The CFL Ottawa Redblacks' ownership group wants the league to "change its financial scheme for teams that advance to the Grey Cup" after the team took a $1.1M (all figures C) hit for winning the CFL championship, according to Jon Willing of the OTTAWA CITIZEN. Ottawa Sports & Entertainment Group Exec Chair & Managing Partner Roger Greenberg, who is also the Redblacks' Alternate Governor, on Tuesday told city council's finance and economic development committee that the CFL has "given the exact same amount of money to the two Grey Cup teams for decades." Greenberg said that the league's formula "will change" in '18. Greenberg: "I'll be pressing to do a little bit more." Willing noted if the Redblacks had lost the Eastern Conference final against the Edmonton Eskimos, OSEG would have been $1M "ahead." Greenberg "warned against reading too much into" the $14.4M net loss reported in OSEG's '16 financial results. Greenberg said that the figure "includes a substantial non-cash line item for depreciation that weighs down the net loss." OSEG's "focus is on the operating income," which was $2.7M in the black in '16 and a "huge improvement from the previous year when it was $985,000 in the red." Greenberg said that OSEG "wants to increase the number of major events" at Lansdowne Park, "partly by hosting at least two major concerts each year." Willing noted the OSEG-run "retail and office components" are at about 95% occupancy (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 7/5).
REACHING THE MASSES: OSEG President Jeff Hunt said that the success on and off the field of the Redblacks, along with having the league's youngest fan base, has led the franchise to "being 'the envy of the CFL.'" In Ottawa, Tim Baines wrote "sellout after sellout (13 straight in the 25,000 range), with a vibrant fan base" has made the Redblacks a "focus of the Ottawa sports scene." It is "diversity of age and gender among the fan base that has pushed this thing to new heights -- with going on 18,000 season tickets." There is a "strong social aspect to the games," with one of TD Place Stadium's features "being what Hunt calls 'the longest continuous drink rail probably in Canada'" (OTTAWA SUN, 7/5).
