Will the CFL's Expansion Dreams Come True in the Maritimes?

Ex-CFL commissioner, Tom Wright must be envying current commissioner, Mark Cohon.

Wright came to office pledging that he would add the CFL's long-sought tenth franchise before his term ended. Instead, the CFL contracted when the revived Ottawa franchise folded. It ended up costing Wright his job.

But current commissioner Mark Cohon, is getting rubies and other jewels dropped into his lap.

First Ottawa, albeit much delayed, will finally return to the CFL.

Then last year, the Maritimes successfully staged their first regular season CFL game in a CFL size stadium in Moncton. There will probably be another game between Calgary and Hamilton in Moncton again this year. 

All that's missing is an owner whom the CFL will be glad to admit with open arms should he/she make a credible commitment to owning a permanent franchise.

Now comes word that Halifax is considering building a 25-30,000 seat stadium that can be expanded to 40-45,000 seats so that it can host the Grey Cup.

If Cohon has been praying for miracles to happen, he's getting them answered in spades.

Poor Tom Wright couldn't buy a break for all his touring and efforts. Mark Cohon merely sits back and waits for things to drop into his lap.

Of course, Halifax is merely considering the idea at this stage. But those pushing it, definitely have CFL dreams in mind.

A Halifax stadium would be modeled on Akron's new stadium that cost just over $61 million to build. It would be sunken bowl, much like Buffalo's NFL stadium, where half the seats are below ground level.

Speculation that Halifax will make a commitment has already sparked off an Internet debate: who should get a permanent Maritime franchise, Halifax or Moncton?

Wright was rumored to have Halifax in mind all along when he made his pledge to go on the expansion trail. But nothing ever came from his efforts.

Since Halifax has been spinning its wheels on the stadium and so much else, small Moncton has played the role of upstart in the Maritimes and tried to show that it is THE Maritime city.

They successfully staged an international event last year which resulted in the building of their new stadium, that also led to a successful CFL regular season game between Toronto and Edmonton.

Maybe that success has finally shamed Halifax into doing something at last.

Halifax would be the logical choice because it has a much bigger population, but like Saskatchewan, you can't ignore Moncton's proven success and quality of fan base.

Moncton was also smart enough to win a major international event beforehand. That meant they could qualify for Federal funding.

Halifax doesn't have that good fortune. They made an unsuccessful bid for the Commonwealth Games and now they don't have an international excuse to hang their hats on.  So the funding for a new stadium will have to come from elsewhere.

So who should the CFL choose? Moncton or Halifax?

The "big four" leagues usually expand in pairs. So if you polled most CFL fans, here's the answer: both.