We according to reports for the Saskatchewan Roughriders AGM held yesterday, the team made it a condition that the name of the Ottawa team NOT be the Rough Riders.
CHeck out the blog from a local sports writer, he has quotes from the event. You will have to scroll down a ways to find the section.
http://rodpedersen.blogspot.com/
btw, great to see close to 300 people out to the AGM!
The Riders should use some of their profits to buy the name from Horn Chen and just end this nonsense forever. Apparently he would be willing to sell it for a little over $100,000.
If so (and I don’t know at all) this is something that Hunt, Cohon and the whole group should have made clear from the beginning.
Cohon spoke about being appreciative of tradition and what-not, which leads to believe that the favours the Rough Riders name. On the other hand…
[i]“This is a new era,” he responded, before noting the league has re-acquired much of the intellectual property it had lost, including the Rough Rider name.
“We’re open to figure out what is the right thing,” said the league commissioner.[/i]
If it’s a condition that was agreed to, what’s to figure out? It may just be though that they didn’t want those that strongly favour the Rough Riders name to walk away with a negative feeling right off the bat. Or to much attention drawn to that specific point, so they left it open-ended.
All that says to me is that the league now owns the rights to the name. If Hunt wants to use the name that means he has to get league approval, and the existing clubs have to agree to let that name be used. It may be a simple majority for or against that determines wether or not the conditional franchise will be named Rough Riders.
That was my initial feeling when I first came across that part too.
The way the Saskatchewan comment is worded though (“our” condition) makes it sound (IMO) as though the league as the existing teams whether they had specific requirements and Saskatchewan voiced theirs. It’s a little too vague to know for sure but that’s what it sounds like to me.
Yes, it is all very vague at this point, but it is not something that I, for one, plan to lose any sleep over.
Get the team, get it set up, get an expansion draft in place, get a stadium deal done, and then, and ONLY then, will I get at all exercised over the team name (if then).
I do not live in Ottawa, and have never been an Ottawa fan; so I am quite content to see the Ottawa fans decide what team name they prefer.
I stand to be corrected, but it seems to me that when a fan vote is taken to pick a team name, 99% of the time that is the name the team owners select. The only time I can recall team owners not agreeing to a name selected by the fans in a vote occurred many moons ago in the NHL, when in 1967 they expanded from 6 to 12 teams. There was a vote in San Francisco, and the fan vote indicated a clear majority in favour of the team name "Blades". Fearing too much controversy, being that it was San Francisco, of the team being known as the "Gay Blades", the owners chose Seals instead.
That is my recollection, anyway....and at my age, my memory isn't what it used to be.
Hmmm, from what I know it was the San Jose Sharks and the fans voted for the “Blades” but there was concern about gang connotations with blades, so the team went with Sharks.
I like having the Rough Riders, good tradition and we can go back to the “Western” and “Eastern” Riders. And who cares if people think two Riders makes the CFL Bush. Renegades sounds to XFL for me.
I don't think any condition the riders put on in terms of name will be a limiting factor. If the fans in Ottawa vote for the rough riders and the new owners want it they will get it.
Although I for one was totally against having again two teams with the same name, I am now all for it and in fact think it is crucial for the success in Ottawa.
For one the Renegades episode was a disaster so you have to eliminate all of this negative history.
Since the new owners are well established with money and ties in the community, the R is still well regarded, save and except the Horn Chen fiasco and was the last connection to the "good old days".
I am a convert.
I'd love to see Rough Rider name back, just a classic name and "R" helmet design, nothing seems more "CFL" to me than a game at Frank Claire in the mud in Ottawa!!
Truer words were never spoken. (Or written. Whatever.)
The fact is, the CFL cannot afford to fail in Ottawa a third time. If the name ‘Rough Riders’ ultimately proves to be the most marketable name, then that’s the name they’ll go with. End of story. No amount of whining, squealing and hand-wringing from the prairies will change that.