Ottawa baseball fans will have no team to cheer for this summer, as financial problems have forced the Can-Am League to abandon the Ottawa Voyageurs before they event got a chance to play under the new name.
“It’s a sad day for baseball in Ottawa,” Voyageur general manager Barry Robinson said yesterday after league commissioner Miles Wolff announced the demise of teams in Ottawa and Atlanta.
“We were just ready to order the new uniforms.”
The Can-Am League first came to Ottawa in the form of the Rapidz in 2008, but that team declared bankruptcy after the first season.
Since January, the newly named Voyageurs haven’t had an owner and have been funded by the league.
“Without solid ownership and the financial commitment behind these teams, it is in the best interest of the league to go with six clubs,” Wolff said.
The league will consist of Brockton, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Quebec, Sussex and Worcester for the 2009 season.
“They gave it their all-American try and I guess it hasn’t worked out,” said Mayor Larry O’Brien, who had discussions on the weekend with league organizers. “We’ll have to re-evaluate our plans for that stadium.”
Robinson said there is still hope if an owner can be found by September when the lease expires at the city-owned stadium — formerly known as JetForm Park.
“The key here is we need an owner — then there’s an opportunity,” Robinson said.
Players will go through a dispersal draft. Team staff have been laid off and Robinson will seek other employment once he wraps things up, he said.
