Riders unveil planned new football operations facility in video and renderings

Although the Saskatchewan Roughriders' new stadium won't be open until 2017, construction is already well underway, and we're starting to get a better look at what the end product will be like. The team unveiled some exterior and interior renderings of the stadium back in 2014, and now they're showing off the plans for their football operations facilities there, unveiling those with a video featuring assistant vice-president of football operations and administration Jeremy O'Day discussing several renderings of the different planned rooms.

O'Day says in the video that the new facility's designs were inspired by visiting other stadiums around North America.

"During the process of the design of our football operations area, we were very fortunate to be able to tour various CFL, NFL and NCAA stadiums to kind of benchmark the football operations area that was the best fit for us, so we were able to come up with various designs that we liked from each stadium and incorporate that into our own area. After that, we were able to come back and incorporate our individual staff members in the design of each of their individual spaces. In the end, we were able to come up with a state-of-the-art, all-in-one football operations area."

The facility is split into two levels, the upper mezzanine level and the lower event (or field) level. The mezzanine starts with a reception area honouring the history of the Roughriders and then progresses to an over-100-seat auditorium, where the organization will conduct full-team meetings and start most days.

They'll then break off into individual position meetings. Each position will have its own meeting room, complete with Rider legends from that position honoured on the walls. Here's the running backs' room, featuring George Reed.

Next on the mezzanine level is a workout facility, complete with turf for sled and bag work, cardio and weight machines and a hydration station.

A staircase takes players down to the event level, where they'll walk through a grand locker room entrance with a glass display cabinet displaying uniforms and gear on one side and individual cubbies for excess storage on the other side. Next is the hydrotherapy room, with a hot tub, a cold tub, and a pool with an underwater treadmill for rehab and conditioning. It also has TVs on the walls:

There's then a training room where players can be taped up and rehab injuries, and then finally the main locker room. They've kept it as an open-style locker room, but moved the logo to the ceiling so the coach can address the team without worrying about standing on the logo.

These are just renderings of the plans, so things may change slightly during construction, but this certainly looks like an impressive football facility for the Riders. It's nice to see the recognition of their history and traditions throughout, and they've managed to incorporate plenty of modern touches that should make this a great place for players. We'll see how this comes together, but it's looking good at the moment.