Believe it or not, there’s still a glimmer of hope for the Can Am League.  Mr. Wolff it seems, is persistent in his determination to see to it that Ottawa gets a ball team here in 2008.  Out of respect for City council, I will not get into specifics about Mr. Wolff’s proposal until they’ve had a chance to see it, but I think it’s important for baseball supporters to ready themselves for the intellectual dishonesty which is sure to follow.  What we’re sure to hear ad nauseum is the standard line which the Mayor and council have trotted out time and again:  We can’t do anything without a formal admission from the Lynx that they are leaving.   This is a bare-faced lie inacccuracy.  We know that the City had been negotiating with the Lynx and the Can Am League for months.  The truth of the matter is that something CAN be done - and as Ken Gray of the Ottawa Citizen touched on in an editorial last week, something should be done.  Remarkably, Council and the Mayor still have an opportunity to make this thing work.  All that’s required is that they agree to it; agree to have a tenant, agree to collecting a lease payment for the next two years, agree to the tax revenue.

The City is out of options.  The Ottawa Stadium Group proposal seems to have died - we’ve heard nothing further from them since their presentation to City Council.   One of their biggest “backers” does not appear to have sufficiently deep pockets, and the connection with House of Blues appears dubious at best (for those keeping score, House of Blues is now owned by Live Nation, who, coincidentally, operate ScotiaBank Place - a fairly significant concert venue in its own right).

By contrast, the City has one opportunity left.  Pray that they are wise enough to seize it.