Eric Perez to unveil Ottawa team plans

Drew Darbyshire 06 Mar 2020 10:47 AM

Eric Perez is poised to unveil detailed plans for an Ottawa team that will enter League 1 in 2021.

The Rugby Football League is expected to confirm Ottawa’s entry to League 1 for 2021 on Monday, when a press conference is held in the Canadian capital.

Perez, who is the founder of Toronto Wolfpack, will relinquish his role of acting chairman of Bradford by the end of this week and will be in the clear to go ahead with his plans for a second team from Canada.

Perez headed up a consortium that bought out former League 1 club Hemel Stags just over 12 months ago and were given permission by the RFL to re-locate to Ottawa.

The press conference will take place at the TD Place Stadium, which will host the club’s matches.

The new name, logo and the club’s colours will be announced next week but is still around six weeks away from appointing the coach and will wait until the June deadline for off-contract players to finalise signings.

The RFL is also expected to announce a 12-month delay for New York’s planned entry because it feels two trips to North America in one season would be unfair demands on part-time players.

New York remain keen to enter the RFL ranks and will unveil their plans at a press conference in Liverpool on Tuesday morning.