To continue the previous thread... read the article from the Citizen closer, the article's headline couldn't be anymore misleading. The poll shows a clear preference for MLS over the CFL, the pollster is harping on the fact that people would like to see Lansdowne redeveloped. As for locations, Lansdowne is not an easily accessible site and parking on adjacent streets is not that simple. No professional sport will succeed in Ottawa without good parking. Families dont take the bus. Corporations do not take there clients on the bus. Lansdowne has held failing teams because it does not provide the parking to support 20 to 30 thousand people
I also wonder if the people in Ottawa realize that there is no chance of Garber letting an Ottawa MLS team play in a CFL stadium. CFL play would necessitate FieldTurf being used and if Garber had to chose between Ottawa on FieldTurf or Vancouver temporarily on FieldTurf Ottawa's going to be left holding the bag.
http://www.ottawasun.com/News/OttawaAndRegion/2009/02/14/8389381-sun.html would this decision be too late for MLS to grant Ottawa a franchise? This seems a bit slow on the part of city council.
Ignoring MLS for a moment, I thought the CFL rights expired mid-March? http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/soccer/wires/01/27/2050.ap.soc.mls.ottawa.0763/index.html
The biggest problem here is that CFL owners don't want to play at the MLS stadium and the MLS owner doesn't want to play at the CFL's stadium. Also, there is no way Melnyk (Senators) will pay $40 million to put a team in Hunt's (CFL) stadium in Lansdowne. Maybe a good coup would be for Melnyk to allow CFL at his soccer stadium and potentially pay the paltry CFL expansion fee of $10 million. That would probably put everyone on Melnyk's side (if its possible).
The CFL wants into Ottawa. If the 'rights' expire then they will either be re-awarded or the expiration date will be pushed back. Ottawa is the only city in Canada that (population wise) could easily sustain a CFL team.
Agreed! If Melnyk and Co decided to allow a CFL team to play in their Kanata stadium, it would put both camps on equal footing in front if City Council. Then maybe Hunt & co will say that they don't want CFL in Kanata, but then THEY are the problem.... But I don't think it will happen, and Lansdowne still has an edge because it is there and something must be done about it. Unless they both agree to share Lebreton flats.... Another solution would be for Melnyk to buy a CFL expansion in OTTAWA... I mean for an extra 7 million he gets everything...
This poll was taken some time ago, but only released now according to the article. I get the impression that the support for soccer is growing as it appears that Ottawa has a shot at being granted the franchise.
This needs to be a sub-forum. If you haven't already requested one, please go here and do so: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=16934257#post16934257
After seeing what's going on in Toronto and the complaints with BMO's field, I DEFINITELY want grass.
A number of recent newpaper articles have stated that the current stadium battle is not a choice between MLS and the CFL, only a choice between Landsdowne Park and Kanata. This is not true. Make no mistake, this is the first and final battle between MLS and the CFL in Ottawa. There is no realistic scenario that will result in MLS arriving in Ottawa if the federal, provincial and municipal funding is used to redevelop Landsdowne Park. Eugene Melnyk has clearly stated that he has no interest in operating a team as a tenant at Landsdowne because of the lack of synergy with ScotiaBank Place and the unprofitability of operating a sports team in a stadium they don't control. Even if you don't believe this, you have to believe that Melnyk will not be spending more than $50M CDN of his own money if he doesn't control the major asset, so the current application that MLS like so much will be dead. The reasons that MLS like the Melnyk bid include the man himself and his passion for soccer, his willingness to pay the $50M CDN asking fee and the design of a beautiful soccer-specific stadium with a grass playing surface. The Landsdowne redevelopment group have no interest in playing football in Kanata, so they are no more reasonable than Melnyk. In the same way that Melnyk's proposal only works with stadium control in Kanata, their CFL bid only works as a small part of the Landsdowne Park redevelopment. They have positioned themselves as the reasonable alternative because they have no objection to the concept of soccer at Landsdowne Park and have even suggested that they may purchase an MLS franchise in the future. However, with the redevelopment of Landsdowne and a new CFL franchise to spend their time on, it will be years before they even look at an MLS franchise. At that time, MLS expansion may well have been capped as a 20-team league, the expansion fee will likely be significantly higher than $50M CDN (which is already almost six times the fee that the Landsdowne redevelopment will pay for their CFL franchise) and of course there will be no public money for the franchise fee, it will need to be their own cash. That application will also have to progress without benefit of the soccer-specific grass-surfaced stadium that has lifted the Ottawa bid into serious contention recently. There is no likelyhood of a bid being made and no possibility of a bid made under those circumstances coming out on top of US cities that miss out on this, and future, rounds of expansion. Make no mistake, the citizens of Ottawa and their elected councillors will decide the future of MLS in our city for all time in the next two months. Make your voice heard now if you want MLS in Ottawa!
It has nothing to do with FieldTurf.....TFC has FT and they got in....Seattle has FT and they got in......Miami looks like it will have FT and it is a favourite to get in! The issue with CFL stadiums is how big they need to be....widthwise the CFL team actually works pretty well for a soccer stadium....but those monstrously large endzones mean that, either, the fans are too far away from the nets or, alternatively, a massive amount of extra cost to make the end seats moveable when in soccer mode. It is that size (and revenue control) that make the stadium issue so crucial....not the fake grass......we will all be very old (or dead) before MLS is playing on real grass only.
Agreed. It is no surprise that all the most successful soccer leagues in the world play almost exclusively on grass.
That was the date that the CFL published, but I read a quote somewhere from the CFL Commissioner saying that the deadline could be extended if there were signs of progress. Personally I don't believe that any of these deadlines are cast in stone, but without a deadline, nothing would ever get through the politicians.
Yes, very true. The CFL bid may be a bit more relaxed because there's not a long lineup of cities competing with Ottawa for a team. Ottawa has some very stiff competition for MLS. But there seems to be some urgency at city hall to get Lansdowne fixed up with CFL or without. Not sure about anyone else but I'd love CFL in Ottawa. The Lansdowne Live proposal looks nice. I just want MLS a lot more.
I would be surprised if the Hunt group went for an MLS team in the future (assuming they get their Lansdowne Live & CFL team). I think they would aim more at USL-1 with a partnership with ther Ottawa Fury. That being said, I think the CFL has a lead to win this one. Keep in mind that Lansdowne has to be fixed (team or not) and that if it does get fixed we *WILL* have CFL Football. If they go with Kanata, we *MAY* get MLS Soccer. Unfortunately this is probably Ottawa's best shot at an MLS team. For the next round I suspect powerhouses like Montreal and New York will be back in the bandwagon and whoever doesn't win this time will also be there. The nice side is that when Melnyk announced his plans about MLS, most people laughed. Ottawa? You can't be serious! Well, very few are laughing now. The Soccer forums have begun seing people from Ottawa on them (hey, for a long time there seemed to be no one from Ottawa). So at least we are now on the soccer map. No USL or MLS planned expansion will ever take Ottawa lightly again.
Yes. Although the second "failure" was a result of the worst sports ownership in the history of the world (it narrowly edged out the previous owners of the Rough Riders). There have been a lot of changes since Ottawa last played in the CFL, not the least of which has been an explosion of popularity in three-down football in the province of Quebec. If Ottawa gets another team it will be aggressive in going after that market. But, my feel for the situation is that the city is leaning to soccer. They have been down the CFL road too many times.
That doesn't stop them. Montreal failed twice (Alouettes & Concordes) in the CFL and is now a huge success. Miami failed in MLS before (even though they played in Fort Lauderdale) and they are in the race for MLS again. Just take a look at Denver in Hockey (failed miserably the first time), Baltimore in football, or Charlotte in Basketball. Heck Ottawa almost lost their hockey team and today they are amongst the top drawing teams in the NHL. Ottawa failed in the CFL due to very bad teams and horrific ownership. Football is the fastest growing sport in Quebec, and Gatineau (just accross the river of Ottawa) has seen an explosion of football (soccer is already huge there).
Canadian Boot - Sports Illustrated has a Canadian edition and a US edition. Now they might not be fully cognizant of the MLS expansion process but that doesn't make them 'out to lunch about Canada'. Quite the opposite. You are falling into the a-typical Canadian trap that 'all Americans are ignorant about Canada'. Its both incorrect and an insult to Americans. What do you know about your neighbo(u)rs?
True, but I believe we have the perfect storm for MLS in Ottawa at the moment (ownership, stadium plan, weak US economy and Montreal low-balling their bid). I don't see us being so lucky in the future.