Ottawa Redblacks

On March 25, 2008, Jeff Hunt, the owner of the Ontario Hockey League's Ottawa 67's, spearheaded a group that was awarded a franchise. The team planned to begin play in 2010, but cracks in the concrete structure in the south stands of Frank Clair Stadium led to the demolition of those stands and delayed the start of team operations. The league then set a new date of 2013 for the team's debut, but lawsuits forced the delay of reconstruction of the stadium to be pushed back even further.[10] The team and league then announced plans to play at a remodelled Frank Clair Stadium—now called TD Place Stadium—by 2014 if construction remained on schedule.[11][12][13] In 2008, the franchise was conditionally awarded the right to host the 2014 Grey Cup game,[14] but the owners preferred to postpone the game for a few years to give the franchise a better chance to play in the championship game.[11] In any event, after lawsuits and delays, the stadium renovations were not completed until 2014.[10] Hosting the Grey Cup is a condition included in the agreement of franchise ownership.[15] A CA$7-million franchise fee was reported to have been paid to the CFL.[6]

Concurrently, Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk had announced plans to bid for a Major League Soccer franchise to play in Ottawa, intending to build a new soccer-specific stadium near the Senators' Scotiabank Place (now Canadian Tire Centre) in support of that plan. Questions arose about the stadium's suitability for football in place of the aging Frank Clair Stadium. However, the CFL and MLS groups could not come to any agreement on coordinating their plans. Furthermore, municipal officials questioned whether the city could support both CFL and MLS franchises.[16]

The north-side stands of TD Place at Lansdowne Park

In April 2009, the staff of the city of Ottawa presented a report to the city council on the merits of the soccer stadium and Lansdowne Park proposals. The city held public hearings based on the report, which questioned the necessity of the spending but gave a slight edge to the Lansdowne proposal. Councillors attempted to learn whether the SSE group would support sharing their stadium with a planned CFL franchise, but the SSE group rejected such a possibility. Consequently, on April 22, 2009, the city council chose the Lansdowne proposal over the SSE proposal as its choice for an outdoor stadium. Negotiations were conducted over the next several months, leading to an August 26 presentation to the council so that it could decide the fate of football in Ottawa in the foreseeable future.

On November 12 and 13, the council held a public debate to discuss what should be done with the area at Lansdowne Park. Guest speakers included CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon and former Rough Riders Jock Climie and Mark Kosmos, who presented their case as to why the Lansdowne Live group was an important contributor to the city of Ottawa.[17] The following Monday, November 16, it was reported that the council had voted 15–9 in favour of plans to redevelop Lansdowne Park to house a CFL team.[18] The ownership group was given until June 2010 to sort out the details of the redevelopment, with construction set to begin in the spring of 2011.

On June 28, 2010, after a twelve-hour meeting, the city council approved the plan to redevelop Lansdowne Park by the same 15–9 vote, all but securing a franchise in the nation's capital.[11][12] With construction on the stadium scheduled to begin in 2011, the earliest the team would have been able to play was 2013 under the original timeline.[19] However, a failed legal challenge and an Ontario Municipal Board hearing on the Lansdowne Park redevelopment project delayed the start of construction until 2013[20] with completion targeted for the summer of 2015, although there were indications that the stadium could be opened for football as early as 2014.[10] Without a viable stadium, the debut of the team was necessarily pushed back accordingly.[15]

On October 10, 2012, the new franchise cleared its final political hurdle with a 21–3 vote by the city council in favour of Lansdowne.[21] Construction on the north and south side stands was set to begin in October 2012.[22]

On January 30, 2013, Marcel Desjardins was named the first general manager in Redblacks history.[23] Desjardins named former Montreal Alouettes scouting director and New York Jets pro scout Brock Sunderland as his assistant GM in late May 2013.[24] On December 6, 2013, Desjardins hired Rick Campbell as the team's first head coach. Campbell is the son of former Edmonton Eskimos coaching legend Hugh Campbell, who coached the team to five consecutive Grey Cups from 1978 to 1982.[25]

One year before the new Ottawa club hit the field for the 2014 CFL season, it was allowed to draft four NCAA junior redshirts (players who would participate in the 2013 NCAA football season) as part of the 2013 CFL Draft. The draft took place on May 6, 2013, when Ottawa had the last pick in the first four rounds of the draft (9th, 18th, 27th and 36th overall selections). The team selected Nolan MacMillan from Iowa, Connor Williams from Utah State, Kalonji Kashama from Eastern Michigan and Tyler Digby from Robert Morris.[26]

The 2013 CFL Expansion Draft was a three-round CFL draft held on December 16, 2013, in which players from existing CFL teams were assigned to the new Ottawa team. The structure of the draft was announced on January 19, 2011, which involved one round for selecting import players and two rounds for selecting non-import players.[27] Ottawa selected three players from each of the eight existing teams for a total of 24 players. The team was allowed to select eight import players and 16 non-import players with quarterbacks, kickers and punters eligible within their respective import/non-import categories. Ottawa was permitted to select a maximum of two quarterbacks and one kicker/punter, but not to select any two of these three players from the same team. CFL commissioner Mark Cohon was authorized to resolve any dispute related to player eligibility for the Expansion Draft process.[28] The selections were announced live on the CFL's official website on December 16, 2013.[29]

The progress of construction at TD Place Stadium, September 27, 2013

On July 3, 2014, the Ottawa Redblacks played their first regular-season game, a road match against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, scoring touchdowns on their first three possessions in the opening quarter, but ultimately losing 36–28.[30] On July 18, 2014, the Redblacks earned their first regular-season win at their home opener by a score of 18–17 over the Toronto Argonauts.[31] The Redblacks, like most expansion teams, struggled during the whole season, and finished last in both the East Division and the league with a 2–16 record.[32]

In their second season, the Redblacks brought in significant talent to improve the offence. The result was a greatly improved team that won eight of its last 10 regular-season games, finishing with a record of 12–6 to finish atop the East Division and clinch a first-round bye.[33] It was the first regular-season division title for an Ottawa-based team since 1978. On November 22, 2015, the Redblacks defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 35–28 in the East Final to advance to the 103rd Grey Cup. In doing so, they became the first Ottawa CFL team to reach the Grey Cup since the 1981 Rough Riders. They also became the second-youngest team to reach a Grey Cup final, bettered only by the 1995 Baltimore Stallions. In their first-ever Grey Cup appearance, the Redblacks lost 26–20 to the Edmonton Eskimos.[34]

The Redblacks struggled during the following season, finishing with an 8–9–1 record. However, the East Division was so weak that season, the Redblacks won their second consecutive division title—and with it, a bye into the East Final. Because of the CFL's crossover playoff format, Ottawa faced the Western Division's Edmonton Eskimos, winning 35–23.[35][36] In the Grey Cup, the Redblacks won the franchise's first championship—and the first for an Ottawa-based team in 40 years—by defeating the heavily favored Calgary Stampeders 39–33 in only the third Grey Cup game in history to go into overtime.[37]

The Redblacks went into the 2017 season with high hopes as defending champions. Despite losing Henry Burris to retirement and key contributors such as Kienan LaFrance and Ernest Jackson to free agency, the Redblacks finished the season with another 8-9-1 record, which was good enough for second place in the East Division, behind the Toronto Argonauts. The Redblacks struggled with injuries and inconsistent play throughout the course of the season. Their quest for a second consecutive Grey Cup fell short as the team lost to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, which crossed over to play the Redblacks in the East Division semifinal.[38] The Redblacks returned to form in 2018, winning their third divisional title in four years. After defeating the Tiger-Cats in the East Final, they advanced to the 106th Grey Cup game, where they were defeated by the Calgary Stampeders, which were making their third consecutive Grey Cup appearance.[39]

The 2019 season was one to forget for the Redblacks. The team lost their main offensive stars, Trevor Harris and Greg Ellingson, in free agency as both players signed with the Edmonton Eskimos. The team's offensive coordinator Jaime Elizondo resigned in mid-April to take a job with the Tampa Bay Vipers of the XFL and was replaced two weeks later by former Renegades head coach Joe Paopao, who served as the team's running backs coach and offensive playcaller. Their quarterbacking position was in flux for most of the season as Jonathon Jennings, Dominique Davis, and Will Arndt all spent time under centre.

Midway through the season, with the offense sputtering, Campbell turned over the role of offensive play-calling to Paopao, changing his role with the team from running backs coach to quarterbacks coach in the process.[40] After a 2–0 start, the team lost four in a row and capped off the season by losing 11 consecutive games, finishing the year at 3–15, good enough for fourth in the East, and ninth place overall in the CFL. Following the season, Campbell and the Redblacks mutually agreed to part ways.[41]

On December 7, 2019, the Redblacks hired former Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice as the second head coach in franchise history.[42] Following a record of 3–15 in 2019 and the team being eliminated from playoff contention in 2021 with a record of 2–9, the Redblacks fired general manager Marcel Desjardins on October 25, 2021.[43]

On July 18, 2014, at halftime of the first home game in franchise history, the Redblacks announced they would be retiring all 10 jersey numbers previously retired by the Ottawa Rough Riders.[54] The club has stated that they will not retire numbers in the future due to a limitation of number availability among certain positions.[55]

All 10 retired numbers are featured on the club's Wall of Honour in the stadium.[55] Additionally, Henry Burris was added to the Wall on September 9, 2017, at halftime in a game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.[56] On September 10, 2019, the CFL Ottawa Alumni Association Board of Directors announced they had assigned a committee to select former Ottawa players to be added to the Wall of Honour with a goal of adding more in future years.[55] In that same announcement, the club revealed that Kaye Vaughan would be the 12th member added to the Wall of Honour.[55]