Blue Bombers Blog

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Ottawa fans launch process for accepting football league into Capital

The bidding process for the return of professional football to Canada’s fourth largest market has begun. A bid review committee has been formed that will review bids from professional leagues wishing to launch a team in the Ottawa-Hull market.

"We have a stadium, the strongest amateur program in the country, an identifiable fan base and several talented individuals who have demonstrated ability to run the operation. All we need to do now is decide which league is most worthy of settling in our city," said search committee chairman Shane Johns.

While the Canadian Football League has expressed the highest level of interest in returning to the capital, Johns warns that their interest alone isn’t enough to sway the bid committee. "Any league that wants to locate here will have to prove themselves smart, competent and with enough foresight to see beyond their own internal politics. I’m not sure the CFL has satisfied those criteria at this point."

The committee is therefore casting its search further afield, and will soon announce a detailed process for leagues to follow should they wish the honour of adding Ottawa to their league.

Ottawa is a metropolitan area with a population of more than 1 million people, serviced by major highways, a modern international airport, and has an additional 7 million people living within a five hour drive. The market is large, prosperous, and a stadium is in place.

"We can afford to be picky - this isn’t about having any old football league settling here. This is about choosing a league that will still be credible in 2020." Johns concluded.

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