18
Making the CFL viable in Ottawa is a puzzle no one has been able to solve for roughly 30 years.
But Ottawa 67's owner Jeff Hunt believes he and his partners have the answer.
Hunt, along with three prominent local real estate businessmen want to build Ottawa a world-class football stadium and secure a new CFL team as its anchor tenant. The four believe by doing so they can create a business model that's not only sustainable but profitable as well — for both themselves and the city.
"To me this makes a ton of sense," Hunt said. "We started out trying to figure out how to make football work and it turned into a discussion about how to make Lansdowne Park [the site of Frank Clair Stadium] work. But the two are interconnected and the more you focus on trying to make football work, you realize that without a total solution, nothing works."
Hunt, who bought the 67's in 1998 when they appeared to be on their way out of town, has turned the OHL team into one of the best hockey draws outside of the NHL in North America. He has immense credibility in the community and now the backing of some of the city's strongest financial forces.
His group consists of Ottawa businessmen Roger Greenberg (chairman and CEO of Minto Developments), John Ruddy (president of Trinity Development Group) and William Shenkman, (chairman of Shenkman Corp., another local property development company).
"One, the principle guys are all Ottawa-based," CFL commissioner Mark Cohon said. "They all have significant means, they all love the sport and then there's the operator.
"Jeff Hunt has had great success with the 67's and when you combine those all together, you have both owners with financial means coupled with a great operator. I think that's potentially a winning combination."
The group's business plan calls for the new stadium to be funded by ancillary development at Lansdowne Park, located around the proposed new stadium.
"This wouldn't cost the city a cent because we'll put all of the money in and we'll build it," Hunt said. "Things have heated up in the last few weeks and we hope that continues so we can make our goal of a CFL back in Ottawa in 2009 with a new world-class facility."
The state of Frank Clair Stadium has long been a source of complaints among sports fans in Ottawa, most recently during the FIFA under-20 world soccer championship.
When two years ago, rumours surfaced that Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk was interested in buying the CFL's floundering Ottawa Renegades, a source said the state of the facility made thoughts of that prohibitive.
Hunt was involved in one other CFL expansion venture when he linked up with Toronto's Golden Gate Capital before that group pulled of bidding when one if its investors fell ill. However, this time Hunt plans to take an equity share in both the team and the new stadium, both of which would be privately owned.
Hunt and his group are making their pitch in conjunction with the city's attempts to redevelop Lansdowne Park, something that has been on the city's to-do list for about a decade. The situation got some urgency earlier this week when city staff recommended tearing down the lower south-side stands of Frank Clair Stadium due to safety concerns.
Hunt's group would like to leave the existing north-side stands in place but completely redesign the south side of the park to give it a modern feel.
"We have a unique opportunity to work with a blank canvass and envelope all the modern design elements of a modern facility," he said.
With files from The Canadian Press
