Ottawa’s business community hopes to see increased activity when an independent baseball league team starts playing at Ottawa stadium next year. A new lease agreement with the CanAm league, signed by the city last week, will bring 50 games a year to the home stadium on Coventry Road.
With Centretown close by, the local business community may soon be reaping the benefits.
"Having a new sports entity in the city is going to be very good for local business, they are going to benefit from that increased economic activity," says Ian Faris, president of the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce.
"For an area like Centretown, after a game people will come down and frequent the pubs and bars, so there will be a positive spinoff from that."
Centretown residents are likely to be key patrons of the stadium, which is within walking distance. Local establishments may be called on to promote the team, and may see business incentives in doing so.
"It’s important to market a new team to those who can walk to the ballpark," says David Gourlay, founder of Champions for Ottawa Baseball.
"When the team has its feet on the ground they will go to the local businesses for support."
Although Mayor Jim Watson had at one point hoped to bring a AA-level team to the city, negotiations ended when the price tag for upgrades to the stadium were estimated at more than $40 million.
Gourlay, who spent two years pushing for an AA-level team, says there’s some disappointment but says he believes the deal with the independent team will still be advantageous to businesses in the area.
"I fully expect the business community to be participating in the revenue opportunities that the ballpark and the ball team have," he says.
"They will want to put some advertising in the field, they’ll want to buy some tickets."
The new team is also expected to have a positive effect on tourism.
"When people realize they can see one, two, three, four different types of sports depending on the time of year, that will help our tourism offer," Faris says.