CFL remains committed to expanding league to Atlantic Canada: commissioner

CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie said Friday this is Atlantic Canadian region is where the CFL wants to bring a franchise and it's continuing to try and make it happen.

As Nova Scotia prepares to host its first-ever regular season CFL game, the league said it remains motivated to bring a team to Atlantic Canada.

CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie said Friday this is a region where the CFL wants to bring a franchise.

“Atlantic Canada should be represented with its own CFL franchise,” he told Global News Morning.

Pre-pandemic, Schooner Sports and Entertainment hoped to land a CFL franchise in the Halifax area with a proposed $110-million stadium. It was a controversial proposal, due in part to its cost, as well as its proposed location in the Shannon Park area of Dartmouth.

The stadium would have hosted a new team in the franchise, the Atlantic Schooners.

While Halifax Regional Council voted in 2019 to provide $20 million to help build it, councillors decided in 2021 to discontinue work on the project indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ambrosie said there was a lot of momentum to making the Schooners a reality, pre-pandemic.

“It’s probably unfair to say that we were on a two-yard line or a three-yard line,” he said, though adding the buzz was compelling.