Regina would use ‘different’ business model for future NFL game: Fougere

Was Thursday’s NFL pre-season game in Winnipeg between the Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers a pass completion or a fumble?

It depends on who you ask, but columnists with the Winnipeg Sun and the Winnipeg Free Press are calling it a comedy of errors and a sham.

The promoter, On Ice Entertainment, couldn’t hit 70 per cent of ticket sales, selling 21,992 tickets of a possible 33,000, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Field crews couldn’t properly patch up holes left in the turf after they moved the goalposts to the back of the end zones, as per NFL regulations.

That resulted in crews having to shrink the field’s length from 100 yards to 80 yards. And both teams sat their starting quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers and Derek Carr.

Still, Regina Mayor Michael Fougere says the city wants to host a NFL game in the future if it gets the chance.

“I won’t comment on the business model that was used (in Winnipeg). It would have been different here than there,” he said Friday. “I would just say that when we put on events, we put on world-class events.”

On Ice Entertainment had first eyed Regina’s Mosaic Stadium for the Raiders-Packers game, but president John Graham and his company were unable to get a firm deal worked out with the City of Regina and the Saskatchewan government.

“It wasn’t possible. The promoter decided to pull the game from here, for his own reasons. We had agreement with the (CFL’s Saskatchewan) Roughriders, the province (and) the city — we were all on board,” Fougere said.

“I think at some point in the future we want to have those discussions, but we would want to ensure that we do it right. We do things right in Regina and in Saskatchewan.”

Fougere didn’t show his hand as to what he hopes Mosaic Stadium’s next non-CFL event will be, or if it may involve moving the goalposts.