To say the Saskatchewan Roughriders are OK with altering the timing of the CFL season would be an understatement.
“We’re wildly supportive of that,” Roughriders president-CEO Craig Reynolds said Tuesday during a media conference at Mosaic Stadium. “Actually, we’ve done some fan polling and our fans are wildly supportive of that move. We’ve certainly been talking with the league and expressing that view to the commissioner and our counterparts at the board of governor level around a season shift.
“You saw what happened here: We had eight straight sellouts, we had a very, very competitive football team that was playing an exciting brand of football and unfortunately, as the weather turned, we struggled with attendance from a no-show perspective and that sellout streak was snapped. Weather had a big part to play in that.
“It’s still a gate-driven league and so I think we have to be smart there and recognize that.”
The CFL has discussed the possibility of starting its regular season earlier in hopes of being done before the worst of Canada’s winter weather hits.
Saskatchewan had good weather for most of its regular-season schedule, but conditions deteriorated late in the season.
After attracting 33,350 fans to Mosaic Stadium for the team’s home pre-season game and each of its first seven home regular-season contests, the Roughriders drew announced crowds of 30,083 and 31,627 for their final two regular-season fixtures.
Reynolds said that around 90 per cent of the Roughriders fans who were polled about potentially starting the season earlier approved of doing so. Head coach-GM Chris Jones also is on board with the notion.
“I really like the idea because it’s so cold at the end of the year,” Jones said. “We all pride ourselves on being Canadians and tough and being in the weather. But I’ve also been involved in games where it’s minus-35 — it was actually Calgary-Saskatchewan a few years ago — and it’s tough to perform at a high level.
“We have such a good game and all of the venues aren’t indoors and so you’re going to have to face the weather. At some point, you’re going to have to face it anyway, but it just makes those end-of-the-year games (easier to play if they’re) on better turf.”
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The Roughriders also would be in favour of playing on turf located in Atlantic Canada.
CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie reported recently that a group from Halifax has approached the league about securing an expansion franchise. Discussions are very preliminary, but there has long been a desire in some circles to have a team located in the Maritimes.
“Moving from a nine-team league to a 10-team league has a lot of positives,” Reynolds said. “I know the commissioner has spoken very positively about the potential there.
“As a good league partner, we’re ready, willing and able to support the league and whatever it needs from us to continue to evaluate that. Having a 10-team, coast-to-coast league — certainly from a Roughrider perspective — would be a very, very positive experience.”
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Jones confirmed reports that quarterback Brandon Bridge has a workout scheduled with the NFL’s New York Giants this month.
Jones called the workout “a great opportunity for Brandon.”
“Quite honestly, we wish him the very best,” Jones said. “I told him on the phone, ‘Hey, that’s a chance of a lifetime for you. But you know that we want you.’ He knows that we as an organization and us as a staff, we certainly want him here with us. We’ll find out here in the next little bit.”
Bridge, a 25-year-old product of Mississauga, Ont., set career highs in completions (92), attempts (138), passing yards (1,236), passing touchdowns (10), carries (20) and rushing yards (127) as Kevin Glenn’s backup in Saskatchewan this season.
Bridge is eligible to file for free agency in February. Saskatchewan’s four other quarterbacks — Glenn, Vernon Adams Jr., Marquise Williams and David Watford — all are under contract for 2018.
Many pundits expect the Roughriders to take a run at quarterback James Franklin when he becomes a free agent in February, since Jones brought Franklin to the CFL in 2015 in Edmonton.
On Tuesday, Jones declined to discuss Franklin, who was traded by the Eskimos to the Toronto Argonauts on Monday.
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Jones said the Roughriders have “got an agreement” in place with defensive end Willie Jefferson, who also is one of the team’s pending free agents.
The deal has yet to be signed, but Jones said: “I fully expect Willie to be back with us.”
Discussions with some of Saskatchewan’s other free agents also are ongoing. The team has 20 players on its roster who potentially can hit the free-agent market Feb. 13 unless they sign before the deadline.
“We’ve got good guys in the locker room, they want to be a part of what we’re doing and they enjoy being around our coaching staff,” Jones said. “We probably won’t bat 1.000 (re-signing them all) but we’ll get the biggest majority.”
Jones and his staff also have started staging off-season camps as they search for players. Workouts were held in Oakland and Los Angeles last weekend, with others slated for Miami and Orlando this weekend.
