SASKATOON \u2014 Everyone who attends Saturday\u2019s CFL pre-season game at Griffiths Stadium will long remember the Titan.<\/p>\n
The Titan Display Screen, which is the largest mobile video board in North America, will be among the attractions surrounding the Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 looming matchup with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a long time since a Rider home game has been played without a video board,\u201d Karina Peterson, the Roughriders\u2019 Manager of Game Entertainment and Community, said on Friday. \u201cImmediately after the decision was made to play a game in Saskatoon, that was a big conversation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember the day an e-mail about the Titan landed in everyone\u2019s inbox. We saw the size of the Titan. There was this level of relief and excitement: \u2018OK, we can pull this off in Saskatoon.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Success in that regard will allow the Roughriders to extend to 207 the number of consecutive home games with a video board.<\/p>\n
The SaskTel MaxTron was unveiled on June 25, 2005, for the Roughriders\u2019 regular-season opener against Winnipeg. The Green and White\u2019s last home game without a video board was a pre-season matchup against the B.C. Lions on June 12, 2005.<\/p>\n
Osasere Odemwingie<\/a>, a rookie linebacker with the Roughriders, was only one day old the last time Saskatchewan played a home regular-season game without a video board (Oct. 18, 2004).<\/p>\n Such technology was merely a pipe dream when a CFL pre-season game was last played in Saskatoon.<\/p>\n On June 23, 1991 at Gordie Howe Bowl, an estimated 3,500 spectators watched the Roughriders edge Winnipeg 17-16.<\/p>\n Back then, the accompanying bells and whistles were at a minimum. Compare that to the current objective of bringing as much of the Mosaic Stadium vibe to Saskatoon as possible.<\/p>\n For example, Destination Bridge City (presented by Cameco) will kick off with Coors Light Party in the Park. Pre-game festivities are to begin at 2 p.m., just west of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies\u2019 home stadium. The Roughriders-Bombers game is to begin at 5 p.m.<\/p>\n All 5,759 permanent seats at Griffiths Stadium were sold in just two hours. Standing-room tickets are AVAILABLE HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been planning this for a while,\u201d President-CEO Craig Reynolds said. \u201cWe\u2019re excited it\u2019s here.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Huskies have been great. We\u2019re taking over their stadium, but they\u2019ve been really helpful.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to make it feel like a Rider game day, too, so there has been a lot of work done to get pageantry here, to get sponsors involved and, obviously, to get the video screen here to be able to offer that experience to our fans.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Huskies have a great game-day experience, but we want to Riderize it, so that is where the bulk of the work has been done.\u201d<\/p>\n Reynolds was among many Roughriders employees who pitched in on Friday to help the team prepare Griffiths Stadium for its first CFL pre-season game. Gordie Howe Bowl was the venue when the Roughriders and Blue Bombers met in 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991.<\/p>\n