LIFE UNDER A CLOUD
Fate of Western Agribition, Queen City Ex, Farm Show and Grey Cup all up in the air
Tim Reid, president and CEO of REAL, is facing an era of uncertainty with the CFL season in doubt due to the pandemic. Even if it does proceed, Mosaic Stadium will likely operate under an array of unprecedented distancing conditions.
Evraz Place is being forced to tackle a number of challenges surrounding the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the uncertainty of the 2020 CFL season.
The Riders should have been opening main training camp at Mosaic Stadium on Sunday. However, CFL training camps have been postponed and the start of the 2020 regular season has been delayed due to restrictions implemented to help slow the spread of COVID -19.
Most jarringly, CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie revealed during his May 7 testimony before a House of Commons standing committee on finance that the league’s future is in jeopardy and the most likely scenario is the 2020 season being cancelled due to the coronavirus.
“The immediate impact (on Evraz Place) is nobody wants to see the loss of the football season,” said Tim Reid, president and CEO of Evraz Place.
“We need to respect the fact that our tenants and the leagues that they represent have to make the right decisions for their best interests. Everybody’s leading with public safety in mind and that’s exactly the way things should be done.”
Reid feels that the next 30 days are key in helping the entertainment industry understand what will take place in terms of reopening facilities across the country.
“We’ve been relatively fortunate with the low number of COVID -19 cases (in Regina), but that’s not the case across all of Canada,” Reid said.
Reid has more on his plate than the uncertainty surrounding the
Riders’ season.
Other events on the schedule for Evraz Place include Canada’s Farm Show (June 16-18), the Queen City Ex (July 29-Aug. 1), the 2020 Grey Cup game (Nov. 22) and the Canadian Western Agribition (Nov. 30Dec. 5).
Canada’s Farm Show has been postponed for now. Reid expects it to be cancelled for this year once dates for 2021 have been finalized.
“We’re still holding on to the Queen City Ex,” he said. “It ties in because if QCX doesn’t go, that brings in a whole bunch of questions about the Riders’ season.
“The start of August is really a pretty big tipping point in our industry.”
No decision has been made regarding future events, including what will happen to the Grey Cup game with the CFL’S 2020 season in doubt.
“Now is the time to plan as if everything is going to go forward,” Reid said.
“There also has to be a significant level of awareness that the risk to the Grey Cup or the CFL season or any event going ahead this fall is exceptionally high.”
Reid feels that the Riders’ bid for the 2020 Grey Cup game was strong enough to withstand a postponement of the CFL’S championship game if the season is cancelled. The 2021 Grey Cup game has already been awarded to Hamilton. A site for the 2022 Grey Cup remains undetermined.
“I don’t think it’s a matter of if the Grey Cup happens. It’s a matter of when it happens,” Reid said. “If it can happen in 2020, that’s fantastic. If it can’t, I have no doubt that the Roughriders as well as the CFL will do their best to showcase a Grey Cup in the nation’s best stadium.”
Regardless, Riders game days are an important part of the operations at Evraz Place. Reid said 400 to 500 employees are needed for a Riders game.
“Many of those are part-time staff, so that’s a lot of work for a lot of people,” Reid said.
The impact of a cancelled season wouldn’t be limited to the employees.
“Every time we lose one of these big events it gets more challenging because we run a lot of soccer and hockey practices that all lose money,” Reid said. “Then we take the earnings from the Farm Show, which is almost a million dollars, or from the Queen City Ex, or from Riders games or Grey Cups, or from big concerts, and we use those to offset the cost of running the Co-operators Centre or Affinityplex.
“Every time we lose one of those big events, it’s deeply impactful as a not-for-profit organization that operates on the latitude of city council.”
We need to respect the fact that our tenants and the leagues that they represent have to make the right decisions for their best interests.