Halifax’s plan to create a stadium for the Canadian Football League in the Maritimes has taken a significant step forward. The group has proposed some changes in the initial plan and now it aims to build a smaller stadium.

A spokesman for Schooners Sports and Entertainment confirmed that the group has signed a letter of intent with “Canada Lands Company” regarding a contract to build a sports and entertainment complex in Dartmouth, near Halifax Harbor. The agreement is of great importance.

Anthony LeBlanc, one of the group's partners, said that a $130 million stadium would be built at Shannon Park and would be accessible about 300 days a year for amateur and recreational sport. The complex would also be constructed and used on weekdays by community groups and schools.

The group also plans to join Sport Nova Scotia, a non-profit organization that manages more than 50 provincial sports groups.

According to the newest version of the plan, the stadium could accommodate 12,000 spectators, with an option to add another 12,000 seats when the CFL awards a team to the group.

Despite the signing of an agreement, Anthony LeBlanc believes that a lot of work needs to be done. In the past, he said that public money should be used to build the stadium. So far, no level of government has committed to it.

Leblanc has said that “First and foremost, they want us to go back out to the community and gauge the interest, because they spent the better part of two years talking to the community, ensuring that their plans as they had them, were acceptable. Now, obviously, things are changing, if we're contemplating a stadium, so they would like us to take the initiative to go talk to the community.”

The community has a bigger role to play for the stadium. The new advancement is a step forward for the completion of the stadium. Once completed, it will prove to be very beneficial for the community. It will not only provide a comfortable environment to the local player but also to the players from other cities.

Public funds that are long overdue

Two months ago, Schooners Sports and Entertainment said they set a deadline in late June to govern whether or not the group would go ahead with this stadium project in Halifax.

The group has also reduced the cost of the project. The project for a 24,000-seat stadium initially had an estimated cost of $170 to $ 190 million. The new plan presented on Saturday speaks of a $130 million stadium.

The name that was chosen for this potential franchise, which would be the 10th in the CFL, is "Atlantic Schooners". In recent months, the league and the group leading the project have started courting Moncton, New Brunswick, claiming that any Schooners could play their first seasons, before moving to Halifax.

In fact, the match, which will return after six years to the Maritimes, will be played in Moncton, rather than in Nova Scotia. The game between the Montreal Alouettes and the Toronto Argonauts will be held on August 25 at the Medavie Blue Cross Stadium.

Halifax has already obtained a CFL franchise, also known as Schooners, in the early 1980s. But the team never saw the light of day as no provincial or federal funding was available to build a Stadium. Halifax, Dalhousie, and Saint Mary's universities have football stadiums, but they are too small for the CFL.

So, this is the latest update regarding the construction of Stadium by Halifax. Keep visiting us for the latest updates.