This whole “New Ottawa CFL Team” thing has been quite the hobby for me filling time better spent doing almost anything else, of course school being the main loser of this time, heck even now I should really be cramming for my final at 2pm and instead I am here Writing away. I suppose it has to do with me wanting the CFL to be a respectable leauge again, since the debacle of US teams the league has been struggling to expand in Canada more due to the shafting of long term markets in favor of US money, ultimately Montreal got their team back and due to good management they were and are Relevant in the leauge but Ottawa lost their team, the name of their team and any hope. To say that the Renegades were mismanaged is to bring shame to the mismanaged teams of the league, the Renagades were a mess of the likes Tampa Bay is about to see with their Hockey team right down to the Drafting of players who will never and can never play. Bead night in the stands, public nudity, a new coach every year all to keep sight away from the fact they had no good players no prospects and one of the worst scouting departments I have ever seen. Joseph was their quarter back but name me one more player from that organization who has been relevant in the CFL since the team folded? If you think its none you may well be right, but to be honest I cannot remember for sure I think there was a WR who is still playing, and they had a good kicker in the NFL which is not a great place when you need a good kicker. Suffice it to say that if someone could put a relevant team in that city I think the fans would come back and the model the Lansdowne Live! folks have put together looks viable and positive for the city. As well they may have bought the Rough Riders name back from the Chen fellow who owned it meaning we can go back to having two teams with names said the same but spelt differently. Myself I like the idea of the Rough Riders being back but that may have to do more with them being named after Rosevelts unit in the Spanish American War than any affection for having two teams with the same name in the league.

The way I figure it Ottawa is the prover for later expansion, if the League can put a team back in that city and be viable, (and clearly they think they can) they can use that success to expand the league finally into the Maritimes and Quebec City. My current hope is that we can become a 10 team league 5 West and 5 East with the current playoff bracketing leaving 4 teams out of the playoffs every year instead of the current two, with the Folding of NFL Europe and the approaching failure of the USFL (Two teams lack even owners) the talent pool of players is deeper than it has been since the 80′s when we had players like Warren Moon showing us how it is done. More talent = Better teams = Better Product = Better League = More Revenue ect down the line.

If I had the money I would pitch something similar to the Lansdowne Live deal to St. Johns NB or Halifax and finally get the Atlantic Schooners in operation and start uniting the Maritimes with Canada using the distinctiveness of our own brand of Football. Also how cool would it be to have a football team?

West                                                                  East

Edmonton                                                          Montreal

Calgary                                                              Toronto

B.C.                                                                    Ottawa

Saskatchewan                                                    Hamilton

Winnipeg                                                           Halifax

Now does that not look sweet for a league?