Saskatchewan’s success shouldn’t be taken for granted
The announcement of a Saskatchewan Roughriders sellout elicited more yawns than, well, the team’s offence. After all, it is hardly novel for the Roughriders to play before a capacity crowd.
Attendance-wise, the Roughriders have raised the bar so stratospherically high — not only for themselves, but also for their CFL brethren — that it is often more noteworthy when there are vacant seats at Mosaic Stadium.
There once was a day when the Roughriders could only fantasize about crowds exceeding 30,000, let alone a new stadium that can accommodate 33,350 patrons.
Once upon a time, in fact, a turnout of 20,000 was viewed as an improvement.
But now there is a blasé attitude when the Roughriders play before gatherings of 29,788, 33,308 and 30,954 — the team’s attendances for its first three regular-season home games of 2018.
Even when the team announces a sellout, as it did Wednesday once the final seat was sold for Saturday’s clash with the Calgary Stampeders, the immediate inclination is not to marvel.
That is the case because for more than a decade, the Roughriders have regularly played before full houses.
The fuse was ignited in 2007, when head coach Kent Austin, general manager Eric Tillman, quarterback Kerry Joseph and associates collaborated on a storybook season that culminated with a Grey Cup championship.
Saskatchewan’s subsequent success is such that younger fans will not have any recollection of the gory years.
Even for antiques such as this scribbler, it is easy to become spoiled by the reliably robust responses to the Roughriders.
So a reality check, and an infusion of perspective, never hurts once in a while.
Around the same time that the latest sellout was announced on Wednesday, the weekly Rider Rumblings video podcast was being recorded at Leader-post World Headquarters. Yours truly and shrinking football scribe/ foodie Murray Mccormick were joined by special guest Dan Farthing, who in 1991 began an 11-year tenure with the Riders.
Included in that span were the generally gruesome mid1990s, when the Roughriders’ fortunes — and those of the CFL — reached a nadir.
The mind rewinds to 1996 Grey Cup week in Hamilton, where one of the primary storylines pertained to whether the final game in CFL history was about to be played. The league was hemorrhaging money and one of its flagship franchises, the Roughriders, was organizing another buy-or-die ticket blitz.
“I was part of that telethon,” Farthing, a Plaza of Honour member and a legendary human being, recalled after lending his insights and eloquence to the podcast. “They asked me to come in and sit at a table and phone season-ticket holders, and I was calling people and asking them to renew.”
The day was ultimately saved but, as Farthing recalled, “it was a tenuous time, for sure.”
Fast forward to 2018 and the CFL is still not without its trouble spots. The Toronto Argonauts, for example, recently played before a home “crowd” of 10,844.
More people will likely watch Saturday’s warm-up. When you stop and put the situation in perspective, the current state of the Roughriders — once a virtual charity case — truly is something to appreciate.