The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

A new Lansdowne park is coming. Demolition on the older parts of the area are being completed as we speak, and by 2014 we should have an attractive new hub for fans ready to take in the latest sports attractions Ottawa has to offer. The CFL is returning, as well as a semi-pro soccer team. What other teams will Lansdowne host? Well, this is part of the skeptic in me that thinks perhaps that Ottawa is getting too much, too soon.

No one complains about Ottawa's passion for hockey. Even with the pricey tickets, a questionable location and a 45 minute wait in the parking lot post-game, fans have supported the NHL Ottawa Senators. The Ottawa 67's have received excellent fan support and was the main reason why Ottawa was able to host Memorial Cups and the 2009 World Junior Championship.

But with other sports ventures, Ottawa has not fared well. Triple A baseball started with a bang but lack of interest ended it 15 years later. Lacrosse…gone…football…well, it started out well enough. I mean, 120 years and a total of 12 championships, that's not bad. But after being mismanaged and churning out losing season after losing season for a good 15 years or so, the team folded in 1996. An attempt to revitalize the team in 2002 under the Renegades was not successful and ended in 2005.

And now we're hoping in 2014, things will be different.

In addition to the new football squad and semi-pro soccer team, Ottawa also has plans to have a Double A baseball franchise back in town. The concept was thought to have legs if they could be affiliated with the Canadian Toronto Blue Jays, but the Jays renewed their agreement with Binghamton recently. At this stage, no one knows what MLB franchise will bring a team to Ottawa.

And combine this with the fact the new baseball team is slated to arrive in 2014, the same year we are expecting both football and soccer clubs to debut, is this a recipe for success or will it be a disaster?

I'm trying to keep as positive as possible and not get that aforementioned pessimist to surface, so right away I'll mention the fact that Jeff Hunt is running the show is definitely a plus (he turned around the fortunes of the Ottawa 67's after fan apathy almost brought that team to ruin). The fact that a brand new stadium is being built in the heart of the city will definitely attract even non-sports fans to visit. And several millions of dollars will be invested in the baseball park, both by public and private interests, which will hopefully mean the bland, concrete building will get a much needed facelift that will attract larger groups of fans to support the team.

On the other hand, no one has really been able to explain why, in the end, Triple A ball failed. After setting attendance records and winning the league championship, fans stopped caring. Empty seats were the norm. The only time they had another sellout was for the last game they played before packing their bags for Pennsylvania. So if that failed, why does anyone think a lesser Double A team, would work? And while the Ottawa Fat Cats have proven to attract a decent amount of fans, the attendance at those games would not be enough to sustain a Double A team.

The enthusiasm for the CFL, at one time during its heyday the talk of the town in Ottawa, in my experience simply isn't here. While there are football fans, most of them pay attention only to the NFL. People plan Superbowl parties…Grey Cup parties not as much. I could be wrong, but that's the sense I get, being a non-football fan in this city.

Soccer is a sport on the rise and it's hard to gauge what interest would be created for a semi-pro team, but one thing Ottawa (and Canada for that matter) has going for it, is that there is no other sport that has more participation in it than soccer. The women's recent success at the Olympics with their bronze medal and the 2015 Women's World Cup will also generate more interest.

The fan in Ottawa will have choices, and will that fan choose to support all sports? One of them? Or will a saturation of the Ottawa market cause all three to fail? Well, there are several groups that think it can all work, and the new and/or renovated stadiums will at least gain immediate attention, and attendance for their games.

Whether or not these teams can keep the fans coming out after that, will undoubtedly be the tricky part.