the CEO and President, the Riders have definitely had their ups and downs but looking back over the past five years, the team has seen an upward trend off success, making the West Final three times.

Reynolds ended off by saying that the next step for the Riders is to keep on building towards a Grey Cup.

“The next step is to find our way to the Great Cup. Last season, we got to the West Western final and fell short, but that was our coaches first year and really the first year of that new team together. So I think just keeping that core together and building with this coaching staff and building off the success of last season and continuing to grow as a team and build that bonding and camaraderie that you always hear about the great teams or the championship teams have and I think you’re starting to see that here,” said Reynolds.

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austin.mattes@pattisonmedia.com

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