Ottawa's hopes for a Major League Baseball-affiliated team hit a major snag Wednesday. The Toronto Blue Jays re-signed their New Hampshire farm team until 2014.
Some Blue Jays fans in Ottawa hoped the Fisher Cats would move to the Capital.
"It probably would've meant a lot to me to see them come to Ottawa. I've been a huge fan and followed them since I was a kid," said Blue Jays fan Travis Anderson.
"It's the Jays. I want to go see the Jays because it's the only Canadian team," said Rachel Morris.
Ottawa Councillor Rick Chiarelli said this doesn't mean Ottawa won't have an MLB-affiliated team.
"We still have opportunity to bring Double-A here, to have an affiliated team, it just wouldn't be affiliated with the Blue Jays," he said.
Dave Gourlay from Champions for Ottawa Baseball said he was disappointed in the announcement. He, along with 3,100 people put deposits on season tickets to try and entice the team to come to Ottawa and says the city didn't act fast enough.
"I think the end of the day council unanimously endorsed the MOU in February that already put us three months behind," he said.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said $5.5 million allocated to renovate the Ottawa Stadium in the city's east end won't go ahead unless Ottawa gets a Double-A team.
"The bottom line is unless we have a Double-A team we're not going to do all of the extensive renovations for a Double-A team," he said.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's John Hua
