Riders-May11-Hopson

Jim Hopson

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are in the process of getting Mosaic Stadium ready for the 2013 Grey Cup with $14-million in renovations, but they hope that those renovations are only temporary.

The Green & White held a teleconference on Thursday morning to preview the 2012 season and lots of the talk focused on the proposed outdoor stadium to be built on the city-owned Exhibition Grounds at Ezraz Place.

President and CEO Jim Hopson says the new stadium is necessary to continue to grow the franchise, “It’s our goal to be an elite franchise and clearly right now our facility would not be up to what others have or will have.  The fans have been great and will continue to be, but I think we deserve better.

“When we look around the league and we see what’s happened in BC, Edmonton, Winnipeg and so on, they clearly have superior facilities at this point in time and given the support of our fans and the passion for football here, I think they deserve (a new stadium).”

A City of Regina committee unanimously approved the funding for the $280-million, 33,000-seat outdoor stadium on Wednesday with it expected to go before city council for final approval next month.  Hopson says it’s now in the province’s hands, “The premier has indicated that status quo is not an option and the city would like to have an answer by May 31st and the premier said he doesn’t know if they can make that, but we expect something as early as June and with civic elections this fall, I think it’s important that we do hear something by mid-summer at the latest or it could get pushed even further back.”

The province would be responsible for $230-million in funding for the new stadium, while the city would pitch in the other $50-million.

Hopson says something needs to be done sooner rather than later, “I am concerned that if not now, when and where we’ll go from here because we’ve had years of debate already and very little action.  I stress again that we are very proud of what we’re doing with the temporary improvements, but they are temporary and it’s not a long-term solution.”

The renovations at Mosaic Stadium continue and Hopson says everything will completed by the first preseason game on June 22nd.  The renovations include temporary seating being added to both end zones, making the facility into a bowl, and increasing capacity to 33,000.  There will also be 33 suites and two new LED video boards, one in the Northeast end zone and the other on the West grandstand, added to the facility.