Given Ottawa's recent history of failed and flailing sports franchises, fans may be forgiven for feeling a bit pessimistic about the odds of the latest crop of teams popping up in the city. But one expert says there's still reason to cheer.

Over the past several months, Ottawa has witnessed a parade of new professional men's sports teams take the place of others that have folded before them.

The Ottawa Blackjacks is one of seven teams in the newly formed Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL), while soccer team Atlético Ottawa will join the Canadian Premier League. Both will play their first games this year.

That can work if they keep it small and intend to build over time, which is what the CFL did 100 years ago.​​ - Dave Best, Algonquin College

Ottawa's new professional rugby team, the Aces, unveiled its name and logo on Monday. The team will start playing in the Europe-based, three-tier Rugby Football League in 2021.

Then there are the ongoing efforts to revive professional baseball in the nation's capital.

These new teams are all attempting to succeed where the SkyHawks (basketball), the Fury (soccer), the Lynx and the Champions (baseball) couldn't.

But is it possible for new sports franchises to build solid fan bases and sustainable revenue streams in this city?

Reasons for optimism

"I find it exciting that Ottawa is attracting these sports franchises," said Dave Best, a professor of sports business management at Algonquin College.

"So long as there is a population base, a market size for their respective market ... so it can head toward financial success, they can be fantastic."

But in order for these teams to succeed, Best said their ownership groups need to set realistic expectations about how many tickets they expect to sell to games.

"We're not Toronto, we're not Montreal, [but] we can succeed at a level just below that absolute top level," he said.

Best said one reason why Ottawa teams have failed in the past is because "they wanted to be larger than they were capable of doing."

He cited the example of the Ottawa Lynx, the minor-league baseball team that packed up and moved to the U.S. in 2007 after years of declining attendance.

Several other sports teams have folded since the Lynx.

The Ottawa SkyHawks played in the National Basketball League of Canada for just one season in 2014-2015, but folded after failing to attract fans.

The Ottawa Champions were left out of a merger between two professional baseball leagues after their own slump in attendance.

Most recently, the Ottawa Fury suspended operations following a long-simmering dispute with soccer's governing body in Canada over which league the team would play in.

Different business models

Whether or not a new team will succeed depends in large part on its business model, Best said.

At the moment, the Blackjacks along with all other franchises in the CEBL are owned and fully funded by the league's corporate structure, although each team could be sold off either as an individual entity or as part of a full-league package to a major investor.

"That can work if they keep it small and intend to build over time, which is what the CFL did 100 years ago," Best said.

Atlético Ottawa and the Ottawa Aces are in a good position to succeed, Best said, because of their deep-pocketed owners.

The former is owned by Spanish soccer giant Atlético Madrid, while the latter is owned by a Canadian consortium led by Eric Perez, who acquired England's Hemel Stags and is moving the team to Ottawa.

"I know the first couple of years at least they'd have to pay for the teams to come over from Britain to play here. That's got to be a financial burden," Best said of the rugby team. "If they keep their business models reasonable and achievable and don't shoot for the stars right away, they can build on that."

But ultimately, it will come down to whether the teams can put bums in seats.

Many of the new teams are tied to OSEG, which runs TD Place stadium and arena, and is heavily invested in the future of sports in Ottawa.

The Blackjacks, Atlético Ottawa and the Aces will all be based out of TD Place, while OSEG is also part of an effort to create a new baseball franchise along with Sam Katz, the owner of the Winnipeg Goldeyes.