The CFL is close to completing a deal that would award a conditional expansion franchise to a group led by Ottawa 67's owner Jeff Hunt, with the intent of a team beginning play for the 2010 season.
The deal, which has been in the works for months, was close to completion in recent days and the league had hoped to make an announcement in Ottawa this week.
However, that plan was put off when the sides decided they needed more time to complete some details in a letter of intent for the CFL's ninth franchise to be bought by Hunt and his partners, local developers Roger Greenberg, John Ruddy and William Shenkman.
The deal would be contingent on Hunt's group securing an arrangement to utilize Frank Clair Stadium at Lansdowne Park, a complex slated for redevelopment after the southside stands were condemned last fall.
"We are in the middle of a confidential process and I can't comment," Hunt said yesterday.
While Hunt and the CFL still have some work to do, the major hurdles have been overcome and both sides are apparently confident the final details can be ironed out.
However, because of conflicting schedules among the parties, a formal announcement isn't expected before next week.
This is Hunt's second go-round at trying to land a CFL team for Ottawa, having hooked up with a Toronto group in 2006 before its primary investor reportedly developed an illness and withdrew.
Hunt resurfaced last fall with his new partners about the same time the city became interested in redeveloping Lansdowne Park.
Late last year, the city announced it would hold a design competition for Lansdowne, which was originally slated for redevelopment in the late 1990s. Designs are to be submitted over the next few months, with a panel of experts choosing a winner before city council is asked to give its approval.
All of that is expected to take until the end of the year.
Hunt's group may or may not submit a design proposal in that process, but the deal with the CFL is not contingent on the group's winning the right to redevelop the park.
While the parameters for redevelopment have not yet been set by the city, Mayor Larry O'Brien and others in civic government are on record as saying they want to see the stadium enhanced for the potential return of a CFL team.
An Ottawa expansion announcement would be a boon for the CFL at a time it has been trying to keep a positive image amid the Buffalo Bills' decision to play eight NFL games in Toronto over five years, beginning in the fall.
Hunt has long been a popular choice in Ottawa to become involved with a CFL team because of his tremendous success and strong public standing as the owner of the 67's.
The major-junior hockey club was near the bottom of the OHL in attendance when Hunt bought the team in the spring of 1998. Since then, it has been one of North America's best hockey draws outside the NHL and made huge inroads with the local business community.
That said, returning a CFL team to a city where two have folded over the past 12 years would be no simple challenge.
After the Ottawa Rough Riders collapsed in late 1996, the league came back to the city under the Renegades banner in 2002.
The Renegades lost millions of dollars during their first three seasons before changing owners. The club fell into the hands of former Rough Riders owners Bernie and Lonnie Glieberman, who operated the Renegades for one season before the team folded in April of 2006.
