Taylor Shire
Regina Leader-Post
For the first time since 1991, the city of Saskatoon will play host to a CFL pre-season game.
On Friday, the Saskatchewan Roughriders announced that their home exhibition game in 2026 will be played at Saskatoon’s Griffiths Stadium.
With the University of Saskatchewan campus already hosting Roughriders training camp, the team has decided to play its pre-season game there as well since there will be an extra regular season game at Mosaic Stadium in Regina in 2026.
The Toronto Argonauts are set to play their “home” game at Mosaic Stadium against the Roughriders, as the FIFA World Cup takes over Toronto’s BMO Field. Saskatchewan will now play 10 regular season games at Mosaic Stadium and one pre-season game in Saskatoon.
“None of this would have been possible without the support of some incredible partners, as it is a Herculean effort to move our game-day operations from Mosaic Stadium to Griffiths Stadium,” Roughriders president and CEO Craig Reynolds said in a statement.
Along with being the home stadium of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, Griffiths Stadium in Nutrien Park has also hosted several other events over the years. And while the stadium’s official capacity is 5,743, there were more than 10,000 spectators who watched the Huskies take on the Regina Rams in 2023.
For season ticket holders in 2026, packaged will include all 10 regular season games and the possible playoff games. Tickets for the pre-season game in Saskatoon will be sold separately, with purchase dates to be announced at a later date.
“The passion of our fans in Saskatoon and the surrounding area has fuelled us for decades and hosting this game at Griffiths Stadium is a celebration of that passion as well as a representation of what it means to be a team for the entire province,” added Reynolds. “We couldn’t be more excited to share this moment with them in their own backyard and later in the season to offer Rider Nation a 10th high-energy, regular-season home game at Mosaic Stadium.”
While the official schedule will be released this off-season, the Argonauts will also play twice in Winnipeg and Hamilton next year. Due to the World Cup, the B.C. Lions are also being forced to relocate two home games and an announcement of their plans is expected in the coming days.
“The World Cup is a cultural event, uniting entire countries and communities under a single flag,” CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston said in a release. “As Toronto and Vancouver welcome the world, we’re grateful to other cities and their tremendous fans for so generously making a home away from home for the Argonauts and the Lions.”
When it comes to the schedule, Toronto and B.C.’s home dates will be skewed in favour of the second half of the season. The World Cup — scheduled for June 11 to July 19 — will play 13 games in Canada between BMO Field and B.C. Place. The World Cup will also be played in 14 other host cities across the United States and Mexico.
tshire@postmedia.com
