Ambrosie still bullish on CFL adding 10th franchise

HALIFAX — The global pandemic pushed it to the back burner but commissioner Randy Ambrosie says expansion has always been on the CFL's radar.

On Saturday, the Toronto Argonauts and Saskatchewan Roughriders meet in Wolfville, N.S., in the CFL's first Touchdown Atlantic game since 2019. It will also mark the first regular-season contest ever played in Nova Scotia.

"Obviously in the midst of the COVID crisis we had other more pressing issues but this has never come off the table," Ambrosie told The Canadian Press. "We put together a working group of governors to study expansion, we've gone as far as hiring an investment bank that specializes in sports transactions.

"We asked them on the pros and cons of expansion and, frankly, their report came back with an overwhelming message of the importance of expansion to move our league forward. Just the practical realities of getting the 10th team and the very positive affects that will have on scheduling. I think what it's done is remind us how important this really is."

The Maritimes has long been mentioned as a potential CFL expansion site. The league granted Halifax a conditional expansion franchise in the 1980s but it never played a game.

Before the 2018 Grey Cup game in Edmonton, the CFL revealed tentative plans to add a 10th team in Halifax. Originally, the hope was to have the Atlantic Schooners on the field by 2021 in Moncton, N.B., while a new stadium was being built in the Nova Scotia capital.

The ownership group had secured $20 million in government funding to build a facility. However, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in that funding project being discontinued.

The Schooners Sports and Entertainment, the ownership group that actively pursued a CFL expansion club prior the