Kevin McKerrow, Carleton footballer from 1983 to 1986, said he hopes to be back in the stadium once again, only this time as a spectator.
McKerrow has experienced his fair share of Ottawa pigskin heartbreak.
He watched the Carleton football team close in 1994.
He saw Ottawa’s first CFL team, the Rough Riders, fold in 1996, only to be revived for two years as the Renegades then collapse again in 2006. But thanks to a new proposal put to city council by Ottawa 67’s owner Jeff Hunt and a group of Ottawa businessmen, McKerrow said he has hope.
But the CFL team proposal, which comes as a part of a larger proposal to revamp Lansdowne Park called “Lansdowne Live,” faces tough competition at the hands of Ottawa Senators owner
Eugene Melnyk, who is spearheading the “Bring the World to Ottawa” campaign that would see a Major League Soccer team set up camp in Kanata.
City Hall is debating both unsolicited proposals to see which would better suit the city. Since both propose the city put up the funds to build the stadium, while proposal leaders would front the money for a professional team, only one proposal can be accepted.
Hunt’s Lansdowne Live proposes the city completely make over Lansdowne Park, transforming dilapidated Frank Clair Stadium into a state-of-the-art football – and potentially soccer – venue, revamping Aberdeen Pavilion into Canada’s first walk-through aquarium and replacing the creaking Coliseum with a shopping strip complete with a hotel.
According to the proposal, the new facility would also add up to four minor league soccer fields, a minor league baseball field, an ultimate disc field and a skate park along with a plaza that the group promises will continue to hold the farmer’s market.
But Bob Brocklebank, leader of the Glebe Community Association, said that while residents close to Lansdowne aren’t necessarily opposed to Hunt’s proposal, they think it should be submitted as a part of the design competition Brocklebank said was promised to
Ottawa residents then cancelled without explanation.
“We’ve talked a lot about a stadium,” Brocklebank said. “But I think we need to be sure that a stadium is the right thing for us, and the best way to do that is a design competition.”
Capital Ward councillor Clive Doucet has also been very vocal in urging city council to reconsider a design competition that would see people from around the world submit ideas for the revamping of Lansdowne before accepting either Melnyk or Hunt’s proposal.
But McKerrow, current president of the Old Crow Society that is pushing to revive the Ravens football team, said he thinks a CFL team is just what the city needs, and there’s no better place for that than Lansdowne.
“I feel that it’s a great location, it’s central and despite the poor product that was put out on the field [while the Renegades were still around] there was a great turnout. With the team coming back under this leadership group I would expect the crowds to be even better,” he said.
McKerrow and the Lansdowne Live group both say Lansdowne could also be a great location for a Major League Soccer team, but Melnyk has other plans.
The Bring the World to Ottawa campaign would see more than 150,000 metres of land beside Scotiabank Place in Kanata converted into six soccer fields. Five of these fields would be designed for minors with one top-of-the-line open air stadium that could seat up to 30,000 while also acting as a concert venue big enough to house 28,000, according to the proposal.
Melanie Rutherford, director of operations with the Ottawa Fury, an elite soccer development organization in Ottawa that is backing the MLS bid, said the proposal offers more to the city than Lansdowne Live because the prospective owner, Eugene Melnyk, is already established as the owner of the Senators, and the fields in Kanata offer plenty of space.
“It’s a no-brainer. The proposal will get people more involved in soccer from the grass roots level right up to the senior level, and it’s more prominent in the city than football. The support [for the
Bring the World to Ottawa campaign] has been overwhelming already,” she said.
And unlike the residents of the Glebe, who are wary of having a large stadium in their neighbourhood, Kanata North Councillor Marianne Wilkinson said her constituents are excited about a prospective stadium.
With plans to extend transit service to Kanata along with the expansion of the Queensway, heavy traffic shouldn’t be a problem, Wilkinson said. Community members are also excited about the improved access to fields, which Wilkinson said are in high demand, as well as the opportunity to see a professional soccer team, and the prospect of jobs.
Dean Tester, 21, said ever since he started playing soccer in his youth, he has wanted to see an MLS game. He said the atmosphere at the games he has seen on TV seems incredible, especially because fans can be almost as crazy as they are in Europe. Tester said the trek out to Kanata wouldn’t faze him if it meant having access to a professional soccer team.
“It’s a lot closer than Toronto,” Tester said.
However, if Melnyk were to abandon his Kanata stadium, both teams could exist in harmony. The Lansdowne Live team has publicly stated they are willing to work with Melnyk so that both teams could play at the new-and-improved Lansdowne, and say that a soccer field could be easily incorporated into their stadium design.
Canada’s second MLS team, the Vancouver Whitecaps, will experiment with a similar idea as they will share B.C. Place with the CFL’s B.C. Lions when they kick off their first games in 2011.
This would give Melnyk and the MLS two years to see the success of a combined stadium in Canada before a successful bid would have the Ottawa team hit the pitch in 2013.
Melnyk was not available for comment on working with Lansdowne Live, as both sides have decided not to talk to media about the proposals while the documents are before council.
McKerrow said he hopes Ottawa can see a professional sports team as soon as possible. He said he doesn’t see why the two teams couldn’t coexist at Lansdowne.
“It would just be really great for the city,” he said.