Eric Perez is looking to ramp up the Battle of Ontario by bringing a pro rugby league team to Ottawa.

Perez, who helped bring the league to North America with the Toronto Wolfpack, is part of a Canadian consortium that has acquired the Hemel Stags.

Hemel withdrew from England's third-tier League 1 for the 2019 season and let its player contracts expire, with an eye to returning in 2020.

Perez's plan is to for that to happen in Ottawa's TD Place stadium.

"If everything goes well, a 2020 kickoff," Perez said in an interview.

"I just want to get the approval so we can get to work. There's plenty of work to do."

He hopes to have "this whole process wrapped up at some point in April."

'The next logical choice'

Perez's consortium — which numbers some 15 people — has already submitted the paperwork to the Rugby Football League at its board meeting last week.

"I'm sure it will be received really well. It's different from a new application — we're relocating a current member," Perez said.

"They've already got a Toronto team so it makes sense to further expand in Canada and, to me, Ottawa's the next logical choice."

Eric Perez, the founder and CEO of the Toronto Wolfpack, left, then-Wolfpack head coach Paul Rowley and Toronto Mayor John Tory hold up jerseys of the new rugby league team in 2016. (Neil Davidson/Canadian Press)

Perez, who calls the Ottawa market "amazing," said his ownership group is working with the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), which owns the CFL's Redblacks, OHL's 67's and USL Championship's Ottawa Fury FC.

"We're working with an incredible partner … who are super-excited to bring professional rugby league to Ottawa and to facilitate and help us by allowing us to be part of their incredible infrastructure," Perez said.

A native of Toronto, Perez also has ties to Ottawa through his parents and other relatives who live there.

"It's a second home to me," he said.

Away games overseas

Perez, who plans to leave his role on the Wolfpack's board of directors once Ottawa is given a green light, believes a team in Ottawa would complement the team in Toronto.

"It's far enough that it doesn't impede on their market but close enough to be a major rival," he said.

Should Hemel resurface in Ottawa, it would start in the English third-tier as the Wolfpack did when they first took the field in 2017, playing its away games in England and Wales during a regular season that lasts from February to September.

Toronto's Ryan Brierley in the team's 2018 season, when it just missed out on a promotion to the top league. (Twitter/@TOWolfpack)

Perez originally hatched the idea of bringing the sport of rugby league to Canada on a fish-and-chips wrapper.

As founder and CEO, he was the front-office face of the Wolfpack when its blueprint was announced in 2016.

But he has since stepped back from the Wolfpack to work on further expanding the game while remaining on the team's board of directors.

Toronto entered the league in 2017, winning promotion that year to the second-tier Betfred Championship.

It missed out on promotion to the Super League last October when it lost the so-called "Million Pound Game" 4-2 to the London Broncos.

The Wolfpack (6-1-0) currently top the Championship.

Rugby league is the 13-man version of the game, distinct from 15-man rugby union.