Atlantic Schooners

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Atlantic Schooners were a planned Canadian football team from Dartmouth , Nova Scotia , which was to play in the Canadian Football League (CFL) from the 1984 season . Due to a lack of agreement for a new stage, the expansion team was dissolved.

history

In May 1982, the CFL announced a conditional commitment to Maritime Professional Football Club Ltd. for a new CFL team in the Halifax - Dartmouth region. The project was voted 8: 1, with the only no-vote coming from the representative of the Montreal Alouettes , which were up for sale at the time. It would have been the CFL's first expansion since the BC Lions joined in 1954. The condition, however, was that the organizers could prove that they had a suitable stadium with 30,000 seats by June 1984.

The CFL put an expansion fee of 1.5 million $ firmly, with the cost of expansion, including the expansion draft is intended to cover. The expansion fee had to be paid by May 1, 1983. The project was estimated to be four to five million dollars in working capital for the first season and the cost of building the stadium was estimated at ten to fifteen million dollars. John Huard was introduced as the team's first head coach .

At the end of August 1982 the project was supported by the entrepreneur RB Cameron , who invested around 50% in the planned team. In early November 1982 the name of the planned team, Atlantic Schooners , was presented, but a stadium was still not found. The logo was also presented. It showed the white silhouette of a schooner and four waves against a blue sky. Both the name and the logo resembled a local beer producer, which however had no connection with the planned franchise.

In February 1983, those responsible announced their plans for the new stadium. An agreement was reached with the Mayor of Dartmouth to rent 18 hectares of land for a period of 20 years. The stadium should take up 3.6 hectares, the rest should be used for more than 4,000 parking spaces. The construction cost was set at six million dollars.

However, the CFL rejected the Schooners' expansion plans on May 5, 1983, but gave them a six-week period in which to submit a new plan. However, if this were also rejected, the schooners would be rejected until further notice. In mid-June 1983, the Schooners were withdrawn due to a lack of funding for the stadium. The withdrawal shortly before the end of the CFL deadline was chosen because those responsible were of the opinion that a withdrawal in the event of a renewed attempt would be better than a rejection by the CFL.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ FOOTBALL: TOUCHDOWN ATLANTIC. The Globe and Mail, accessed May 20, 2018 .
  2. ^ A b c Ian Dutton: Dream turns into reality for Maritime group . In: Leader Post . May 14, 1982, p. C1 .
  3. ↑ a b Lyndon Little: CFL conditionally accepts Halifax . In: Vancouver Sun . May 14, 1982, p. B3 .
  4. ↑ Canadian League Expand's . In: Sarasota Herald-Tribune . May 14, 1982, p. 13B .
  5. ↑ Yanks' Owner Blasts Umpires . In: Montreal Gazette . August 30, 1982, p. D5 .
  6. ^ E. Kaye Fulton: Team has name but no stadium . In: Ottawa Citizen . November 4, 1982, p. 40 .
  7. ^ Atlantic team gets its name . In: The Leader-Post . November 4, 1982, p. B3 .
  8. ↑ Schooner's unveil plans for new football stadium . In: The Leader-Post . February 5, 1983, p. B6 .
  9. ↑ Jeff Adams: Schooners coach waiting for disicion . In: Ottawa Citizen . June 13, 1983, p. 39 .
  10. ↑ CFL scuttles Schooners . In: Ottawa Citizen . June 17, 1983, p. 36 .
  11. ↑ McEnroe hopes shoulder heals for Wimbledon . In: Lakeland Ledger . June 17, 1983, p. 3D .