CFL FLAVOUR DONE RIGHT
Redblacks have made going to games cool
In the startup phase of repatriating the Canadian Football League to Ottawa, the owners of the Redblacks — who were all born before The Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan — fell into a disagreement over the Wi-Fi capabilities of their new stadium.
The initial feeling among the group was they had higher priorities — signing players and coaches for example — than providing top-notch phone service for fans. But as they talked through the issue, they began to understand they weren’t selling their team to their generation.
They were selling to a generation for whom the phone is like a limb.
“We didn’t do it for the 55-andover crowd,” said Jeff Hunt, the frontman for that group that brought the CFL back to the nation’s capital.
“It was specifically geared to the millennials. It’s what these young fans do. This is their world. You can’t expect to access young fans without letting them use their devices.”
Hunt was asked how much his group ultimately spent on its enhanced Wi-Fi service.
“I can’t remember exactly, but it was a lot more than we originally budgeted,” he said. “It was like four or five million.”
Oh.
The Redblacks, who host the B.C. Lions this afternoon at WiFi-friendly TD Place Stadium, have written an extraordinary success story on the field in their short, sweet life. Three-plus years removed from expansion, they won a memorable Grey Cup showdown with Calgary last year after coming up just short against Edmonton the year before.
This year, they’ve fallen to 2-6-1 with the six losses coming by a combined 20 points, but as they’ve demonstrated amply during their time in the league, all they need is a playoff berth in the watered-down East and they are a dangerous opponent for anyone in the post-season.
But the Redblacks’ larger success story is the connection with their fans, especially those bearded, craft-beer swilling hipsters who seem to have tuned out the CFL in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal — which just happen to be the league’s biggest markets.
There are any number of reasons for this — the popularity of Major League Soccer in the afore-mentioned cities, the NFL, the greying of the fan base in all sports — but the simple fact is Ottawa has succeeded where others have failed.
takenSo whyin Ottawahas the after CFL so finally many fiascos?
As it turns out, the answer to that question is a little more involved than reliable Wi-Fi service, and it starts — as it usually does in professional sports — with ownership.
Hunt and his group — Bill Shenkman, John Ruddy and Roger Greenberg — represent some of Ottawa’s deepest pockets and Shenkman, Ruddy and Greenberg are all real estate developers. They’re also Ottawa guys who were willing to endure the arduous public process of resurrecting the Lansdowne area and building a new stadium.
Because this is Canada, you must know this was more painful than a root canal with a small but persistent group called Friends of Lansdowne challenging the Hunt group every step of the way. The Ontario Court of Appeal threw out their last challenge in 2012, four years after Hunt and friends had been awarded a CFL franchise.
“That emboldened us,” Hunt said. “We weren’t going to let this small group stop something this important. It built our resolve to make this thing go.”
What resulted is the new Lansdowne Park, the name given to the area around the stadium that includes 250 residential units in twin apartment towers, 33,000 square metres of retail space and the Aberdeen Pavilion, the heritage building that has been the centre of the grounds for 120 years. After the Renegades folded in 2008, the area was a virtual ghost town.
Now, “I think it’s completely rejuvenated the area,” said Hunt. “It was a wasteland of asphalt and decaying buildings. It’s been transformed.”
Predictably, there has been the grumbling about the cost of the project and questions about its long-term viability. But the Redblacks have also emerged as the anchor tenant to the new Lansdowne, and what they’ve built speaks to the city’s 20- and 30-somethings.
The atmosphere at too many CFL games can be stale. In Ottawa, where the Redblacks sell out their 24,000-seat home, it’s like an ongoing kegger, and we mean the good kind, not the kind where the cops break up the party at two in the morning after some fights.
The concourses are wide open and migration is encouraged among the fandom. Redblacks merch can be seen everywhere, including the fabled plaid lumberjack shirt made famous by lovable hosers Bob and Doug McKenzie.
The south grandstand, which was falling apart while the Renegades were in business in the mid-aughts, is now all shiny and new. The Grey Cup is coming this year. The Senators are meeting the Canadiens in an outdoor NHL game in December.
“The whole area has been reinvented,” said Hunt.
“It was cool to be part of something new and building from the ground up,” said Redblacks receiver Brad Sinopoli, a former star quarterback at the University of Ottawa. Everyone feels a part of something now and we feel that connection with them. It’s been awesome.”
The great Wi-Fi reception? That’s part of it.