West Harbour is Dead, Long Live Longwood!

So council has apparently voted 13-2 in favour of pursuing the new stadium at the Longwood and Aberdeen site. Whether the city can make a deal with Mac is a bit up in the air. The city has land to trade, plus the medical centre Mac wanted to build in the MIP (McMaster Innovation Park) was never a good fit for that location, so maybe the city can find a better site for it closer to downtown. The city has had problems dealing with Mac lately so who knows. With the city and the Ticats on board, plus assumedly the province and the feds who I'm sure wish this would just go away maybe there's a deal to be made.

I'm still not convinced that the deal is that great for the Ticats compared to West Harbour, but they do, so I guess that's what's important. One thing I hope comes out of this is a focus on getting the West Harbour remediated. Judging by the time it has taken for the Lister Block or Randle Reef to be addressed, I'm afraid it is going to be a long wait, even with concrete plans. One of the benefits of putting the stadium at the West Harbour, from the city's perspective is that with the tight timeline things would start moving quickly.

In football news, last year's CFL sack leader, Ricky Foley has been released by the Seattle Seahawks. With BC last year, he's a free agent and obviously will draw some interest as a non-import rush end. Should the Cats go after him? Good question. The Cats defensive line has been decent, although not stellar and Foley would be an improvement, at least in terms of ratio. Starting him and Matt Kirk on the line would be pretty sweet. However the Cats have been burnt by midseason NFL signings in the past (see Keith, Kenton), so maybe they're a little gunshy. Whoever signs Foley will have to have some cap room. I'm sure BC will make a run at resigning him, although a team with a single win probably won't make the playoffs if that's a concern for Foley. Historically the Argos would be in there. Speaking of history, the Cats have been rumoured to have cap room every season, so maybe they could win the bidding war and frontload the contract this year so the next two seasons wouldn't have as big a cap hit.

Ricky Foley

According to this article from the Vancouver Sun, BC non-import defensive end Ricky Foley will work out for the NY Jets and could be the next CFLer to head down to the NFL. This would certainly be unfortunate for the Lions as one could make an argument that Foley is the most valuable non-quarterback player in the CFL. Foley led the league with 12 sacks and more critically is a Canadian in a typically import position, and at 27 with only one year of starting is still in his prime. More strangely, he played his university ball at OUA joke York.

Saskatchewan defensive end John Chick has already signed with the Colts and Foley mentions that Rider defensive lineman Stevie Baggs will also probably sign in the NFL. Devastating for the Riders and Lions and thus it could end up next year Hamilton's somewhat anonymous defensive line (which is in no danger of losing players to the NFL) could end up being one of the league's better units.