Ottawa Stadium Still Nothing But A Picture

In photographs anyway, Ottawa may be closer to rejoining the CFL.

The architects who were commissioned to present the Ottawa City Council with a prospective masterpiece, unveiled it on Tuesday, and now its up to the good burghers to say yea or nay.

The proposed facility also includes a shopping area, a hotel, condominiums and townhouses.

The stadium will be built with wood to give the facility a woodland feel in its parkland home and will house a returned Ottawa CFL team and hopefully, a professional soccer team.

The city is scheduled to vote on the proposal on June 28. 

The prospective owners hope to begin construction in 2011 or even before the end of the year. They are also projecting a return to the CFL by 2013.

No details about how many fans, the new stadium will hold were released. All that was mentioned was that the current amenities and seating would be vastly improved.

The hope is that fans will now stay and linger instead of getting in and out as fast as possible, like before.

One of the franchise owners, Jeff Hunt, calls the new stadium, "the jewel of the CFL," and the mayor expressed his delight with the design.

But nothing is for sure yet, and the old cliche, slips between the cup and the lip, still apply.

Anyone can challenge any aspect about the stadium and delay its approval. 

There have already been articles written that the very site, Lansdowne Park is an inappropriate place to stage sporting events.

The architects kept that criticism in mind when they designed the new stadium.

At one time, Ottawa was projected to return to the CFL for coming season, but massive repairs to Frank Clair Stadium were deemed necessary and Ottawa's return has been put in an undetermined limbo while owners, proposals, politics, and architecture were sorted out.

Hopefully, June 28 will prove to be the final debating time and Ottawa's football fans can be told when they can purchase tickets for the first game of a new CFL season.