Overtime Central

After a long wait, we finally return with the third page of the Notebook. Ottawa expansion, expansion draft, franchise name and the CFL broadcast experience are all on the plate today.
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Overtime Central sits down with the coach of WASC with 10 questions about pick strategies and where that team name comes from.
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We foresaw that the CBC would face tight competition for its hockey properties after losing the Olympic broadcast rights. This was confirmed today with the announcement rumour that Bell Globemedia has bid $1.4 billion over 10 years for the complete cable and network hockey rights in Canada. CBC currently pays $65 million for the network rights, but with the TSN and RDS cable rights added in the NHL sees $92 million a year, far below the $140 million a year bid for the CTV-TSN broadcast arrangement.
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The Ottawa Citizen has published an article stating the Bill Palmer led group has come to an agreement with former Ottawa Rough Riders owner Horn Chen to acquire the Rough Riders name and all marks and logos for $100,000. The purchase is dependent on the group acquiring franchise rights from the league.

Golden Gate Capital Corp. is also reportedly interested in the name if they emerge as the winning bidder. With the other known bid led by Frank D’Angelo expressing thoughts about christening the team Ottawa Steelback or Cheetahs, the Renegade name may die unless an unknown mystery fourth bidder is successful.

Meanwhile, the CFL issued a statement as the August 11 deadline for bids was reached today. Not much can be learned by the statement, and with non-disclosure agreements in place between the league and all bidders more information may not be known until a successful bidder is announced.

The CFL return to Ottawa looks promising for the 2007 season, but time is short. As expected, the CFL wants a deal hammered out with a front-runner likely before too much of September slips away.
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