Business group looks to score CFL franchise for Halifax

A group of business people are making a play fora Canadian Football League franchise inHalifax.

The league confirmed Thursdayit has been in touch with a group interested securing a team forthe municipality, which has a population of about 410,000.

Halifax regional council met this week with representatives from the group and the CFL. The meeting was in-camera, so no members of the public or media were present.

Stadiumrequired

A 20,000-25,000 seat stadium would likely be necessary to make a CFLfranchise viable.

That isn't something the city is interested in financing, Mayor Mike Savage said Thursday night.

"Interest in a stadium and a CFL expansion to Halifax is longstanding. My consistent response has been that a stadium is not a capital priority at this time. Any proposal would need to be private sector led and make economic sense for the municipality," he said in a statement.

He did say the proposal was well crafted and deserved serious consideration.

A statement from the CFLalso described the proponentsas "professional, enthusiastic and impressive."

But it said "these conversations are relatively new and a very thorough process of due diligence must be put in place and completed before we can fully assess the viability of the project."

In March 2013, then-CFL commissioner Mark Cohonremarked that theleague was open to eastern expansion. He said Halifax, with its larger population and strong corporate presence, was the best bet compared to Quebec City and Moncton.

The MonctonStadium has hosted CFL games in the past.