Here's a good article about Commissioner Mark Cohon. He talks a little about his past, the present issues of the CFL and where it is heading in the future. Worth a read.
[url=http://www.shalomlife.com/eng/13536/Commissioner_Mark_Cohon_Continues_to_Grow_the_CFL/]http://www.shalomlife.com/eng/13536/Com ... w_the_CFL/[/url]
If he wants to grow the CFL, he should not come out and say "Even though they've had a team for 141 years, and are an established market and also help support another one of our franchises that are struggling financially, Hamilton will never get another team if Bob leaves."
No offense, but there are only realistically 14 markets (at best) for the CFL to be present. An east coast team, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, London, Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge/Guelph, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver. To strike the one, that is probably the easiest to expand back into is mind boggling.
Sadly, it's looking like we may get to feel how Ottawa felt.
No to Saskatoon,
you can't have two teams in Saskatchewan.
CFL and us fans are lucky to have Mark. Four years and hasn't put one foot wrong, lets hope he sticks around for a long time.
Agreed. The BoG would be wise to offer him an extended contract while they still can. He is just about the only reason I am not overly worried about the Hamilton situation. I believe he will steer a steady course.
I think Mark Cohon was basically responding to the city giving the Cats the finger. I mean, if this is how they treat a franchise that has been around for, as you say, 141 years, why would he want to give them another franchise later on?
How have they been treated?
Hamilton has a wonderful owner in Bob Young and if the city is not prepared to "help" him than there is NO POINT in putting another team in that city. Cohon was just being honest.
There was also other messages in that letter, it wasn't all utlimatum like some like to promote.
Seriously? :lol: Read some of the topics in here. I haven’t the patience to get into it tonight.
According to me? Like dirt from Day 1. Despite a few statements like “The TiCats are an important part of the community”, nothing the mayor has done indicates that he actually means it, and at times it feels like he’s trying to run them out of town.
That’s fine, but city councils change, maybe the people of Hamilton don’t and will keep electing councilors of this nature, but as a commissioner to say “I’m going to deny an established market of nearly 700,000 people, of which I have few markets to begin with a franchise because an owner did not agree with that city’s stadium building location, but other people may or may not wish to give it a shot.” hamstrings potential expansion for a league (which everyone agrees is a priority for the CFL) for the sake of what exactly?
Unfortunately he’s just being honest. The city treated Bob Young and in turn the CFL with total lack of respect.
No stadium = no team. And no offense, but the CFL really doesn’t need Hamilton. There’s plenty of municipalities in that part of the GTA where a team could move to.
Par ailleurs, la Ville de Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures est toujours en discussion avec l’avocat Marc Bellemare et ses partenaires qui désirent bâtir un stade près du parc industriel, à côté de l’autoroute 40. Lors de la dernière rencontre, au printemps, l’équipe de M. Bellemare était encore à faire le montage financier du projet, évalué à environ 40 millions $ simplement pour l’acquisition de la franchise.Plusieurs investisseurs auraient déjà démontré leur intérêt, selon ce que le promoteur a dit au maire Marcel Corriveau, joint mardi par Le Soleil. «Je pense que ça pourrait être un très bon projet pour la région», juge M. Corriveau.
La Ville de Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures a mis en réserve des terrains représentant huit millions de pieds carrés et pourrait ainsi les vendre aux investisseurs à un prix qui reste à déterminer.
«Dans mon esprit, il s’agissait toujours d’une nouvelle équipe de la LCF, disait mardi le maire Corriveau. J’ai bien l’impression qu’en menaçant de déménager, les Tiger-Cats ne font que se servir de Québec dans leur négociation avec Hamilton.»
Bellemare in QC who has been working on a plan for 3 years now. Has 40 million dollars ready to go and some land has been set aside right off the Trans-Canada Hyw. If Bob is prepared to move his franchise an dilute his ownership some, they are almost there. 40 million in private money.
There are many possiblities for the Ticats to explore if they are forced to leave Hamilton.
Everybody is throwing out cities, but nobody is mentioning owners ! Who would the owner be in Bellmare QC ? Besides Ottawa, no other potential owner has steped up , this includes the maritimes !
Community ownership is always a possibility.
Have not heard one community owned proposal ! The best model is what the Stampeders have done, 12 investors. Committed businessman that split the losses evenly or share the profits ! They’re not going to get rich or go broke. They actually made money last year!
Bellemare is the guys heading the ownership group. The name of the place is St-Augustin. I think you got mixed up.
In any case, just because nobody comes up publicly doesn’t mean there isn’t any ownership group. Business deals are like icebergs, most of what’s going on is under the surface. The only time, you can 100% be sure is when they publicly come out.
But I can tell you, the Quebec City Group is very serious and certainly has the resources.
Funny story, every professional sports team in Germany needs to be at least 51% community owned. The other thing is Sask and Green Bay who are both community owned are probably two of the most popular and successful franchises out there.
I agree community ownership use to own the lions, rough riders, stampede rs, Argos, the whole league, why can't the community of Hamilton own the team until they get another owner if Bob Young does not want to own the team anymore.
I would rather see that than they move, because i will tell you if Hamilton move they will not get another team ever.
My understanding was that if bob young moves the team, he will still own it but in another city