Neil Donnelly

talks about bringing the 101st Grey Cup to Regina

Neil Donnelly has helped bring some big shows to Regina. The vice-president of events and entertainment at Evraz Place has secured acts such as AC/DC and The Rolling Stones.

But the latest event Donnelly is working on tops them all, at least for fans of the Canadian Football League.

Donnelly is serving as the executive director of the 2013 Grey Cup in Regina and has been working hard to ensure the festivities during Grey Cup weekend and throughout the year run smoothly. When the Grey Cup came to Regina in 1995 and 2003, Donnelly was also involved. In 1995, he helped set-up the CFL player awards and in 2003 he ran the festival activities on the exhibition grounds.

Donnelly took some time out of his busy schedule to chat with Inside Green about his role as executive director, the work that goes into putting on a Grey Cup and what type of atmosphere fans can expect from was has been dubbed a “Celebration in Rider Nation.”

Q: What are your duties as Grey Cup executive director?

A: Just to put it in a bit of context, we have 31 planning committees that are currently working on the various events for the festival, with over 285 volunteers actively working on those various committees so, really, it’s about supporting those committees and making sure they have the resources they need to do their job and making sure the communication and co-ordination across those committees is happening effectively.

I was asked by tRider president and CEO] Jim Hopson to lead this group and put together a structure. Part of the concern the Riders had was that in ’03 it was very much a volunteer-driven event with not a lot of Rider involvement, and they really wanted to engage the Rider staff. It was about creating a structure that could leverage as much of the Rider organization’s strengths and resources that they had while bringing volunteers into it.

Q: What has your schedule looked like?

A: Generally, there’s four-to-five committee meetings per day on a weekly basis, so it’s trying to fill in the gaps between that with your regular work. I’ve taken a leave tfrom work at Evraz Place] but I am still working on some of the major projects like the tPaul] McCartney show. I probably put in 45 to 50 hours a week.

Q: That sounds like a hectic schedule. Why did you want to take on this workload?

A: When Jim approached me about taking this on, it was certainly something that I took seriously and wanted to take advantage of. I saw it as a good opportunity in my professional development, working with different people, working with the Rider organization — which I hadn’t done directly before — and also getting more involved in the community and working with these various volunteers as well.

The Grey Cup is up there, for sure, and the nice part of it is, because I was brought on so early, I was able to almost handpick the team that we’re working with, so it really is a great group of people, very committed to the project.

Q: The theme of the 2013 Grey Cup is “Celebration in Rider Nation.” Why was this name selected?

A: We wanted to pick a theme that encapsulated the entire province. Even the province is probably too limiting. There’s Rider fans ran right across the country, right across the world. We wanted to pick a theme that encapsulated that feeling — that engaged the entire nation of Rider fans.

Obviously, the Grey Cup is not just a game. It’s about the whole celebrationT it’s about the whole festival, especially the way we’re doing it. The game is very much driven by the league, whereas the festival is driven by this group of volunteers and these people, so it’s really about creating the celebration feel and engaging the entire Rider Nation in it. So some of our activities are designed to engage people from around the world through social media or find other ways to engage the rural community and the sort of more traditional fans in cities like Regina and Saskatoon. So we really looked at it from some different perspectives on how to engage different

audiences into our festival.

Q: I understand that the goal is to make the Grey Cup a year-long celebration throughout the city and the province. Why is this important?

A: We wanted to sort of break the mould on the traditional thinking that Grey Cup is just a November activity. We want to engage the entire Rider Nation, so it’s very difficult to do that in the traditional three- to four-day format. We’re taking advantage of training camp in Saskatoon, taking advantage of some of the activities throughout the season and throughout the summer, getting engaged

There’s Rider fans ran right across the country, right across the world. We wanted to pick a theme that encapsulated that feeling — that engaged the entire nation of Rider fans.”

~Neil Donnelly

with the business communities and the schools.

It’s not just about thinking of Grey Cup as three to four days. It’s about thinking that it’s the entire year, with parties and activities going on throughout the year to celebrate a special event for us.

Q: What experience are you hoping to create during Grey Cup weekend?

A: During the week itself, it’s really about the party, the festival and the atmosphere, so doing things that engage the family with some family events. That real festival-type of atmosphere is what we’re going for. No matter where you are in the city, you realize that the Grey Cup is on and there is a spirit in the air of people having fun and being excited.

Q: One of the biggest events fans will want to know about is Riderville, which is always a top attraction at Grey Cups. What is being done to ensure Riderville is both accessible and the life of the party?

A: It’s in the biggest venue we have. That’s the most important thing. Riderville is going to be in the EventPlex here at Evraz Place. The one thing we’ve done differently this year is we came to an agreement with all the teams that run parties throughout the Grey Cup Festival to create the Team Party Pass: one pass that gets you into all the rooms. Instead of just going to Riderville and being locked into that venue, and having people waiting in line for that venue, it allows people to go and experience some of the other fun and festive activities that are going on, whether it’s TigerTown or the Lions Den or the Double Blue Bash, there’s an opportunity without having to pay the admission every time you go in, so that’s the kind of a new and exciting endeavour that’s being done for the first time and hopefully it’s something that gets carried forward year after year.

Q: Is the Team Party Pass part of the committees’ vision to make this the most accessible Grey Cup ever?

I think, regardless of whether [the Riders are] in the game or not, it’s going to be a successful event. This community creates truly the best atmosphere for the CFL, regardless of who’s playing.”

~Neil Donnelly

A: That certainly is one of the things we want to do is to make it so it’s not just about people experiencing Riderville as their one experience. It’s about experiencing the entire Grey Cup and being able to experience the various different activities that are going on.

Q: The last two times the Queen City played host to the Grey Cup it accomplished some important things. The 1995 Grey Cup showed the rest of Canada how passionate this city and province is about football, and the 2003 one helped the Riders erase their accumulated debt of around $4 million.

Since Rider Nation’s passion is now well-known and the Roughriders are a profitable organization, what is the main thing this Grey Cup can accomplish?

A: I think it’s about looking forward to the future. Obviously there are exciting times ahead with the new stadium being announced and starting to be built and we took this opportunity to try and raise the bar for the experience that Rider fans have.

We were fortunate enough, as part of the Grey Cup planning, to introduce the new seating and suites that are available at Mosaic Stadium and will be available until the new stadium is built. This year is about reaching new people, whether they’re sponsors or whether they’re just fans who don’t get the opportunity to attend a game normally. This year is really about reaching new audiences and engaging new people to the team and exposing them to the team. Hopefully we are able to leverage some new partnerships, whether they just be with the fan in general or with sponsors and potential sponsors as the Riders move into the sort of new era of their life with the new stadium.

One of the exciting parts about the planning that we’ve done with the stadium for Grey Cup is that we’re taking the capacity through some temporary seating up from 33,000 to 45,000 seats and a large portion of those will be available right from the very first home game in July, and then from Labour Day on we’ll be at full Grey Cup capacity for the balance of the season.

This really is a great opportunity for the Riders. Where it’s been difficult in the past for people to experience the Riders live because it’s so hard to get tickets, this year — with the greater inventory of tickets available — I think the Riders have some flexibility in putting together some packaging, putting together some more affordable pricing, and just making sure the inventory and experience is available to a wider group of people so they can share in the spirit of Riderville.

Q: What are the challenges of getting Mosaic Stadium ready for the Grey Cup?

A: There are a lot of challenges in developing a layout that can accommodate people. rou want to ensure that every seat is a good seat, that every seat has a good view of the field but also has access to the services, whether it be washrooms or concessions, and that everyone has easy access to and from the stadium.

We’re taking up a lot of the existing parking around the stadium so there is a lot of work that goes in developing the plan to ensure that people understand the changes that have happened and are reacting to it.

Certainly, for the Grey Cup game, our transit program will be in place and so we’ll have shuttle services from the major malls and hotels. That’s been the case for the concerts and Grey Cup in the past.

Q: It has been reported that it is very difficult to book accommodations in Regina for Grey Cup weekend. How will the city and province come together to overcome this?

A: It has been our biggest challenge for all the Grey Cups that we’ve hosted here. Anytime you have demand exceeding supply it does become an issue, but hopefully through the use of some of things that didn’t exist in ’03 and ’95 — like social media and all the electronic options that are out there — people can find friends through friends on Facebook or find people who are willing to rent out a bedroom for the weekend through Kijiji. So we’re hopeful those programs can at least connect people with people that are willing to open their homes.

Q: What have you taken away from the past two Grey Cups in Regina that will help you run this one?

A: We’re certainly following the model of the ’03 Grey Cup, which was very successful. That model followed the ’95 model, which was very successful.

A lot has changed, though. I mean the league has changed dramatically. The facility has changed dramatically. Mosaic Stadium is a much better place to host the event with the improvements that have been made these past couple of years and the festival locations, whether it be the City Plaza downtown or here at Evraz Place, are certainly more accessible to hosting large numbers of people.

We’re taking the models that we learned from ’03, but we’re adding to them and expanding on them with the extra capacity that we have here, the extra room that we have to move around, and options that we have, so hopefully it will be a much better experience for people and they’ll find it to be very convenient as far as the festival is concerned. Pretty much under one roof, you have all of your team rooms and all for one price, so that should be a good experience. And then we have a number of different activities going on downtown in the City Plaza, so hopefully we’ll be engaging the downtown community and making them feel part of the event as well.

Q: How will the Grey Cup celebrations be affected if the Green and White isn’t in the game?

A: I think, regardless of whether they’re in the game or not, it’s going to be a successful event. This community creates truly the best atmosphere for the CFL, regardless of who’s playing.

Certainly, if they are in the game, it changes the dynamic of, and the spirit of people. There are some greater risks involved. People’s atmosphere is going to change. Their attitudes are going to change. And so there is some modifications that we will have to make to the plan if they are in it, just on what activities and events we do and don’t do.

Q: Thanks for your time Neil. Before I let you go, though, I’ve got to ask, which teams will appear in the 2013 Grey Cup in Regina and which one will emerge victorious?

A: tLaughs] Maybe Riders vs. Toronto. That would be my pick, I guess. I would never bet against the Riders.