The Saskatchewan Roughriders are the "new flagship franchise" of the CFL after they "figured in each of the top 14 attendance figures" for games this season, according to Terry Jones of the EDMONTON SUN. The Roughriders, who will play the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Grey Cup Sunday, also "led the league in season tickets with 28,000" this year. TSN's telecast of the Roughriders-Stampeders West Division Final on Sunday "produced an average audience of 1.9 million with a peak audience of 2.7 million." Roughriders President & CEO Jim Hopson said, "We're not only told that we've been in all those games with the top crowds in the league, but it's very similar with the top television numbers, too. Certainly, the top four or five." Jones noted the Roughriders for the past few years "have been able to say they sell as much merchandise as the rest of the league combined." Hopson: "We are now told that our sales actually exceed the rest of the league combined. ... We annually average [C]$7 million out of our four stores, one in Saskatoon, two in Regina and our team store at the stadium. We also have online sales. In 2010, our centennial year, we exceeded [C]$10 million. This year, with the Grey Cup, it'll at least be in that range again" (EDMONTON SUN, 11/20).
