November 5th, 2005.
That was the last day a CFL game was played in Ottawa… until today.
After years of planning, negotiating, constructing, and even litigating, the CFL is back on the field in the nation’s capital.
Thousands of fans – chanting, jersey-wearing, face-painted, exuberant fans – started making their way toward Lansdowne Park early in the day for the sold-out home opener of the Ottawa REDBLACKS, the newly-minted successors to the Ottawa Rough Riders (1876-1996) and the Ottawa Renegades (2002-2006.)
They came to a park that is still very much a work in progress. There is still plenty of construction and landscaping to be done at Lansdowne. The race was on just to get the stadium, TD Place, game-ready.
Everything about this opening day is an experiment of sorts, from the facilities themselves to the transportation plan that hopes to get 24,000 people in and out of a stadium with virtually no parking in a neighbourhood ill-suited for heavy traffic. For weeks now, Ottawa and its football team have been begging fans to leave their cars at home in favour of walking, biking, public transit and shuttle buses.
The first game is also the first swipe of the metaphoric iron – the first chance to smooth out what are sure to be plenty of wrinkles along the way.
But for many fans, that hardly matters. All they care about is… football is back.
