OTTAWA -- Ottawa’s new professional rugby team will be called the Aces.
Officials unveiled the team’s name, logo and colours at a news conference on Monday.
The team, set to start play in the European-based Rugby Football League in early 2021, will be only the second trans-Atlantic professional sports organization in the world.
The Aces will play half their games in Europe and half at TD Place Stadium.
Ottawa Aces chairman Eric Perez was the driving force behind bringing the franchise to the city.
“It’s all the way from the basics up of how to compose your team, what kind of a coach to pick, what type of players to pick... how to pick a stadium, how to pick a city and I think we got it all right this time in Ottawa.”
Perez says that he is excited to grow the sport in Canada and to hopefully build a rivalry with the Toronto Wolfpack, the other Canadian team in the league.
“The success that we’ve had in Toronto, I felt that Ottawa could have the same kind of success. And we needed a rival, Toronto needed a rival and so Ottawa steps in to be the rival,” said Perez.
Rugby Football League chairman Simon Johnson believes that the community will embrace the new team.
“It’s a very fast, very exciting, very skillful game and I know Canadians value high professionalism and elite athletes, and this is a chance to see first-class athletes playing an elite game.”
The next step is for the Aces to announce a coach and general manager, which should happen in the next month or two.
