Talk of NFL pre-season game called ‘premature’
The possibility of the NFL’s Oakland Raiders playing a pre-season game in Regina remains up in the air.
On March 4, 3DownNation’s Justin Dunk reported that the City of Regina, which owns the land and buildings at Evraz Place, and the Raiders were in discussions about the prospect of playing an NFL pre-season game at Mosaic Stadium in August. The game could feature the Raiders and the Green Bay Packers.
The pre-season game was brought up after Friday’s promotional kickoff to the NHL’s Heritage Classic. The regular-season game between the Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames is to take place on Oct. 26 at Mosaic Stadium.
Regina Mayor Michael Fougere said talk of an NFL pre-season game in Regina was “a rumour and the (Heritage Classic) is a reality.”
“(The Heritage Classic) is really going to happen so we know that until we have more meat on the bones with the NFL one,” Fougere said. “If that happens, it would be incredible as well for our stadium and we never thought that would happen either.
“Having an outdoor game in a non-NHL city and a regular-season game where the games matters is really important for us.”
Tim Reid is the president and CEO of the Regina Exhibition Association Limited, which oversees the operations of Evraz Place and Mosaic Stadium. He said Friday that there hasn’t been anything confirmed for Mosaic Stadium in regards to the Raiders.
“There has been lots of dialogue publicly, but probably not as much dialogue directly," Reid said. “We should celebrate every opportunity that we have to get our brand and our community in front of a national and international audience. We’ve done our best to facilitate those conversations, but it’s still premature to take any position on it.”