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In the past several days, there’s been plenty of speculation about a local businessman’s involvement with a bid to bring back professional soccer to Ottawa.

And the mystery man is … Jeff Hunt.

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The guy who, in 1998, at the age of 32, rescued junior hockey in Ottawa when he bought the 67’s, the guy who fronted a successful bid to bring back a Canadian Football League team to Ottawa — the Redblacks played their first game in 2014 — has been doing plenty of legwork to figure out if another soccer team could be viable. And, as early as next week, it could be announced that an Ottawa franchise will be added to the Canadian Premier League in 2020. Yep, that’s this season.

“I can confirm that the CPL reached out to me some time ago to provide advice and guidance in bringing a CPL team to Ottawa,” Hunt said late Friday afternoon. “I can tell you we’re very close in putting together a launch of professional soccer through the CPL in Ottawa in 2020. That’s certainly the goal. My involvement — that’s to be determined — but for the right situation, I would hope to play a role not just as a partner, but as a frontman on the ground in Ottawa.”