I know it has been beaten around a lot, and there have been threads on it before, but it seems to be really coming to life again....here are a couple of good articles.
[url=http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/Intra+provincial+rival+would+face+many+hurdles/6090039/story.html]http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/I ... story.html[/url] [url=http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/about+team+based+Saskatoon/6088555/story.html]http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/about+ ... story.html[/url]I recalled hearing a report on I believe TSN about a year ago that just over 4% of game attenders were living 60km or more out of town...a number I never remotely believed...here is what Hopson says:
[url=http://blogs.leaderpost.com/2012/02/01/jim-hopson-talks-about-the-saskatoon-issue/]http://blogs.leaderpost.com/2012/02/01/ ... oon-issue/[/url]Nye: Just to break down the numbers, out of the 30,000 that are here on game days, how much of those are from north of Davidson, would you say? “Oh, that’s a tough one. If we go that 10 per cent (in Saskatoon) and add 35, probably 45 per cent are outside of the Regina area, but how much of that is from Weyburn and Estevan? We’d have to do a little more detailed analysis. We clearly know that we survive because of the tremendous support we have from across the province, not just Regina and area. And it’s not just the people in the seats. It’s the amount of merchandise they buy and the shares. The TV numbers are driven by Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It’s much beyond the Regina area.’’
So lets say 20% less people go to a Rider game and opt to go the see a game in Saskatoon...Can the Regina area really fill an extra 6000 seats consistently? Merchandise sales are a big part of the Rider's financial success of late...seeing as Saskatoon will have 300K in a couple years, and Regina maybe 240K, lets say the lose 35% of the Merch sales...
Is Saskatchewan populated enough to support 2 teams with a million people...or realistically even say 1.3mil? Calgary does alright with more people in the city that the entire province...could they support 2 teams...or the Esks for that matter...yeah, it would help because they could use the same stadium, but still.
How many people would say they have always been a Riders fan and they won't support a Saskatoon team....
Would the Saskatchewan Roughriders then become the Regina Roughriders?
Would a community based team be allowed to do that or would they have to become the Regina Somethingorothers?
There could be a HUGE backlash if the club dropped the Provincial title.
I just don't think this is a smart move in the next decade. I know if the CFL wants to expand to 10 teams they need to bump the Bombers back into the West, and if they want to expand to 12 they realistically need another Western location...but would Saskatoon, or for that batter Regina based clubs survive it? There may not be a glowing option for a 6th team in the west...don't try to force it to happen though.