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Austin was the Riders’ head coach in 2007. Tillman was the GM. Chick was a first-year CFLer.

Without their integral contributions of a decade ago — and key plays made by then-Riders slotback Andy Fantuz (now nursing an injury with Hamilton) — would there even be a new stadium?

Or, would fans still be flocking to Taylor Field and marvelling at 17th-century innovations in washroom technology?

The window of opportunity, after all, proved to be very small. A funding deal for a new stadium was struck in 2012, five years before the pigskin palace officially opened.

By the time the Roughriders first played a game in the new stadium, the City of Regina and Province of Saskatchewan were dealing with situations where money was considerably tighter.

Given today’s economic climate, it would be virtually impossible for civic and/or provincial officials to make a case for funding a stadium.

In 2007, by contrast, the economy was booming. By 2012, the conditions were still conducive to conceptualizing and building a new sporting facility.

“When I look at the market today, am I ever glad we got it done in 2012, because I’m not too sure that the conditions would allow us to do one today,” former Roughriders chairman of the board Roger Brandvold told me a few weeks ago.

“This was a very small window of opportunity here in Saskatchewan,” Regina mayor Michael Fougere added. “We all had to be aligned at the right time to make it happen. If you don’t seize it, it’s gone forever … and we did it.”