Rumours of CFL franchise announcement nixed
BILL SPURR The Chronicle Herald February 16, 2018
The leader of a group that hopes to bring the CFL to Halifax was succinct on Friday when asked if it’s true the league will award a franchise next Friday.
“No.”
Based on “anonymous sources,” a Halifax radio station reported on Friday a stadium would be located at Dartmouth Crossing, with construction to begin in September. It also said Halifax would be home to a Grey Cup within three years of the still-hypothetical team beginning play, and that the province had agreed to build a connector road between Highway 102 and Highway 118.
Anthony LeBlanc, leader of the Maritime Football Ltd. ownership group, had just two minutes to speak between meetings on Friday afternoon, and needed less time than that to throw cold water on the rumour.
LeBlanc confirmed he and CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie will be in Halifax next week, but cautioned not to read too much into that.
“We plan to listen to his vision, and he wants to hear what people have to say in the region, but we don’t anticipate any form of announcement at that event,” LeBlanc said.
“It is fair to say, and we’ve been pretty public, that we are in ongoing discussions with the league and with a number of landowners in the region. At this time we certainly have not collected a site, we have not negotiated final terms with the league.”
LeBlanc, a longtime executive with Research in Motion and the former president and chief executive of the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes, was even more dismissive of the notion that a new highway has been promised to his group.
“I don’t even know what that is referring to,” he said. “We are looking at a number of locations right now, so to say it’s one particular one would simply not be accurate.”
Marla MacInnis, a spokeswoman with Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, said the department “has not been engaged in any discussions with regard to road infrastructure to support any potential new stadium project.”
And, as for conjecture about a potential Grey Cup for Halifax, LeBlanc said that is a matter for the CFL’s board of governors.
“And the idea that they would be awarding that at this point is just not possible.”