REGINA -- The Saskatchewan Roughriders are now looking to the future following the cancellation of the 2020 CFL season.

Riders President and CEO Craig Reynolds said on Monday he was disappointed with the decision.

“When we first started working from home five months ago, never in my wildest dreams did I think we’d be cancelling the season,” he said.

On a teleconference call, CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie said the league was close on moving ahead, but the bid fell short after it didn’t receive a $30 million interest-free loan from the federal government.

Reynolds said the Riders had been optimistic.

“The government had led us to believe that there was going to be some way to access the much needed capital,” he said. “So we felt really positive all along.”

Reynolds believes the Riders will lose approximately $10 million this season.

The team has $7.6 million in a reserve fund, which Reynolds said they haven’t dipped into yet.

Going forward, the Riders will look at three options to weather the financial storm.

It can do bank financing, rely on increased fan support or receive assistance from different levels of government.

“It’s a combination of trying to generate revenue in unique ways and obviously managing our expenses to the best of our ability,” he said.

As for other teams, Ambrosie said he is confident the league will see all nine teams return to the field.

However, he said the league needs to be more co-operative off the field.

“(We’re looking at) more sharing of resources that we haven’t done in the past,” he said.

This could cause the Riders to share a bigger portion of their revenues with the CFL. The Riders are one of the more profitable teams.

Reynolds suggested he is open to sharing more resources.

“Our team was the team that needed support not too long ago,” he said, referencing when the organization faced bankruptcy in the 1990s.

“It’s important that we have a strong league and we have a strong nine teams so that’s really the work that will start in the coming months,” he said.

Mayor Michael Fougere expressed disappointment about the decision.

“I’d hoped they would have come to a more positive response in a more timely way,” he said. “I understand there’s many requirements and requests of the federal government but the CFL really is what Canada’s all about.”

The CFL is now looking at how it can pay its players. The Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy program is the only option being floated by the league currently.