Roughriders announce loss of $1.1 million at annual general meeting

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While the Saskatchewan Roughriders are undefeated on the football field to start the 2024 CFL season, the team announced a loss during its annual general meeting on Tuesday night.

The team confirmed it lost $1.1 million dollars in the 2023-24 financial statement, as was previously reported in the Leader-Post on June 5. In the annual report, it notes expenses of $36.7 million were above revenues of $35.6 million for the year ending March 21, 2024.

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“It was reflective of what last year was; it was a disappointing year on the field and as a result, we didn’t have overly strong financials,” said Riders’ president-CEO Craig Reynolds.

In 2023, total gross revenues decreased by $4.1 million from the year prior while operating expenses increased by $914,000.

The financial statement shows gate receipts, sponsorships, concessions and fundraising all saw a decline while merchandise, interest income and CFL distributions all increased over the year.

Gate receipts — which at $14 million make up 40 per cent of the club’s revenue — were down $1.9 million from 2022, while football operations costs, which make up 38 per cent of expenses,  increased by $564,000.

During last year’s annual general meeting, the Riders announced a profit of $7.2 million, which was buoyed due to the team hosting the 2022 Grey Cup. Without the championship game, the Riders profited $3.8 million, which was similar to how the team fared in 2021.

However, two straight seasons of missing the playoffs with 6-12 records caught up with them financially.

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“There’s one known correlation in pro sports and that’s winning,” said Reynolds. “Winning definitely impacts your organization in a positive way.”

To address the lack of on-field performance, the Riders made a coaching change this off-season as they hired Corey Mace to take over for Craig Dickenson, who had been head coach since 2019. So far, Mace has gotten his team off to a good start as Saskatchewan sits 2-0 ahead of Sunday’s home opener against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (5 p.m., TSN).

And while Reynolds said on-field performance led to a decline in ticket sales, so did “affordability challenges” in the economy.

“When folks have less disposable income, one of the first things they look to (cut) is entertainment,” said Reynolds. “And at the end of the day, we’re in the entertainment business.”

While Reynolds wouldn’t provide an exact number of season tickets that been sold this year, he did say it’s been two straight years of decline.

To address the trend, the Riders have developed several strategies aimed at getting younger fans and families into the stadium through half-priced youth tickets and $99 ticket packages for a family of four.

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“There’s no doubt we need to get younger (fans), that’s the focus from us is to get younger (fans), get younger season ticket holders (and) more families engaged,” said Reynolds, who noted the club sold 7,000 family packs in 2023 compared to 2,000 the year prior.

“Despite the fact that the crowds weren’t necessarily where we wanted them to be last year, we felt really good that we were able to get a lot more young families in and I think that will pay off down the road.”

Sponsorship levels — which at $8 million made up 22 per cent of the team’s revenue — returned to “normal” after an increased year due to the Grey Cup. CFL distributions ($6.9 million), which largely stem from the league’s broadcast contract with TSN, made up 19 per cent of the revenue while 11 per cent of the club’s revenue is tied to merchandise.

The rest of the revenue came from interest (four per cent), concessions (two per cent) and fundraising (two per cent).

While the team had an operating loss last year, the club’s stabilization fund sits at $9.6 million despite the club not making a deposit to it in 2023.

“The stabilization fund is actually higher than it was pre-pandemic,” said Riders’ CFO Kent Paul. “That’s just a reflection of the strength of our financial situation overall.”

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Paul also noted that despite the net operating loss, the team also revealed a positive Earnings Before Interest and Depreciation (EBIDA) of $1.5 million.

And while the team isn’t in dire straits with the operating loss, Reynolds says there is work to do when it comes to fixing the declining trend in attendance.

“We’ve got to do everything we possibly can whether that’s marketing, whether that’s responding to affordability challenges and certainly the product on the field,” he said. “We need to do everything we possibly can to make sure we’re getting fans here because ultimately, our financials are based on our fan base.”

tshire@postmedia.com

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