New Canadian Football League Stadium For Winnipeg?

Media mogul David Asper is taking another run at getting a major new football stadium and amateur sports complex built in Winnipeg to replace the aging Canad Inns Stadium where the Winnipeg Blue Bombers play their home games.

Asper announced Saturday that he's willing to put up $100 million towards the cost of a stadium complex at the University of Manitoba, subject to a combined $35 million in funding from the federal and provincial governments.

Asper says this represents a doubling of his investment in the project, but cuts in half the amount of government money he's seeking.

This is the third site proposed by Asper for a new stadium after a proposal to replace the existing stadium at Polo Park was rejected, followed by the rejection of a site in the core of Winnipeg known as Point Douglas.

The latest offer from Asper, whose family controls Canwest Communications, includes a 30,000-seat stadium than can be expanded to 45,000 seats; a 700-stall parkade; and a major upgrade to the university's existing stadium.

The design would see the CFL stadium built eight metres below ground with an inflatable bubble to cover the facility during the winter months so that it could be used as an amateur sports complex.

Canadian Football League Week # 12 Picks

CFL WEEK # 12 PICKS

Bombers Vs Argos

The Argos were awful last week. The Bombers looked good but have no confidence
in themselves(see 17 point lead vanish) to hold a lead. So changes occur. The Don is
back in TO and the Bombers try and trade Tom Canada and add help on defence.
This is a crap-shoot.

Argos by 7

Als Vs Stamps

The game of the week. Two of the better teams going head-to-head. Flip a coin.
Stamps by 5


Ti-Cats Vs Eskimos
Usually a coaching change results in a win, Not in this case.

Eskimos by 16

Riders Vs Lions

Charles Roberts makes his debut for the Lions. The Riders seem to always win
in Vancouver. Not this time. Two intense games with Winnipeg take their toll.

Lions by 8

Last Week 2-2 Over-All 23-17

Another Canadian Football League Coach Fired

One day after the Hamilton Tiger-Cats made a coaching change, their East Division rivals are ready to pull the plug on their head coach.

The Toronto Argonauts have called a news conference for 11:15 am this morning to make what the club calls "a major coaching announcement".

TSN has confirmed that Rich Stubler's tenure at the helm of the team is over and that Don Matthews will be brought in to try and right the ship.

Matthews is the CFL's all-time winningest coach with 251 victories. He also has five Grey Cup titles to his credit, two of them with Toronto in 1996 and 1997. He stepped down as the Alouettes head coach in October 2006 due to health reasons.

Stubler's future with the club appeared in jeopardy prior to the Labour Day matchup against rival Hamilton. However, the Argos managed to squeeze out a narrow 34-31 win to buy their embattled head coach some more time. Last weekend's 45-19 thrashing at the hands of division leading Montreal dropped the Argos to 4-6, just four points up on both Winnipeg and Hamilton in the East.

Canadian Football League Coach Fired

According to the Globe and Mail, Charlie Taaffe has been fired by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats with offensive co-ordinator Marcel Bellefeuille taking over the reigns.

The team has called a news conference to make a major announcement today at 1:30pm et/10:30am pt.

The move comes on the heels of a 35-12 loss to the B.C. Lions at Ivor Wynne Stadium in which running back Jesse Lumseden carried the ball three times for just 20 yards.

At 2-8, the Tiger-Cats are tied with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for the worst record in the CFL. During Taaffe’s tenure in Hamilton, the Tiger-Cats have won just five times in 28 contests.