REGINA — News that legislation to allow tailgating was included in the Speech from the Throne was greeted with enthusiasm by the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
“We’re really excited. This is something our fans have been asking for for years,” said Craig Reynolds, Roughriders CEO, at the legislature on Wednesday.
Reynolds said it was “the number one suggestion we get around can we make tailgating a possibility at Mosaic Stadium, so it’s something we approached the provincial government.”
Reynolds said they had approached the provincial government about it earlier this year.
“We just wanted to start the conversation. We knew that there would be some work required, and we’ve done some benchmarking already and we’ll be doing some more benchmarking around operationally what a model might look.”
He said there are “lots of successful tailgate models through North America” and noted most teams in the CFL have some sort of tailgating, including Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Toronto.
As for why the tailgating legislation is needed, Reynolds said right now the current legislation “limits what you can do in terms of alcohol consumption and alcohol purchasing, and so that piece of legislation needs to change,” said Reynolds. The current legislation prevents bringing any outside alcohol in, he said.
As for what models the Roughriders most want to emulate for tailgating, he pointed to Calgary as having a very successful model for many years. He also pointed to Edmonton having launched relatively recently, “so you can learn a lot from launches and how successful they were.”
They also will broaden the scope to other teams, and might lean on their head coach Corey Mace and his former connections to the Buffalo Bills who are famous for tailgating.
“I’m sure Corey can connect us down there, too, so people see how their tailgating works,” Reynolds said. But he adds he has no plans to start “jumping through tables” — one aspect of tailgating in Buffalo.
“I’m not so sure that our coach might not, but I personally will not — I’m too old for that.”
When asked about how much revenue the Roughriders could gain from this move, Reynolds said it was difficult to say, but noted this move was “not about the revenue. It’s about the experience in the environment.”
“Creating an exciting event… so you take Labour Day, you take the Western finals we’re going to host here shortly, as examples. When there’s a buzz, an atmosphere, you tend to sell more tickets, you tend to get really really excited about your product. So, it’s not really about the revenue, it's about trying to take already exciting atmosphere at Mosaic Stadium and make even better.”
When asked about why the province was bringing in the Tailgating Act, particularly when there were other sectors in a state of crisis, Premier Scott Moe replied it was “simply because they asked.”
“It was the Roughriders organization that asked could we look at some of the regulations in the space and we thought why not. So we planted it there. We may get a request from other football organizations moving forward some of our CIS teams, which I’m sure are the best in the information like the rides are CFL. And we would certainly look at that as we work our way through what essentially could be considered a pilot program as well. But it is simply because they asked.”
Opposition leader Carla Beck was asked if it was appropriate for the Throne Speech to include tailgating instead of focusing on other priorities such as health care, tariffs and other issues.
“I would be interested in what Saskatchewan people thinks warrants more space in that Throne Speech and what doesn’t, because certainly the issues I’ve been hearing have been pretty consistent,” said Beck. “Again, go Riders, go Jays, nothing wrong with that, but what we do put in a Throne Speech and what doesn’t appear in there I think it says a lot about government.”
