Roughriders turned a $2M profit last year, thanks largely to alternate jersey

The Saskatchewan Roughriders found success on and off the field last season.

The team was able to host a playoff game and, at the club's annual general meeting Tuesday night, announced it had earned a net income of $2.1 million for the 2024-25 season.

The club had $41 million in revenue and almost $39 million in expenses.

The largest increase in revenue came from merchandise sales ($6.5 million, a $2.4-million increase from the previous year), fuelled by a huge demand for the new alternate jersey and logo.

Riders president Craig Reynolds said he was surprised at how popular the new jersey was.

"We were reasonably confident that it would resonate with our fans, but I don't think we had any idea how much it would resonate," Reynolds said. "From the launch on Day 1 and the days following, we quickly realized we were going to blow past our projections."

The team has a solid nest egg. Board chair Dave Pettigrew said it has a $13.6-million cash balance an $8.6-million investment portfolio.

One troubling trend was season ticket sales continuing to dwindle.

Reynolds said this is happening across many live events, as it's difficult for many people to make a time commitment to attend all 10 games.

"We're responding to that with flex packs and and three-game packs, two-game packs, those types of things to try to counter that," he said, adding there has been an uptick in season tickets this year.

Hosting a playoff game last season also helped the bottom line with the extra gate revenue and concession sales.

The Riders have started this season with three straight wins. Reynolds said that is translating into more tickets being sold.

"You do see spikes after you win a football game," he said. "You see ticket sales happen right after the game."

Finding new fans

When it comes to attracting new fans, Reynolds said the team is focused on youth and families, especially with player visits to schools.

"We hear that over and over again, when we talk to teachers and we talk to parents coming out of the school visits and the school program," he said.

"The reality is our fan base is aging, and so we need to replace our our aging fan base with new fans."

Affordability

Reynolds said the team is trying to make sure any cost increases are below the rate of inflation, but expenses continue to go up.

He highlighted available family packs, $5 menu items and $5 beers.

"So when you're bringing in a family, you know, you're not spending $100 to to feed them, you're spending significantly less."

But the bottom line is most affected by the success on the field.

Getting into the playoffs and hosting a playoff game, though it was a loss, gave momentum heading into this season.

"We were able to retain our core and bring back the the majority of our team and all of our all-stars," Reynolds said.

It also helps that the team has won its first three games of the season.

The Roughriders will try to remain unbeaten when they host the B.C. Lions on Saturday at Mosaic Stadium.