HALIFAX—The group trying to bring a Canadian Football League franchise to Halifax is reversing field when it comes to its stadium plans, pivoting from the idea of large professional football style facility toward a multi-use “community” model approach.

The change in direction was announced Saturday afternoon in Dartmouth, N.S., during the final stop in CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie’s cross-Canada tour that saw him speak with league fans across the country.

When Ambrosie finished talking to about 100 lively fans of the Atlantic Schooners inside a city hotel conference room, the group behind Schooners Sports and Entertainment (SSE) took to the stage and delivered an update on where things stood for this proposed Halifax-based team getting off the ground.

A significant update came in the new stadium approach, which now includes a partnership with Sport Nova Scotia that would see the goal for any stadium being as a year-round community facility.

As well, SSE founding partner Anthony LeBlanc announced that a framework for an agreement was reached between them and Canada Lands, outlining a potential deal that would see what is now being referred to as multi-use community sports and entertainment hub getting built at the Shannon Park site in Dartmouth.

“We have to get moving. People want to see stuff,” LeBlanc told reporters afterwards.

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LeBlanc said fans of the Schooners should know more in the coming weeks, with a staff report hopefully presented to council, including with this new stadium approach, by end of June.

Last October, council voted unanimously in favour of having city staff do a business case analysis of the stadium proposal. LeBlanc said now that they have finalized this new approach for a stadium, things should begin moving more quickly.

According to LeBlanc, the new stadium idea proposed would see 12,000 main grandstand style seating built specifically for the community model. From there, another 10,000 “permanent structure” seats would get built on the field’s other side, but not be as “robust” as the grandstand seating.

Another 3,000 or so temporary seats would then be brought in for behind one end zone to meet CFL seating standards. He estimated the latest “all-in” cost for the stadium project would be under $130 million.

“What we basically presented to city staff last fall and relayed to council … at that point we were at $170 to $190 million … this is a totally different model,” LeBlanc said. “That was a professional building based off what was recently built in Hamilton and Winnipeg. And we’ve said, ‘we get it. That’s just not going to happen here.’”

He said working in partnership with Sport Nova Scotia, the stadium would be used about 300 days a year outside of CFL football, or large special events, such as concerts.

LeBlanc said the group would still ask for financial support from all three levels of government, but noted they would take on “the financial burden for what is needed to enhance the facility” after the stadium is built, including those first 12,000 grandstand seats.

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He also said community groups who used the facility could do so at a “reduced cost,” although no figure was given. A sports dome would be erected so the stadium could be used during the winter months.

“What I know so far is we’ve talked to four groups, soccer, football, rugby (Nova Scotia), and the Nova Scotia Schools Athletic Federation, and we just asked for an estimate of hours that they could potentially program the facility, and just those four, it came out to about 1,500,” Jamie Ferguson, the CEO of Sport Nova Scotia, said in an interview after the event. “So I could see a lot of other sports coming in and using the facility.”

The other news Saturday was the announcement that a letter of intent was signed between Canada Lands and SSE, outlining the parameters of a potential deal for a stadium.

According to a Canada Lands release issued Saturday, the elements of the deal include the sale of up 20 acres to SSE for a proposed stadium. The statement also said any sale is “dependent on the satisfaction of a number of commitments.”

Those commitments include SSE engaging with the public on the new proposed stadium idea, support from both the city and province, and for input from Millbrook First Nation about this, and what else might be built on the remaining Shannon Park property.

Many of the fans who attended Saturday’s event were dressed in CFL attire, and listened attentively to both Ambrosie and the SSE ownership team.

They heard that about 6,000 deposits have so far been put down toward season tickets for the Atlantic Schooners Football Club. The idea of more ferries to get people to games from the Halifax side of the harbour was also broached.

Ambrosie served mostly as the face of the league Saturday and to again show that the CFL wants this 10th franchise. If the team does get off the ground, it could begin as early as 2020, but play the first couple of seasons in Moncton, N.B., while waiting for a stadium at Shannon Park to be completed.

One of the more interesting things Ambrosie said during his 20-minute talk to fans was, that should this team happen, he would push for an annual Labour Day weekend matchup between the Schooners and B.C. Lions, something he referred to as the “Coast Bowl.”

The CFL has three long-running Labour Day weekend rivalry games: between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts, and the two Alberta teams, Calgary and Edmonton.

“We’re closer than we have ever been to making this a reality,” Ambrosie told fans of this team one day hitting the field.

Dartmouth’s Greg Geddes was one of the fans in attendance Saturday. He calls himself a diehard CFL fan and left Saturday’s event optimistic this team could soon be playing, for real, in the CFL.

“It’s frustrating, this waiting,” he said, in reference to the entire process. “But I know it’s taking as long as it needs to, so we get it done right.”

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