The Redblacks are so bad it should worry Ottawa taxpayers | Opinion

The winless Ottawa Redblacks are averaging fewer than 15,000 fans over its first six home games this season, compared to 18,000 in 2025. Photo by Ashley Fraser /POSTMEDIA

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It is almost a year since Lansdowne 2.0 was approved, but it bears asking whether the Ottawa Redblacks’ 0-11 start to the season could threaten the viability of the redevelopment plan.

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It is a valid question because the success of the two sports franchises at Lansdowne Park at the time of the plan’s approval — the CFL’s Redblacks and the PWHL’s Ottawa Charge — was central to the ultimate success of the financial plan that underpinned the redevelopment. If those underpinnings fall short, the whole plan starts to crumble.

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This year’s Redblacks have set the unwanted record of being the team with the worst losing streak in modern Canadian Football League history. The last time the team won a game was one full year ago — Sept. 5, 2025. But more worrying for city and taxpayers is the plummeting game attendance numbers, because fewer fans mean less money to sustain the franchise.

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The Redblacks are averaging fewer than 15,000 fans over its first six home games this season, compared to 18,000 in 2025. Obviously, the poor run of form has something to do with the numbers. Winning energizes fans and fills the stands. Losing has the opposite effect. Lansdowne 2.0’s projected revenues are in jeopardy if the team keeps bleeding fans — the paying customers the redevelopment needs to succeed.

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The financial “waterfall” plan that underpinned the redevelopment was based on projections that included revenue streams from retail, property taxes and, importantly, Redblacks team revenues. Remember that in one of her reports at the time, the city auditor general Nathalie Gougeon described the projections as overly rosy. Gougeon said the revenues from the Redblacks did not match the team’s historic results. Simply put, they did not add up.

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Part of the city and the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group’s assumptions were that fans would fill the stands and the arena, patronize the concessions, fill the restaurants and generate money. But the Charge have since bolted to the Canadian Tire Arena, and the Redblacks haven’t won a playoff game since 2018.

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If more and more fans stay away, Lansdowne 2.0’s viability would be seriously undermined as projected revenues come up short. The Redblacks are on course to miss the playoffs (again), and with it, there will be less money for OSEG to meet its financial obligations. And make no mistake, when fans become disillusioned, they stay away.

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Of course, the Redblacks can bounce back. And while some would also argue that falling fan numbers are happening across the league, and it would be unfair to single out the Redblacks or blame team management, it bears repeating that those teams are not playing under the weight of the kind of financial “waterfall” constructed by the city and OSEG.

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If you are the city that has sunk millions into this endeavour, this season’s falling attendance numbers must be a matter of great concern. But the thing is, the Lansdowne train has already left the station and is now too late to stop. The project is now moving at full speed with construction deadlines set. The Event Centre is expected to completed in 2028, the North Side stands by 2030, and work on the residential towers is expected to begin in 2031 and completed by 2034. There is no going back. So much money and effort have been put into the project, it unimaginable that the city would let it collapse for lack of money. If the attendance figures don’t improve and revenue projections fall short, only one thing will happen: