Long before the first ball is snapped, 11 months or so before the spruced-up stadium is finished, the Ottawa RedBlacks are selling tickets ... lots of them.

The team, which will enter the CFL for the 2014 season, already has more than 10,000 commitments for season tickets -- with each paying a $25 deposit.

How football crazy is this city? More than 5,000 of those were sold before there was even any advertising of ticket availability. Look for the demand to pick up even further into September, when the RedBlacks will open their preview site at Shoppers City East -- and fans will be able to pick their game-day location with 360-degree panoramic view technology which allows them to see what the field will look like from their seats.

"I'm thrilled at the response," RedBlacks president Jeff Hunt said. "We still have a year to go and we're at more than 10,000. And we haven't gone to the corporate community yet. It's a strong show of support for a team that hasn't even played a game yet."

With the CFL dying two painful deaths in Ottawa in the past 17 years, Ottawa's football community looks like it's all-in this time. The CFL suspended the Renegades in 2006. That team's season-ticket sales stood at about 12,000.

"Those numbers are well in our sights," said Hunt. "I'd like to think 15,000 is a realistic working goal. That would be great."

"Considering how long we were in a holding pattern while we worked through political and legal battles, when we were in a hurry-up-and-wait mode, the speed in which things are happening now is surreal."

All this is happening while there are no franchise players, no coach -- really, not much to hang an identity on.

"I still think for a lot of people, this is abstract," said Hunt. "You go by Lansdowne and even though things are moving along really well, it looks like a big construction mess. People know the CFL is coming back to Ottawa, but it's still not real to a lot of them. As milestones occur -- the preview centre, the Grey Cup, the expansion draft, the hiring of a coach, whenever there's a big event -- we will see a spike in ticket sales.

"There have been a couple of big milestones in the past few months -- the hiring of (GM) Marcel (Desjardins) and his staff and the team name.

"There were lots of positives and some negatives in the reaction to the name RedBlacks. But it's rolling easier and easier off the tongue each day. People are getting used to it."

tim.baines@sunmedia.ca