Lets talk about London Ontario now in the CFL

I must admit that I may be eating my words,lol cause in a previous thread I may have said that London may not be ready to hold a CFL team.
I still beleave that I could be right but at the same time, after looking deeper into the City of London, I think I may have found that London may be a great city to put a CFL team in after all.
With over 400 000 people in the metro area London is a much bigger city than I thought.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London,_Ontario

In addition TD Waterhouse Stadium also caught me off guard with not only a 8000 ) seat stadium and a CFL regulation feild with AstroTurf 12.
(right now it can be expanded to 16 000 seats)
click on this link and take the virtual tour.
Its very impressive.

http://www.2006worldlacrosse.com/1_Venue.php

Some questions I have are:
How is the parking situation?
Has anyone shown any interest in putting a team in London?
Would and can London support CFL team?
What name would they call their team?
What major corporations would sponcer such a team?
Has the CFL shown any serious interest in London Ontario and TD WATERHOUSE STADIUM?

I know London has been mentioned numerous times in the past as a possibility but I’ve never heard of any serious interest from individuals or corporations to actually pursue even the idea of a London franchise. Honestly I believe you’ll see something happen in the Maritimes long before London.

Hmmm, how would the rest of Canada react to another Ontario based team?

I don't think that the fact it would be anouther Ontario team should hurt. The way I would see London coming into the league would be after Halifax and QC, it would balance out the league with 12 teams and I don't see any reason why it couldn't play in the west division (if Winnipeg can play in the east, why not?). Instead of naming the team after London, call it the West Ontario team, as far as a name, I'd go with the Mavericks (playing off the popularity of the CIS team, Western Mustangs), and I'd go with the colours purple and white (again taking them from the university team). I think that could work, but dependant on getting an interested owner and a successfull negotiation with the university and the sponsor (TD Waterhouse) to get a deal to expand the stadium to seat at least 25.000 (they were able to expand McMahon in Calgary for the winter olympics by adding a second tier of seats to bring the capacity to over 30,000 so should be possible).

In the fall of 2002, a Calgary-based company called Northern Growth Fund, Inc., went public with the idea of starting a London franchise. Chairman and CEO Max Chambers envisioned expanding TD Waterhouse temporarily to 20000 while a 30000 downtown stadium was built. He figured it would take 4 years. Chambers liked everything about TD Waterhouse except it's location. He thought a CFL stadium on that site would create traffic flow problems.

London Would Be Well Deserving Of A CFL Team. However I Wouldn't Expect It To Be The 9th Or 10th Team But Would Likely Be A Good Spot For The 11th Or 12th. Like I've Said In Earlier Posts Westerns Stadium Is The Best University Stadium In Ontario And One Of The Best In Canada. Parking Wouldn't Be A Problem During The Summer As The University Is Fairly Empty And There Is A Small Parking Lot In Front Of The Stadium And A Practice Field That Could Be Used For Parking. There Is Also Empty Space Around The Stadium Which Can Acomindate Stadium Expansion Or Consessions.

As For Names And Colours I Don't Really Care About Either One, But I'd Like To See The Colour Be Similar To The Mustangs. Other Options For City Names Could Be Forest City, I'm Not Sure Why But It's The Name That The COMFL Team Uses.

I live in London, and we'd be a great CFL town. We already sellout the John Labatts Centre 10,000 strong for every game for the Knights. With a waiting list for season tickets.

Even with that crap new style of hockey they're trying to force on us. But I digress

One person mentioned 400,000 people in the London area? I would say more like closer to a million, if you add in all the towns within a 45 minute drive.

A CfL team should be a done deal here. We already support the Mustangs. Expanding TD Waterhouse stadium is one idea.

But I'd love to see the team play downtown at a refurbished Labatts Park. Its a great setting.

Right now its used for baseball, but baseball is basically dead here. We don't need a 10,000 seat baseball stadium for 10 year olds to play in.

But expand to London. Also add on Halifax if they get the Commonwealth games, and hopefully Quebec City. Give Ottawa one last chance.

Change to 3 divisions. West. Central and East. And you have the makings of a truly national CFL.

Labatts park would cost twice as much to refurbish than it would to expand TD waterhouse stadium unfortionatly but it can be done.
Labatts park only seats 5000 people so you would need at least another 20 000 seats put it plus the cost of a new feild. Unless you want to play on grass which would also be a good thing.

Ah yes, London, the town where I was raised and grew up in. Would be great but I see the city as too sleepy for a CFL team (not you though berezin but London needs more berezins!) Sure they love the JLC and the Knights but that is as far as the money goes in London, no one there will invest in the CFL because it is too risky and the city maxed out with the taxpayers on the JLC. Just my opinion as a former Londoner who still has family there.

Two questions,

(1)Can they afford to build a Stadium big enough to support a team?

(2) Can they find an owner with deep pockets, considering they still haven't found one for Ottawa yet?

They have found one in Ottawa Sports, but the CFL is to anal to accept the good one.

The Werewolves Of London - Silver-gray and Black.

If I win the lottery I'll buy a franchise.

Yeah I guess I would support London, plus it's kinda close to K-W-C, Brantford and Sarnia. Oh, and fans willing to come from Windsor.

Thats a great point Stuff. Londons locations is ideal for a CFL francise.
There are also a multiple of small towns in that area as well.
Now of course , that would lead to yet another debate on the team name.
Should it be a London team or a Western Ontario team.

Equally as important is there the political will and possible dollars to get involved and expand the stadium?

That is something the CFL will have to look at argotom. A team in Western Ontario will not happen over night, but once the CFL starts expanding again, then that is when cities and owners are going to come out of the woodwork enquiring about a team.

One thing also about expansion that people may already believe, but I don't see much mention of it, is that with more teams in the CFL, the number of non-imports per team will no doubt be reduced as there probably won't be enough talented Canadians if they keep the number as it is now. Of course, with more teams, even if the number per team drops the overall number should increase so I don't think the CFLPA should have too much of a problem with that and neither should the fans as well.

Good point Earl.
Well said.

Hey guys. As others have said, London looks like it would be good after Halifax and Quebec get teams. Then you would have London in the West, along with Winnipeg and those already there. Or, you could go with 3 divisions, like someone said previously.

East: Halifax, Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa
Central: Toronto, Hamilton, London, Winnipeg
West: Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatchewan, BC

There's still a long time to go until this happens (obviously), but it's something to look forward to.

For years, we've been reprocessing these dreams about where the next teams will be located. It's fun to guess, and lay out roadmaps for the future,BUT...
Does eveyone forget that the league almost came to a disastrous end just a few years back?
If it hadn't been for Bob Young, and the two guys in Toronto, the CFL would now consist of six teams..that's SIX.
All the theories about Halifax for the past few years didn't prompt anybody named McCain to jump up and offer to throw in millions of dollars. Same in Quebec. The silence is deafening.
You and I can dream about a twelve team league, but it's the guys who stand to throw away millions of dollars who must be heard from. And, as I said, the silence is deafening......