Riders 2018 Schedule Is Released

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are pleased to announce the Canadian Football League has released its complete 2018 schedule. 

This year’s schedule has the Roughriders opening their regular season at home on Friday, June 15^th. The regular-season opener will see the Riders host the Toronto Argonauts at Mosaic Stadium with kickoff scheduled for 7:00PM.  

“It is always exciting for football fans across the country when the schedule gets announced,” stated Roughriders President and CEO Craig Reynolds. “We have to give credit to the CFL office and teams across the league for working together to get the schedule released earlier than ever. This is never an easy task.”

The Roughriders’ regular-season home schedule has them playing at Mosaic Stadium on Monday (one game), Thursday (one game), Friday (one game), Saturday (four games) and Sunday (two games). Each team will visit Regina once, with the Calgary Stampeders being the only team to visit twice.

The Roughriders’ away schedule has them playing on the road on Thursday (three games), Saturday (five games) and Sunday (one game). They will visit each team once with a trip to Winnipeg a second time. 

Once again the Roughriders will host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the traditional Labour Day Classic on Sunday, September 2^nd for a 1:00PM kickoff.

“The passion that Rider Nation has for their team and our league is incredible, which makes for an amazing atmosphere at Mosaic Stadium and generates strong broadcast ratings,” said CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie. “You will see this reflected in the schedule as the Riders are featured in a number of high-profile television timeslots, including Thanksgiving Monday and four Thursday night appearances – including one at Mosaic Stadium.”    

Fans interested in purchasing season tickets can register online at Riderville.com.    

ROUGHRIDER SCHEDULE NOTABLES:

• The Riders open the regular season at home for the seventh time in the last 10 seasons.
• The season opener will be at Mosaic Stadium on Friday, June 15^th at 7:00PM versus the defending Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts. 

• The Roughriders have a split of five home games and four away games in the first half versus four home, five away in the back nine.

• They will play each of the other eight teams at home and away once with Calgary making an additional trip to Saskatchewan, and the Riders will make a second trip to Winnipeg to fill the 18-game regular season.

• This is the fifth time the Riders have been scheduled to open a regular season at home versus Toronto. The Riders carry a 1-3 record in those contests, winning in 1998 while suffering losses in 1984, 2000 and 2016.

• They will open the season with five games against East Division opponents, followed by the next six games against their West Division rivals.   

• The team will play four Thursday night games, including one at home – July 5^th vs. Hamilton – and three on the road.  

• The team will have its first of three byes during week five with the latter two falling on week nine and 21 respectively.  

• The 54^th annual Labour Day Classic will be played Sunday, September 2^nd at 1:00. The Riders have won 12 of the last 13 matchups and hold a 35-18 advantage through the first 53 meetings.

• The traditional Labour Day Rematch in Winnipeg will be Saturday, September 8^th with a 3:00 start time in Manitoba.

• The Riders have back-to-back games at home in week three and four while playing back-to-back on the road twice – week 15 and 16 then again week 18 and 19.  

• The Green and White will showcase the 2018 hopefuls in their first pre-season game on Sunday, May 27^th when they visit the Edmonton Eskimos. The following week the Riders will host the Calgary Stampeders in their final pre-season match-up on Friday, June 8^th at 7:30PM. 

The complete schedule can be found here