Ottawa RedBlacks court 2017 Grey Cup
Tim Baines, Ottawa Sun January 14, 2015
The Ottawa RedBlacks have the 2017 Grey Cup on their mind.
They may or not be good enough by then to actually play in the game, but there's a pretty good chance they will be hosting the event.
While the CFL generally doesn't announce the site of each Grey Cup until the season before (the 2015 game will be played in Winnipeg), Ottawa makes so much sense for 2017.
The City of Ottawa is pushing for major events to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday in 2017 -- and a Grey Cup and outdoor NHL game are high on the list.
"We're giving the CFL the hard sell," said Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group president of sports Jeff Hunt on Wednesday. "We think they understand where we're coming from. We're trying to be a focal point of Canada's birthday (in 2017)."
The 2017 Grey Cup is still 34 months away, so more immediately the RedBlacks have turned their eyes to the 2015 season. With plenty of obstacles thrown into the mix right across the country, it looks like the RedBlacks will play at least their first regular-season game on the road.
With FIFA Women's World Cup soccer dates and the Pan-Am Games affecting many of the venues, the CFL schedule-makers have their work cut out for them. Hunt hopes to get a peek at the schedule as early as next week at the CFL Congress in Winnipeg.
There will be FIFA games in Ottawa June 7, 11, 20, 22 and 26. It's the last game that could force the RedBlacks to the road. The team will also likely once again hold its training camp at Carleton University.
"There are a lot of extenuating circumstances," said Hunt. "Plus, we have to find a place to play (an exhibition game earlier in June) at a neutral site."
With the RedBlacks football operations folks away scouting U.S. college hopefuls and with CFL free agency opening on Feb. 10, there's an excitement building from within and outside the team.
"We're hoping for a better result this season and we're certainly expecting a better result," said Hunt. "And when I say that, I mean more points and more wins. The effort and the competitiveness was at the level we expected last season. We did not play like a 2-16 team, but the record shows that's what we did. There were a couple of stinkers, but we were in most games. We want to see great progress this year. We were patient. We knew we were not going to get instant gratification. We're going to be competitive in this league for a long time."
A string of nine sellout games was certainly good news for the team's owners.
"There were lots of positives," said Hunt. "The fact we sold out every game was a pleasant surprise, I was happy to see so many young fans, the lost generation. It was a great atmosphere, the place to be. The transportation plan worked phenomenally. People who hadn't taken a bus in years embraced that mode of transportation."
Something to look forward to in the 2015 season will be the absence of construction and the retail elements in place, all adding to the game-day experience.
"In retail, something seems to be opening every week," said Hunt. "Something that hasn't been emphasized is people have not yet had the full Lansdowne experience. The whole idea when you come to a game is you get the whole animated experience with restaurants and bars. What we had, where you came through a construction site to get to the game, that will be gone. There will be no cranes. It will feel like a new place all over again."
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