Mark Blevis

Today, Ottawa city council will vote on the unsolicited, sole-sourced proposal for the commercial redevelopment of  the publicly owned Lansdowne Park by local private interests. The proposal is hotly debated largely because the financing deal puts the burden of the cost and all the risk on the taxpayers while showering the developers with nothing but benefits and money. The plan includes big box stores and features a new football stadium for a team that doesn’t exist in a city that’s been home to three failed football franchises in 20 years.

This month’s Glebe Report features a fantastic letter to the editor by Barry J. Smith.

I find it puzzling that the revival of a CFL Football franchise in Ottawa is a “focal point” in the redevelopment of Landsdowne (sic) Park. Let’s look at some numbers.

Each CFL team plays one pre-season and nine regular season “home games” each year. Should you finish at the top of the standings, you could play host to one, or possibly two, playoff games. So, not including the Grey Cup Championship (which would only come around every eight to ten years), the greatest possible number of “home games” per year would be 12.

The average football game lasts about three hours. As most people arrive early or might extend their stay afterwards, let’s add 60-minutes and say the average game lasts four hours. Taking this into account, the 12 possible home games each year equal 48 hours of entertainment value.

The 2006 Census recorded Ottawa’s population at 812,000, while the redeveloped Frank Clair Stadium will seat approximately 24,000 people. This means that at any given time, less than 3% of the city’s population will be able to watch a game live in the stadium.

CFL Football represents a maximum of 48 hours of entertainment for less than 3% of the the city’s population — so, can someone please tell me why football is the focal point in the redevelopment of Lansdowne Park? Everyone seems to be in agreement that Lansdowne Park is a crown jewel asset. As the future of this asset affects all citizens of Ottawa, should the “focal point” not be something that can be used by the largest number of people for the most value?