Can The Ottawa CFL Team Work?

Unless there's some sort of miracle and a new stadium appears in Canada's capital between now and next July Ottawa will not have a CFL team next year. Plans to remodel the aging Frank Clair Stadium have not been going well. Ottawa has also been pushing to gain a MLS expansion team and plans to build a stadium that could house the two teams is not in the works.

Most people speculate that 2012 is the earliest Ottawa could begin play and the consistent delays are killing Ottawa's chances of starting play altogether. There are three ways this team could work however. 

Ottawa is a city of just over 800,000, making it the fourth largest city in Canada. Its population is not the problem, it's the solution. If Hamilton can be a successful franchise with 400,000 people then there's no reason Ottawa can't succeed with double the population of Hamilton. Ottawa just needs its residents to care.

The Rough Riders and the Renegades lost fans because they were unsuccessful teams. Ottawa's last Grey Cup victory was in 1976 when the Rough Riders beat the Roughriders of Saskatchewan. The Renegades failed to make the playoffs in its four year existence, a pretty embarrassing feat given the amount of teams that make it each year. Ottawa needs to win.

Ottawa needs to get off on the right foot by getting a new name. The Rough Riders were popular but the CFL doesn't need any more jokes about having nine teams and eight names. The Renegades were a failure and it makes no sense to name the team after them. The odds of fans no showing to games because the team isn't named the Ottawa Rough Riders is low and a new name gives the city a fresh start in the CFL. 

Ottawa needs to name a stadium. Frank Clair Stadium is twenty two years older than Ivor Wynne Stadium which is the oldest stadium currently in use. Frank Clair Stadium doesn't need renovation, it needs demolition. New stadiums are expensive though which is why the Ottawa CFL team needs to coordinate its plans with the MLS expansion team. 

I realize Ottawa hasn't been awarded a MLS team yet but it needs to if the CFL is going to succeed. Soccer is just as popular if not more in Canada than the US and Toronto F.C.'s attendance figures back that statement. The problem is that very few soccer stadiums have capacities larger than 25,000. If the CFL and MLS team coordinate their plans then this can work. 

Another option is to play in Frank Clair stadium until Ottawa can make a serious bid for a MLS team. This option isn't ideal but the odds of Ottawa getting a MLS team before 2013 are about zero. If the fans can come back to Frank Clair then the city of Ottawa will have less hesitations about building a new stadium. 

All in all Ottawa has its work cut out if it wants its CFL team to work. The team was originally supposed to start play this year and the delays are not making the future look any better. Ottawa has played a big part in the history of the CFL and I think everybody wants them to continue to be a part of Canada's league.