When the Atlantic Schooners CFL Proposal franchise announced a seasonal ticket campaign at the end of 2018, Rob MacCormick spent $ 100 on a deposit for two seats.
The Windsor Junction fan, NS, Sports wanted to support the team. I also expected that if the franchise took place, more concerts would arrive in the city due to the stadium that the team needed to build as part of the company.
MacCormick was not just to place a deposit. The Canadian press reported in December 2018 that 6,000 people had done the same. At $ 50 per ticket, that’s at least $ 300,000.
CBC News spoke with 10 people who said they paid the deposit. Eight, including MacCormick, said they did not receive reimbursements.
“When you go to a couple at the same time, it certainly adds, and maybe someone should be responsible for this,” MacCormick said.
When Covid-19 pandemic arrived, the CFL company disappeared from the public conversation. Two affiliated companies behind the idea, Schooner Sports and Entertainment and Maritime Football Limited, have revoked their records in the registry of joint shares companies.
Schooner Sports and Entertainment sought municipal and provincial funds to build a 24,000 seats and $ 110 million in Shannon Park. The space would also have been used for community sports and important concerts.
In December 2019, the Halifax council voted to give the proponents $ 20 million, but only if a list of conditions was met.
“We are delighted. We thank the Council for its due diligence and its very energetic debate. We are very excited to move forward,” said Sports and entertainment partner of Schooner, Anthony Leblanc.
By April 2020, Leblanc had assumed an executive role with the NHL Ottawa senators. However, he remained director of Maritime Football Limited, according to the registration of the joint information of the shares.
MacCormick said he used to receive the strange email from Schooner Sports and Entertainment about things like City Hall events. He even received a vacation email encouraging him to buy tickets for loved ones. But emails finally dried.
“Over time, I felt that the deposit was gone and that it was $ 100, not the end of the world, but you know, I felt that things were not going to happen,” MacCormick said.
The CFL maintains an Atlantic Schooners website. While updates on the state of the franchise are several years old, the site still extracts new stories from the League website.
Jason Mullis, a CFL staiver fan who lives in Gatineau, who also deposited a deposit for seasonal tickets. He bought tickets because he wanted to see a franchise on the east coast that created a league from coast to coast and set a tenth searched team.
Mullis, who has driven throughout the country to attend games in all CFL stages, has a Facebook page called Cflhobo that he uses to share his passion for the league.
He planned to buy seasonal tickets for a Halifax franchise, but would have donated most of them given geographical limitations.
Mullis said he is not worried about the refund money, but said he saw some online talks of unhappy fans.
“People were upset. ‘Oh, I haven’t heard anything. Where is our money?'” He said. “But I don’t worry. If you really want it back, you can complain enough, you will recover your money.”
CBC contacted officials with Schooner Sports and Entertainment. Leblanc agreed an interview, but then sent a statement instead.
Proponents say they will launch a reimbursement portal
In it, he said that the proponents are creating a portal to honor new reimbursement requests. He said the information about the portal will be published shortly.
Leblanc said that when Schooner Sports and Entertainment closed in 2023, the company had no assets or liabilities, and had been offering reimbursements to seasonal ticket holders for five years.
“These deposits were and continued to be reimbursable, with a significant number of deposits of deposits seeking reimbursements,” he said in email. “All requests that were submitted through the appropriate channels have been honored.”
Leblanc said the effort to bring a CFL franchise to Halifax involved “significant and material financial obligations, all of which were honored.” He said that Schooner Sports and Entertainment associated with organizations that included architectural companies, public relations, government relations and marketing.
Schooner Sports and Entertainment also associated with the CFL in a 2019 game that was held in Moncton, NB, which led to “significant and material financial losses,” Leblanc said.
The organization decided to increase the CFL franchise, in part, due to the lack of appetite to help finance the project.
“With the beginning of the pandemic, all public sector entities made the very prudent decision to stop, and finally withdrew the agreements and suspended the ongoing discussions about the project,” Leblanc said.
