Get a team back in Ottawa playing out of Landsdowne. Lived on Bank/Heron for 2 years and was close to the stadium great location, accessible!
Also we need a team in Halifax or somewhere on the East Coast desperately! Lived in NS as a child and still go back every so often. Irving Oil is a big company, they should get involved somehow.
Failing that,Quebec City would probably support a team. We really need Eastern teams.
I've lived in BC now for the last 7 years. Fan interest and support is much better 8)
Expansion is no disease. It is what the CFL needs to do. It's what strong, healthy leagues do. Get Ottawa ready to compete ASAP and lets look for a 10'th team to balance the schedule. I'd like to see Quebec City next in line after Ottawa just for the rivalry with Montreal. That type of natural rivalry is what the CFL needs. I'd love to see a team in Halifax as well as I live 1 hour from the city but honestly I hear nothing at all about that happening anytime soon.
ASAP means As Soon As Possible, NOT tomorrow at all cost. ASAP is what the league is doing. It has awarded a conditional franchise and is waiting for a proper, fit, stadium to be built. That decrepit, condemned, vermin haven Ottawa has now is nowhere near good enough.
Ottawa deserves, and will get, a stadium complex everyone can be proud of, and one which will help attract fans to the games. They're doing it right and the next team in there will be there for good because of their patience and diligence today.
If I remember correctly, the new owners in Ottawa were suggested by the Argo owners with connections in real estate development. Maybe they have connections in Halifax or even Quebec.
The time is ripe for expansion. I say award teams to Quebec City and Ottawa, and let them play in what they have until new stadiums can be built or upgraded.
If you have to wait for new stadiums to be built without a team, you're gonna have this same 8 team league for the next 100 years. And who wants that outside of the 8 cities?
The biggest mistake this league could make is to make hasty decisions and start handing out franchises without having a solid ownership with a solid business plan in place. We're talking professional football businesses here, not some fly by night, seat of the pants, mickey mouse organization that will fold after three years of losses. Just ask Ottawa what having lame-ass ownership like that is like.
Cohon is a good leader and business man, have faith that when the proper criteria for ownership are met, he will see that a conditional franchise is awarded — not before.
When the CFL expanded to the US it was done out of desperation, the league needed $$ badly and were willing to accept those new franchises without having done the proper research. The league was already in serious trouble, it was not just failed expansion that nearly killed the league. Actually the failure in the US brought a team back to Montreal from Baltimore so it was not all bad. But now the league is strong and can expand the right way. Let's hope something gets done, heck I'm not against a 2'nd try to the US for that matter. We need a few new teams! New teams with new fans in new cities, possibly create exciting new rivalries. Now wouldn't that be exciting!
The league cannot expand "right away." There are no owners bidding for a franchise (other than Ottawa, which already has a conditional one and is waiting for a stadium), no stadiums, no business plans. It's not a trivial matter adding teams. It requires business leadership.
The league needs to wait and do it right, and I'm sure the league's governors are working on finding the right ownership groups to do just that.
It will be fine in the meantime. Eight teams works well.
Do you know something the rest of us don't? I live in Ottawa, and if they have plans for a new stadium they're sure keeping a tight cap on it. The truth is they have no idea what they're going to do with Lansdowne Park. Last I heard City council was going to have a contest for developers to bid on it. It's not necessarily going to be a sports complex. One thing they have said for sure though, is that the city will definitely not be contributing money to building a stadium. Tell me, what kind of ownership group applies for a franchise and has no idea where they're going to play? If they were serious about it they would've made provisions for this long ago. I don't see it happening.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it only the lower stands on one side that has a problem? So 3 out of the 4 stands are fine?
And are the good stands are part of the structure of the Ottawa Civic Centre? If so I doubt they can rip those down.
If all the stuff I've asked about is true, I can't imagine they'd tear down the stadium. It sounds like everyone is playing chicken on who foots the repair bill and if it is a low-cost replacement of stands or if the Stadium gets some more significant upgrades too.
If rebuilding the whole lower stands on one side, they could put a lot of luxury boxes in there!
The FIFA U-20 soccer tournament may have saved the stadium. Without the stadium, Ottawa would have never got the worldwide exposure from the tournament. Ottawa is probably a lock to host a Women's World Cup group if Canada gets the next tournament. But it needs a stadium to do it.
My ideal number of teams for the CFL would be 12, but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day.
I like the fact that they are taking their time and doing due diligence for the Ottawa franchise. Hasty, desperate expansion is what got us the Smith/Gillies and Glieberman ownerships that sunk the Renegades. No need to repeat the mistakes of history. A healthy 8-team league is much more desirable than an unhealthy 9-team league.
Give Cohon some time, and maybe in a few years, we'll have a healthy 9-team league.
