OttawaLansdowne 2.0 critics are warning the Ottawa Redblacks could fold well before the end of the city’s partnership with Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), potentially blowing a sizable revenue hole in financial projections that underpin the redevelopment.Critics warn a deal with OSEG only guarantees a CFL team until 2032Arthur White-Crummey · CBC News · Posted: Oct 28, 2025 6:38 PM EDT | Last Updated: less than a minute agoListen to this articleEstimated 5 minutesThe Ottawa RedBlacks are expected to make a significant contribution to the financial case for Lansdowne 2.0. (Francis Ferland/CBC)Critics of the latest plan to redevelop Lansdowne Park are warning the Ottawa Redblacks could fold well before the end of the city’s partnership with Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), potentially blowing a sizable revenue hole in financial projections underpinning the redevelopment. City councillors are being asked to approve an updated partnership agreement that extends the city’s pact with OSEG to 2075.And yet that same deal only requires OSEG to keep operating the Redblacks and the Ottawa 67’s until the end of 2032.That could be an issue, since the redevelopment counts on Ottawa Redblacks profits, as well as stadium rent and ticket surcharges, to generate millions in revenue to help offset the cost of construction.Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Jessica Bradley said that raises a real risk that all that money could vanish.“Ottawa has a bit of a tumultuous history, particularly with football,” she said. “We had the Roughriders in the 90s and the Renegades in the early 2000s, so I don’t think it’s outside of the realm of possibility that the Redblacks could cease to operate after 2032.”“The public is outlaying a lot of money,” Bradley added. “I think [at] bare minimum OSEG should make a commitment to keep the teams here in Ottawa for the lifetime of the partnership.”OSEG CEO Mark Goudie said he’s “very confident” the teams will stay in Ottawa for generations.“If the 67’s continue in existence, which they’ve been since 1967, and if the Redblacks are still playing in the CFL, they will play here until the end of the partnership,” he said.OSEG spokesperson Janice Barresi added in an emailed response that the teams are contractually required to play their home games at TD Place “as long as those franchises continue to operate,” and that would extend until 2075 if Lansdowne 2.0 goes ahead.She said it was “highly improbable” to surmise the teams could fold since they’re a “core component” of the partnership.Goudie said Lansdowne 2.0 makes the case for the team to stay in Ottawa even stronger.“There’s some weird kind of terms in there that the OSEG partners have agreed to make sure that they continue to play to those dates,” he said, referring to the 2032 date in the contract. “But I think, for all intents and purposes, these facilities now make it able to ensure that the football team and the hockey team are going to be here until the end of the partnership.”’It needs to be in the deal,’ councillor saysBut Capital ward Coun. Shawn Menard said those assurances aren’t good enough. He said OSEG should make a firm commitment — on paper.“If they’re committed to receiving funding from the City of Ottawa, from taxpayers here, then they should be committed to keeping those teams in Ottawa for the long term,” he said.“It needs to be in the deal. If it’s not in the deal, we’ve seen how this has worked before. They can wriggle out of it and still reap the profits from the retail. They need to sign on the dotted line.”The Lansdowne 2.0 project heads to Ottawa city council for a final vote on Nov. 7. (City of Ottawa)The total cost of the Lansdowne 2.0 redevelopment plan is now set at $419 million, much of it to be financed through $331 million in debt. Over the next 50 years, the city is counting on $118 million dollars in distributions from the partnership’s profits to help pay off that debt. Retail earnings make up the biggest source of that money, according to the projections, but the Redblacks are expected to provide the second biggest contribution. By contrast, the Ottawa 67’s are actually forecast to lose money.But that’s not the only revenue stream that could be at risk. The financial model for Lansdowne counts on a ticket surcharge that will eventually generate $300,000 or more in revenue, and stadium rent of $500,000 a year.“It is a compounding effect,” Menard said. “It is not just the potential loss of those teams or sale of those teams. It is the tickets, it is the other revenue that is supposed to come in from people visiting the site, visiting retail, spending money.” Most of the stadium rent and ticket surcharge revenue is only expected to show up after the 2032 date.Supporter says Lansdowne 2.0 creates ‘conditions for success’Ottawa’s auditor general noted in a 2024 audit into the Lansdowne 2.0 deal that CFL franchises in Ottawa have been “unpredictable” and pointed to a risk that the Redblacks could leave. She put the chance at one in three.The contract does allow the city a right of first refusal to take over the Redblacks or the 67’s should OSEG choose to sell, but Bradley said that’s a fraught prospect for a municipality.“The city operating sports teams would be something the public would question,” she said.Riverside South-Findlay Creek Coun. Steve Desroches, a supporter of the Lansdowne 2.0 redevelopment, said losing the Redblacks would be “a big setback” but added that Ottawa is planning the new facilities for more than just football.“We’re building it for soccer. We’re building it for concerts,” he said. It’s clear OSEG wants to keep the teams in Ottawa but it needs the “conditions for success,” Desroches added. For him, that’s Lansdowne 2.0.“They need stability. If we don’t have the right conditions, there’s more risk we lose our teams.”ABOUT THE AUTHORArthur White-Crummey is a reporter at CBC Ottawa. He has previously worked as a reporter in Saskatchewan covering the courts, city hall and the provincial legislature. You can reach him at arthur.white-crummey@cbc.ca.
What happens to the latest plan for Lansdowne if the Ottawa Redblacks fold?
