The Saskatchewan roughriders may have cried after losing their second consecutive Grey Cup to the Montreal Alouettes in Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium Nov. 28. But, off the field, the team is laughing all the way to the bank.

It was the Roughriders’18th appearance in the Canadian Football League’s championship game, and its 15th loss, a new record for futility. But the CFL’s lovable losers are winners of the league’s financial sweepstakes, making the other seven teams green with envy of the Big Green Machine.

Thanks to record attendance and $10.2 million in gate receipts, the Saskatchewan Roughriders Football Club posted a record $3.1-million profit in 2009-10. Last year, the Riders sold more than $7 million worth of merchandise — from jerseys and jackets to gopher headgear and garden gnomes — which was tops in the league. In fact, the Riders sell more merchandise than all the other CFL teams combined.

This year, the Riders’ streak of nine regular season sold-out games, its fourth consecutive home playoff game, and its third trip to the Grey Cup championship in four years will see more records broken.

How did the CFL’s smallest market become its biggest? Why does the team with the poorest overall record of success (only three Grey Cup victories — in 1966, 1989 and 2007 — in its 100-year history) boast the league’s best financial performance?

The main reason for the Riders’ remarkable financial success in recent years is the Rider Nation — the huge fan base the team has across the country. And the reason why the Riders’ fan base is so large is because the history of the Saskatchewan Roughriders is inextricably linked to the history of Saskatchewan.

Both were born in the early 20th century (the province in 1905, the Roughriders in 1910), and both enjoyed early success (Saskatchewan was Canada’s third-largest province by 1931, with nearly one million in population. By 1932, the then-Regina Roughriders had won five Western division championships and played in five consecutive Grey Cups, losing all five).

Then came the Dirty Thirties, a time of economic depression for Saskatchewan and tough times for the Riders. The province suffered a decade-long drought, causing a quarter of a million people to leave the province. The Riders went 56 years before winning a Grey Cup in 1966 — the longest drought in league history.

An estimated 500,000 people have left the province since the 1970s. This diaspora of Saskatchewanians and their descendants populate the stands in stadiums across the nation. In Calgary, at any regular season Stampeder game, up to half the attendees at McMahon Stadium are wearing Rider green.

The Riders are good for the CFL as well. Ten of the 18 CFL games on TSN that attracted more than one million viewers were Rider games. Riders fans are so important to the health of the league that CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon presented the Commissioner’s Award to the Rider Nation. Who says it isn’t easy being green? IE