Commissioner Randy Ambrosie may reiterate that the Canadian Football League has its eye on the Quebec City market, but the reality isn’t so simple.
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“Mr. Ambrosie is a nice and courteous man, but we can’t even think about a CFL team in Quebec at the moment because there is no infrastructure in Quebec to host a club,” said businessman Jacques Tanguay, who runs Le Am Friday contacted diary. This is a project that maybe one day could be implemented, but it would require new infrastructure and the investment will not come from the private sector… For the PEPS, it will be done for 12,500 people [assises] And the reality is that it’s impossible to scale up with what’s nearby. It does not meet Canadian League standards.
MARCEL TREMBLAY/QMI AGENCY
Speaking to Mr. Ambrosie Thursday night on the sidelines of his visit to Montreal for Friday’s game between the Alouettes and Toronto Argonauts, the commissioner again mentioned Quebec as a target city for a ten-team expansion.
“I met Mr. Tanguay at the Vanier Cup last year,” he remarked. He is someone who has contributed a lot to football in Quebec with the successes of the Rouge et Or at the University of Laval. We haven’t had the conversation with him yet. [concernant une possible expansion]but he’s someone we need to at least speak to about his knowledge of this market in order to move forward.
Mr. Tanguay prefers to clarify the facts and break off the negotiations.
“A Critical Time”
The commissioner assures that he is not using Quebec to put pressure on an upcoming expansion in Halifax. As the conversation progressed, Ambrosie even began to dream of rekindling a rivalry between Montreal and Quebec, like back in the National Hockey League when the Canadiens took on the Nordiques.
“One of the biggest rivalries in professional sports was between the Canadiens and the Nordiques,” said the 60-year-old, who is originally from Manitoba. Quebec would be a fantastic location for a team.”
Joel Lemay / QMI Agency
But doesn’t the city of Halifax currently have a head start over Quebec?
“There is no doubt that we would like to have a club in the Maritimes, but we are at a critical time and the next steps will be important,” he summarized this much-anticipated expansion.
In the same breath, Ambrosie describes the group interested in hosting a formation in Nova Scotia’s capital as “very viable”. The CFL insists that the necessary conditions must be met in order to last.
“The Board of Governors has provided a clear direction that we want to expand to 10 teams,” Ambrosie said. There is no absolute sense of urgency. We want the situation to be permanent. But of course it’s better sooner than later.
No stadiums in Halifax
While an event called “Touchdown Atlantic” will be held in a temporary stadium in front of 11,000 spectators thanks to a game between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Toronto Argonauts on July 29 in Halifax, we have confirmation that there is nothing concrete in Quebec’s files is .
“It’s definitely an interesting goal for the city of Halifax to open a CFL club in the eastern part of the country, but again I haven’t built a new stadium yet,” Mr. Tanguay added, concluding that the Huskies Stadium , based at Saint Mary’s University, is also not an option to permanently host a Canadian League team.
The CFL commissioner is playing his cards and wants an expansion, but in the short term it will need a new stadium somewhere. And the Montreal-Quebec rivalry will remain at the level of collegiate football for now.
Up to 12 teams…
Should the commissioner not make up his mind so easily, Halifax is the tenth city at risk of hosting the CFL. It is only later that there is a risk that Quebec will come into play and switch to 11 or 12 teams, provided of course that the necessary infrastructure is in place.
“In every sports league, the more efficient the teams, the better,” admits Ambrosie.
One thing is certain: as the situation in Montreal has stabilized, the Canadian circuit plans to grow.
“From Montreal to Vancouver, the Canadian Football League has never relied on such a strong ownership group as it does today,” the commissioner noted. We now feel good cooperation between all our teams. The excitement is great.”
Certainly exciting, but at the moment we’re still talking about a league with nine teams, four of them in the East.