NO GREY CUP, NO PROBLEM
Roughriders fans OK with putting off big game
Ron Podbielski and Nelson Strong have strong ties to the Saskatchewan Roughriders and they aren’t letting the COVID-19 pandemic sever those connections.
Both longtime season-ticket holders support moving the CFL’S 2020 Grey Cup game, originally slated for Nov. 22 in Regina, to 2022 because of restrictions necessitated by the coronavirus.
“It was the only practical thing that they could have done,” Podbielski said after CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie announced the change on Wednesday. “There is a lot of uncertainty now, but there was a mutual reason why the CFL and the Roughriders wanted it moved to 2022. It’s a big must-revenue generator for the Riders and for the league, especially when it’s held in Regina.
“If we had continued to have it in 2020, we couldn’t have had all of the auxiliary events and festivals around it. That would have been a mistake. It’s the prudent and the right thing to do to move it to 2022.”
Strong, who has taken in 16 or 17 Grey Cups with this wife Cathy, was looking forward to attending the first CFL championship contest at new Mosaic Stadium and had already placed a deposit on his 2020 Grey Cup tickets.
“I’m disappointed but not surprised, because of the way things are,” Strong said. “We might be fairly good in regards to COVID -19 in Saskatchewan. (But) when you have a Grey Cup, you have people coming from all over the place and a lot of those places are still struggling.”
The support for moving the Grey Cup game to 2022 reached as high as the Saskatchewan government.
“As disappointed as we are, we fully understand the challenge that we are collectively facing as a society with our response to COVID-19,” Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said during his daily briefing. “We understand how this just may not be able to occur in the way that we had originally planned.”
There is still a chance that Mosaic Stadium could be the site for the 2020 Grey Cup game based on new plans announced by Ambrosie.
The 2020 regular season won’t start until September at the earliest. If there is a season, the Grey Cup game would be played in the home of the finalist with a superior regular-season record.
Ambrosie suggested that the Grey Cup game could be held in December, which would allow the league to play as many games as possible during a truncated season.
“If you get into anything after the last weekend of November, it would be iffy as far as weather is concerned,” Strong said. “We’re pretty devoted fans and we would still go. (But) I could see a lot of people not going.”
Podbielski is hoping for the best in regards to the CFL having a season in 2020.
He’s also preparing for the worst. “I originally thought there was going to be a season, but right now there is less than a 50-per-cent chance,” he said. “With the possibility of a second wave coming in the fall, I just don’t see how we’re going to do large gatherings. I’m not a medical expert, but it seems doubtful to me.”
Strong is more optimistic than Podbielski and sees the bright side to the possibility of an abbreviated regular season.
“If they go to an eight-game season, every game will be so important that it will really be exciting,” Strong said. “The Riders are set up pretty well with their team. When you think about deferring the Grey Cup to 2022, who knows what kind of team we’ll have? We could be in rebuilding mode. Who the heck knows?”