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HALIFAX, N.S. —

Schooners Sports and Entertainment has yet to deliver a promised business plan for a stadium and an expansion Canadian Football League team to Halifax regional council representatives.

But neither Anthony LeBlanc nor CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie view it as a death knell for the proposed franchise.

“It hasn’t transpired yet,” LeBlanc, former president of the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League and one of three principal owners of the Atlantic Schooners, said of presenting a plan to HRM chief administrative officer Jacques Dube and his staff.

“We continue to do our work in the background. The reality is these things take time to do them correctly and we really have one shot. We want to ensure that when the package is delivered ... it provides an opportunity to make a decision based off facts, not based off of emotions. That is really what we are trying to do, to ensure that all of the questions that will be asked are part of this business plan. Because it’s taken a period of time and we have purposefully been relatively quiet, people are forming their own opinions based on emotion.

“This is going to be a fulsome package, it will get delivered in short order. At that point, then we will work closely with Mr. Dube and his staff to answer any questions that come up and work to get staff to a point where they are comfortable making a presentation and ultimately a recommendation to council. My hope and expectation is that all should happen this calendar year.”

LeBlanc had hoped to provide the business plan to the municipality last December and then by Canada Day.

“I have been the great avoider of artificial timetables,” said Ambrosie as the two men met with media outlets in Halifax on Monday in anticipation of the 2019 edition of Touchdown Atlantic, featuring the Toronto Argonauts and Montreal Aloutettes at the University of Moncton on Aug. 25.

“We would rather this take the right amount of time to get the right outcome than to impose some kind of a timetable that leaves us unsatisfied,” Ambrosie said. “Anthony is right, you have one chance to do all the pieces correctly. What’s impressed us in the league is that you get a measure of the commitment of this group.

“Everyone wants it done quickly. Your perfect answer is done well and done fast but if we are going to err, we’d rather err on the side of well than fast. Let’s be fair, we want both.”

Dube has said it will take his staff team six months to analyze the business plan once it is submitted. Ambrosie said the delays in getting the plan to Dube and company could reduce the time needed for staff analysis.

“If what is presented to Mr. Dube and to the city is a comprehensive, fully thought-out document, it’s easier to process and it takes a lot less time,” Ambrosie said. “The time delays are always the unanswered questions. What we would encourage is that when this is presented that it is full and complete. It eliminates a lot of time when people are looking for the answers they need and the thoroughness creates credibility. It looks like you’ve anticipated all the important questions and have them answered.”

Unanswered questions surround the construction of a stadium to house a team. Schooners Sports proposes a $130-million stadium with 12,000 permanent seats and a capability of adding 12,000 more temporary seats. The stadium would be built on an undefined public-private partnership arrangement with Schooners Sports taking on the operational costs, LeBlanc said.

Schooners Sports has been negotiating with Canada Lands, the federal Crown corporation tasked with managing and redeveloping surplus military properties, for the purchase of an eight-hectare plot of land in the 33-hectare Shannon Park site by Halifax harbour. The two sides have talked about a price but LeBlanc isn’t saying what that could be.

LeBlanc said experts in real estate and traffic patterns and other areas have been brought into the stadium mix.

“Those are the groups that we are relying upon and that we are working with, candidly waiting on their final work product to be incorporated into our business plan,” LeBlanc said. “You can’t rush those things. Each one of those third-party studies is in their final stages of completion.”

LeBlanc said any business plan presented to the municipality will be contingent on a signed deal with Canada Lands, setting the fall for a timeline to submit the plan.

LeBlanc said the earliest date for regular CFL action in Atlantic Canada would be 2021 and that season could be played in Moncton or in a temporary pop-up stadium in Halifax similar to the facility in which the HFX Wanderers FC soccer team plays.