Halifax council to consider report on stadium as part of potential CFL team

Halifax council will consider on Tuesday a new report on a proposed 24,000-seat stadium, the pivotal component of a bid to land a Canadian Football League team for the East Coast’s largest city.

Maritime Football Limited Partnership, a group that includes business executives and former owners of an NHL team, is in the final stages of securing a conditional CFL expansion franchise.

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The group has proposed Shannon Park, a 38-hectare swath of land on the east side of Halifax harbour formerly used by the Department of Defence for housing, as the preferred location for the multi-purpose stadium.

An urban planning expert says the discussion is bound to be polarizing for the community, with costly stadium projects often generating vigorous public debate.

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Maritime Football is in talks with Canada Lands Company to buy up to eight hectares of land for the stadium, a parking structure and “associated uses,” the staff report says.

The new football team would be the anchor tenant of the stadium, which comes with an estimated price tag of up to $190 million.