‘It’s over:’ Parties weigh in on Regina’s failed NFL bid

Two weeks before kickoff in Winnipeg, the promoter of a NFL pre-season game is not pining over a missed chance to host the Green Bay Packers and Oakland Raiders in Regina.

“I had done business (in Saskatchewan) for a number of years and have a lot of friends and associates and was disappointed,” says John Graham, president of On Ice Entertainment Ltd.

“But in saying that, Saskatchewan will move on and live for another day and we’ll live for another day, and the football will live for another day. So in the end of it, it’s just an event. It’s not something that needs to continuously be beat up or researched.”

In June, emails between Graham’s company, Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL) and Regina City Council — made available through a freedom-of-information request — were proactively disclosed on the City of Regina’s Open Data portal. They offer a glimpse into discussions before the parties announced the game would not be played in Regina.

Hopes for the game were officially dashed on March 29, when Graham emailed REAL CEO Tim Reid to release the holds on Mosaic Stadium from Aug. 18-22.

“Although we chatted last evening and great efforts were made, and even if the conditions were accepted as per the agreement returned Monday the 25th we feel that the only way a project like this can work is with the full support of the community,” Graham wrote that day.

When asked about the excerpt, Graham would not delve into specifics. But he suggested that not everybody was on board with the game.

“I think it’s obvious that there were elements of the community that had a difference of opinion, whether that be public, whether that be business, whether that be whatever. But it wasn’t a united community and I think you know that and I know that,” he says.

“Meeting attendances, just conversations with different groups, different people throughout the community,” Graham continues.

Reid says Graham’s email was referring to funding requests made to the city and the province to support the game. Reid says in his view, the game was not one that would have earned a large margin and that it was “critical that we found funding opportunities beyond the ticket revenues to make this work.”

By March 1, a memorandum of understanding had been reached and discussed in person, according to a timeline of events sent to Graham by Reid.

They went back and forth that month trying to close the deal.

“From our position, we were trying to maintain the conditions of our traditional contract of the stadium. From John’s position, he was trying to organize an incredibly sophisticated, complicated and really once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Reid says.

But it later became apparent the game was in trouble.

“March 23, 2019: REAL received a text message from you suggesting that the game ‘Looks like the game will be a Thursday — August 22, game — in another Western Market,’” Reid wrote.

Proceeding further on the agreement with REAL seemed to hinge on securing grants.

“We had discussed the need to review your items of concerns and you suggested that confirmation on funding from the Province was the primary outcome prior to advancing on the MOU,” Reid wrote.

In the disclosed emails, Graham does not dispute Reid’s version of events.

A day before Graham cancelled the holds, Reid informed him that funds had been approved by both levels of government, according to the emails.

But Reid says this was only a verbal agreement.

“The request came late and we were scrambling at the end to find the funding. Everybody came to the table but there was still formalities of that approval and the public approvals that had to happen,” he says.

“I certainly didn’t see anything that would suggest that there wasn’t support. The province came to the table, the city came to the table (and) we were incredibly aggressive with the positioning around the rental at Mosaic Stadium, probably the most aggressive that we’ve ever been with a promoter to encourage them to come.”

However, he acknowledges REAL did have reservations about the game and they were about ticket prices.

‘Disposable income’

The game had six different price levels, according to a chart included in the emails.

General admission into Pil Country would have started with a base price of $90, topping off at $450.

The total number of seats available would have been 31,517, making potential revenue estimated at $9,628,195.

Reid says his concern was whether consumers would have enough disposable income left after buying tickets for the NHL Heritage Classic this October and the Garth Brooks concert still yet-to-be-announced at the time for Aug. 10.

“Just with everything we had going on, was this the right timing? Was there enough disposable income in the marketplace to satisfy this event?” he says.

“This ticket price is something that is above anything that we’re seeing in events that we’ve had. So I’d like to say it would have been great but I’m not sure that our marketplace is all that much different than Winnipeg in terms of decision-making around events.”

As of Wednesday, for the game at IG Field in Winnipeg, the map on Ticketmaster shows large groups of tickets in each section are still unsold.

Reid downplays scheduling concerns

In March, the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the CFL raised concerns of their own, suggesting that the reported date of the game, Aug. 23, was just a day before the Roughriders’ game with the Ottawa Redblacks.

A statement from the league at the time said it identified risks that there would not be enough time to convert Mosaic Stadium back from NFL specs to CFL ones.

Reid reiterates his statement at the time that the Riders did not impede talks regarding the NFL game.

“I have not seen a single moment when the Saskatchewan Roughriders haven’t stood behind hosting great events in our city,” he says, adding they have bumped the team from Mosaic Stadium “a great number of times this season.”

The Riders declined to comment.

At the time, the team’s statement also said it “would openly support potential alternative dates that did not pose significant risk to previously scheduled Roughrider games and that would work for all parties.”

However, Reid disputes the notion that Mosaic Stadium could not be converted back in time for the Riders game.

“There’s many other venues that flip between football lines, soccer lines and baseball lines. I thought we could do the same. The stadium’s been built to be very diverse that way,” he says.

“So no, I didn’t see it as a big concern. I think we could have scheduled this game and I think we could have successfully delivered this game.”

‘Personal first choice’

Graham says Regina was his “personal first choice” to host the game and that he’d be willing to do business in the city again.

Reid says he’ll be keeping a close watch on how the game plays out in Winnipeg, noting that its success will determine whether an NFL game could be played in Regina in the future.

“I’d like to say that we would always welcome an opportunity to participate with the NFL. I think it has to be planned and we have to have enough time to be able to sell tickets,” he says.

The way this first attempt went was nothing out of the ordinary, in Graham’s experience.

“It was an event that we tried to put into market, as many promoters try to put events in many markets. Sometimes they work,” he says.

“Mostly the events don’t come to fruition, whether they’re concerts or whether they’re sporting events or whatever. In this situation, it just didn’t happen. And again, I don’t understand the need and the desire to keep banging the drum here. It’s moved on. It’s over.”