Saw this from a Google news search. Unfortunately you can't access the entire article as you have to be a subscriber but here is the part Google shows you:
Now that Jim Balsillie's bid to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins has been pulled, perhaps he and the Canadian Football League should consider a more realistic ...
Thanks BeerBarons. I am fairly familiar with the area as I live in Hamilton which is only about an hours drive away and have a friend who lives there.
I don't know if Balsillie is a football fan or not but he sure has the money with the Blackberry thing and that. Sure, most cities would love to have an NHL team first but it seems like the league isn't too set on any more Canadian teams. The CFL may have an opportunity here.
The difference from someone like Balsillie's perspective is that a CFL team only provides an impact in Canada, whereas the NHL has impact outside of Canada. OK, I know there are some CFL fans outside of Canada, but not much of a profile.
Kitchener Has A Few Very Nice University Stadiums That Could Easily Be Expanded. A Better Location However Is London. Western Has The Best University Stadium In Eastern Canada A Side From Mcgill. Plus Because It Isn’t As Close To Hamilton There Isn’t The Same Fear Of Have Bandwagon Jumpers Hurting Attendance Numbers In Bad Seasons.
I often wonder why some of our big corporations don't invest in things like the CFL. Which don't cost much, but give your company free national exposure.
And if you ask me, my hometown of London, Ontario would be a great place for a CFL team. Forget Ottawa. I say London and Quebec City should be in the league yesterday.
Good question but I sort of doubt it, they would incorporate this into an expansion fee I would think as I don't believe there are any rules in the CFL about this like the NHL. But again, I really don't know so correct me anyone if I'm wrong on this.
Actually, no they don’t. There are 2 stadiums in Kitchener-Waterloo:
University Stadium in Waterloo (cap 6500 or so) is located in a residential neighbourhood (i.e. no parking) and is adjacent to a park. Both University teams in Waterloo play their games there. Expansion would be very difficult there.
Centennial Stadium is in Kitchener, located next to the Memorial Auditorium, but is also adjacent to the Hwy 7/85 expressway, so it can’t be expanded where it presently stands.
Neither facility is in particularly good shape and neither is really viable for expansion at all.
As a KW resident, I’d love to see a CFL team here, but I really doubt that it would fly right now. Maybe in 20 years or so…
I'm from London, too boring of a town to support a real sport like football I think. Also, they don't have someone like a Jim Balsillie at hand I don't believe.
I'd rather see one in the Windsor area or just east of Windsor. They are close enough to draw from London and Michigan(if they can build a fan base there)
A team from that area and Halifax would be great.
two teams from:
Halifax, Quebec City, Ottawa and Southern Ontario near the Michigan Border.
My preference is Quebec City and halifax after both get Stadiums of 30K+(with atleast 30 Luxury boxes each)