Beer Baron Brush Off

The CFL is apparently not in any hurry to hand over the keys to a franchise to the Beer Baron of Ontario Frank D’Angelo. The owner and face of Steelback Beer and Cheetah power drinks to name a few, has been told by the CFL, thanks but no thanks to his quest to buy the dormant Ottawa Renegades franchise.

Which when you consider the lack of many monied applicants for the franchise is a bit of a surprise. D’Angelo who is a rather brash self promoter, was the first one into the franchise pool earlier this year when the Rens folded, going so far as to having designed his own uniforms and proffered up the name Steelbacks as a prospective franchise name.

He appeared this afternoon on Bob McCown’s Prime Time Sports program on TheFan and Sportsnet, and sounded a bit bewildered at why his application had been tossed aside without what even seems was a serious look.

His entry into the mix, certainly raised a few eyebrows (not to mention alarm bells) as many looked at the bid as just another loopy promotion for his beer brand, similar to his legends of hockey television commercials and those strange little televised sessions with Ben Johnson.

However, D’Angelo held to his course, talking the talk of wanting to bring back football to the nation’s capital, suggesting that he was just what the capital needed to make football work again in Ottawa.

When he first outlined his bid, the franchise derby consisted of three participants, one fronted by Ottawa 67 owner Jeff Hunt which was considered the favourite and subsequently ended up withdrawn when the money man behind the bid at Golden Gate Capital, developed a serious illness, leaving Hunt with a bid but no money behind it.

The other option for the CFL was a bid prepared by Jesse Palmer’s Dad, Bill Palmer who is fronting an application on behalf of a group of American investors. Now with D’Angelo’s bid being dismissed out of hand, that Palmer bid may be the only one left on the table for the CFL, leaving them to dictate terms and not the league. In effect the CFL has gone from feast to famine in only a few short months.

While you could possibly understand the fear that the self promoting D’Angelo might have struck among the fellow lodge members of the CFL (a group with more than a few large egos, each one thinking they are bigger than the next) but the last time we checked Canadians still drank beer, so if anyone was going to be flush in cash, it would be this guy.

If nothing else, if they didn’t want him for Ottawa, they should have at least given him the opportunity to work out a business plan for any other city that might wish to join the CFL brand. While Halifax and Quebec City probably would be out, since he would want to be in the business of selling beer, perhaps the perennial entry of London or Windsor to the CFL could get a boost with a booster like D’Angelo.

It would have been a risk letting his brand of marketing run its course in building up a football team, (check out his video page dedicated to his travelling rock band) but considering the way things have gone in Ottawa with the last number of hucksters of the game, the league has done worse than a Frank D’Angelo.

Maybe he would have been the worst thing the CFL ever saw, or perhaps, he would have been the kick in the backside the league occasionally needs. Lord knows their going backwards in the franchise department these days, not many seem to want to step forward to sign up and bring some cash.

D’Angelo said he would. The CFL will have a lot of explaining to do if Ottawa somehow falls through the cracks again, especially if there is someone looking for an excuse to throw his hard earned money in with the rest of the gang of eight. From three solid possibilities to one, and one we know the least about, only in the CFL it seems.

As usual the CFL once again leaves itself open to criticism over its inner workings, just as it prepares to head into the best two weeks of its schedule and the always popular Grey Cup Week.

Just once we’d like to see this group find a way to bring some positive news to Grey Cup week and not the strange and worrisome missives that seem to spring up each year.

The above post first appeared on my Twelve Men on the Field blog, for more items about the CFL check it out!