Booted out of the National Basketball League of Canada on Thursday, the Ottawa SkyHawks may have one hope for survival: A Canadian basketball dream team of Dave Smart, Leo Rautins and Tony House.

There's one big roadblock to that happening: NBL Canada's insistence that incoming owners pay a $350,000 fee to the league. It's a bizarre ask given that the SkyHawks coughed up an expansion fee of between $200,000-$300,000 a year ago. In 1991, the CFL allowed Bernie Glieberman to buy the Ottawa Rough Riders for $1 if he assumed the team's debt.

NBL Canada's Board of Governors voted 8-0 to remove Bytown Sports and Entertainment as the team's owners. Sources say the SkyHawks were unable to meet a July 1 deadline to repay the league an instalment on a $75,000 loan given last season to keep the team afloat. There's also a significant amount, believed to be more than $75,000, owed to suppliers.

In a last-ditch effort to salvage the team for next season, the league along with SkyHawks owner Gus Takkale approached Tony House, who is very involved in the Ottawa basketball scene, to become involved. After doing some digging, House decided he couldn't work with the SkyHawks ownership group.

"I let the league know I would like to make it a new regime, that we needed some basketball guys," said House, who approached Carleton University basketball coach Smart and former NBAer, national basketball team coach and Toronto Raptors basketball analyst Rautins. The group is about as good as it gets.

The league gave House's group a two-week window to get things together, but also threw the large fee at them, which killed any hopes.

"If they're serious about the Ottawa market, we think there's one group that can make it work," said House. "If they're going to pursue a new ownership group, we're interested. Leo is on national TV and Dave is Dave. We've got a powerful team. We'd be looking at a fresh start. We think it's a good basketball market with the right group. We think we could make it work."

"I'm disappointed," said Rautins. "We've been in Ottawa forever with our basketball camps. I always thought Ottawa was a great basketball town.

"It's pretty discouraging. We felt we could put together a group that could not only salvage the team, but we would make this work. They had already paid a fee to join. Now the league wants another fee when you're potentially going to save the market?

"That makes zero sense."

Rautins said the league has issues it needs to sort out.

"As a basketball person, I want to see a strong domestic league. But what's happening in Ottawa is a microcosm of the situation.

"(London Lightning's) Vito Frijia is the type of owner this league needs more of. It has to be a collective effort to run the league. I'm in Toronto doing Raptors games and if I didn't have a genuine interest in the league, I wouldn't know they have teams in Brampton or Mississauga."

On top of the SkyHawks' considerable expansion fee, playing games at Canadian Tire Centre proved a disaster. The team paid more than $12,000 rent per game, plus 100% of concession sales, 25% clothing sales and about $6 in surcharges to each ticket for the arena and CapitalTickets.ca.

The SkyHawks were hoping to play at TD Place this season, but a source said the venue was seeking close to $10,000 per game, well above the league's average rental price.

The league will be holding a Protected Rights List Draft of the six players on the SkyHawks' roster next week.

NBL Canada commissioner Paul Riley and Takkale did not immediately return calls for comment from the Sun.

Tim.baines@sunmedia.ca