About an hour ago, the Canadian Football League issued a statement that it's "very encouraged" by the level of interest various groups have shown in reviving pro football in Canada's national capital region. Also, the Ottawa Citizen reported today that the group spearheaded by Bill Palmer (father of Canadian-born NFL backup QB Jesse Palmer) has made a deal to buy the former Rough Riders name and helmet insignia off Horn Chen, the shadowy figure who owned the original team during its dying days.
Building on yesterday's post, just a couple quick points about the statement the CFL issued:
- The first line mentions bringing back a team "to the Ottawa-Gatineau region." This could all be lip service but at least there's a recognition that the previous teams didn't tap into the 300,000-strong Francophone market here, which is just stupid when you look at how football has taken off among French-speaking Quebecers with respect to both the Montréal Alouettes and at the grass-roots level.
- The league says, rather cryptically, that it "will also place an emphasis on assisting Ottawa to field a competitive team upon its return." That one could be very emphemeral, especially if certain franchises (cough, Edmonton) get their way. However, again, it's mildly promising that they acknowledge it's only going to work in this market if the team can win sooner rather than later.
Bottom line, Ottawans don't want the CFL in the worst way -- they've had enough of that already -- but the hope is enough people want if the right people are involved and the team has a chance of being successful. It looks like there's going to be a chance for that to occur.
That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.
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