After bad year on the field, Roughriders grind out $34K profit

The Saskatchewan Roughriders franchise has eked out a meagre profit a year after losing more than $4 million.

The team made a profit of $34,000 during the 2016-17 fiscal year, according to a post on the team's website.

The year before, it lost $4.3 million.

Economy blamed for sagging revenues

Revenues in 2016-17 declined by $1.5 million.

The team blames a struggling economy and its performance last season, in which the team failed to make the playoffs.

Despite its expenditures having exceeded its revenues,the team managed to turn a small profit anyway thanks to "improved management of their expenditures" and $3 million in capital fundraising.

The latter figure comes on top of the team's revenues, says Ryan Pollock, a spokesperson for the Saskatchewan Roughriders FootballClub.

Expenses during the year declined by $2.3 million.

Ticket sales up

The largest percentage of revenues came from ticket sales, totalling $16 million, up $350,000 from the year before.

Merchandise sales totalled $6.1 million, down by roughly $1 million.

The team's complete financial report will be released June 21 at its annual general meeting in Regina.