{"id":10184,"date":"2025-07-20T09:28:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T09:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/10184\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T09:28:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T09:28:15","slug":"saskatchewan-roughriders-game-postponed-to-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/10184\/","title":{"rendered":"Saskatchewan Roughriders game postponed to Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a lengthy delay, the showdown between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Calgary Stampeders ended up not taking place Friday night. It will now take place on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.<\/p>\n

Tickets for Friday\u2019s game will be honoured for the new start time.<\/p>\n

Kickoff for the game is set for 2 p.m. The Green Zone pregame show<\/a> begins at noon.<\/p>\n

Riders\u2019 president and CEO Craig Reynolds<\/a> spoke after the postponement. He said the team does have an in-house meteorologist who works in determining the weather for the game days.<\/p>\n

With the air quality still at levels unacceptable for play and in consultation with both teams, the CFL and the CFLPA, the decision has been made to postpone tonight\u2019s game against the Calgary Stampeders to 2 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. pic.twitter.com\/AzfasAjZ3J<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Saskatchewan Roughriders (@sskroughriders) July 12, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until Thursday that smoke became a concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen that happens, the protocol kicks in and we start joint meetings with the CFL, the visiting team, members of my team, and the CFLPA and we meet regularly,\u201d Reynolds said.<\/p>\n

\"Not<\/a><\/p>\n

Not a lot of fans remained after 10 p.m. for the match between the Riders and Stampeders. The game was officially called off at 10:45 p.m. and scheduled for the following day. (Abby Zieverink\/980 CJME)<\/p>\n

Reynolds said the guidance they had was the smoke was going to clear but then the wind died down.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result, that smoke plume just sat there,\u201d Reynolds said.<\/p>\n

Reynolds admitted it was one of the more challenging days he\u2019s had since he\u2019s taken the CEO role.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust knowing if we could just get our players to run out of that tunnel for warm up, this place was going to explode,\u201d Reynolds said.<\/p>\n

We have the best fans in the world and we wanted to play football for them, our team wanted to play football for them.<\/p>\n

Hear more from Craig Reynolds with regards to today’s game being postponed till tomorrow afternoon. <\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa https:\/\/t.co\/y9tYGGpvLT<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/7T8g2o5n1k<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Saskatchewan Roughriders (@sskroughriders) July 12, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

The CFL clash was supposed to get underway at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

According to the CFL\u2019s weather policy, \u201cif the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI+) reaches 8 or above (as per official metrics provided by Environment Canada) during warmups or the game, the onsite League Representative will enact the league\u2019s air quality procedure, which includes automatically stopping the game and sending teams to their dressing rooms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The full weather policy can be found on the CFL website.<\/a><\/p>\n

Wildfire smoke affected the air quality in Regina, pushing things above an eight. The team announced the kickoff was pushed to 7:45 p.m. at Mosaic Stadium.<\/p>\n

The weather quality didn\u2019t improve by 7:30 p.m. so kickoff was once again delayed to an undetermined time. At 10:45 p.m., it was announced the game was postponed to Saturday.<\/p>\n

Reynolds said the first thing he thought about was the fans who travelled to the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up an out-of-town fan. I grew up in Foam Lake tonight and then come back tomorrow is just incredible,\u201d Reynolds said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to provide some tokens of appreciation for our fans regardless of if they come (Saturday) or not, but for the fans who can\u2019t come, we will certainly take care of them in whatever form that takes whether we can get them to another game or they need a refund, we will accommodate our out of town fans and all of our fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s extremely challenging to do that, extremely challenging for our broadcast partner in TSN, extremely challenging for the Calgary Stampeders to stay overnight for another day and extremely challenging for our fans. That\u2019s not lost on me and I can\u2019t believe our fan base \u2014 I was blown away,\u201d Reynolds said.<\/p>\n

Reynolds said hotel availability was very limited for the Stamps, with the opposing team looking outside of Regina for hotels and the University of Regina to secure dorm rooms.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge inconvenience for their team because they are split up and they have to adjust that. Our team is helping their equipment team with laundry and everything they need to do to get ready for tomorrow. They were super accommodating,\u201d Reynolds said. \u201cThey wanted to get the game played, though, there\u2019s no doubt about that. It\u2019s a huge inconvenience to have to scramble the way they did but they are doing it and I give them full credit for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reynolds said there are a bunch of logistical issues when it comes to postponing the game, including security and concessions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey plan for a single game\u2019s worth of food and concessions and so that sort of happened tonight because our fans were here for three hours. Now at 2 p.m., we have to put on another game and have some level of concessions,\u201d Reynolds said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had early conversations and we think we should be OK but it is a challenge and we haven\u2019t gotten all the way through with the conversations we need to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan came into the game with a 4-0 record<\/a> while Calgary was sporting a 3-1 record. The winner of the game would have been in first place in the CFL West Division early this season.<\/p>\n