The Saskatchewan Roughriders are off to a flying start in 2024 but their on-field success has yet to be reflected at the turnstile.
Just 23,923 fans were in attendance for Thursday night’s 30-23 victory over the Toronto Argonauts, marking the lowest-attended home game since the new Mosaic Stadium opened in 2017. That came on the heels of an announced crowd of 24,875 for the team’s Week 3 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats — the smallest for a home opener in nearly two decades.
On Friday, head coach Corey Mace took to his X account to praise the fans who did show up, while begging those on the fence to come back to the stadium when his team hosts the rival Winnipeg Blue Bombers in two weeks’ time.
“Rider Nation. We Appreciate You, We Love You. We Heard You, You Helped Make A Difference. Let’s Skip the lake on the 19th, Let’s pack this place like the Good Ole Days.”
The Riders averaged 27,648.6 in attendance for the 2023 season, a 0.8 percent increase from the 27,431.1 hosted in 2022. However, that small uptick was merely a blip on a downward trajectory that has seen Saskatchewan lose its status as the highest-attended team in the CFL to Winnipeg.
When the state-of-the-art new Mosaic Stadium opened in 2017, the Riders averaged 32,762.2 fans at every home game — a full 98.24 percent of the new building’s capacity. Last year’s numbers represented a 15.6 percent drop from that peak, with the current attendance trend projecting a new low in 2024. Unlike other franchises, Saskatchewan can’t realistically blame the pandemic for its woes either, as lax provincial restrictions saw them set a league-high of 28,837.6 during the shortened 2021 season with no subsequent increase like other clubs.
While there are plenty of economic factors influencing declines in attendance across the sports landscape, Rider Nation’s biggest deterrent may be that they’ve been burnt before. After hot starts in 2022 and 2023, the team collapsed down the stretch and lost seven straight games to miss the playoffs in both seasons. With that precedent set, who can blame fans for being skeptical this time around, particularly with the offence in the hands of the unproven Shea Patterson for the next four-to-six weeks.
Still, Patterson played his role to perfection on Thursday in the absence of veteran Trevor Harris and Mace’s defensive unit stepped up for a huge victory on home soil. The 38-year-old bench boss was brought in to change the team’s losing culture and has posted a spotless 4-0 record through four games. What remains to be seen is how long it takes the watermelon-clad masses to buy in.
The Riders (4-0) will return to action on Saturday, July 13 when they visit the B.C. Lions, before returning home to face the Bombers on Friday, July 19.
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