The backers of the failed Atlantic Schooners have set up a refund website after facing criticism they didn’t make it easy for fans to get their money back after they made a deposit for season tickets.
The fans paid a deposit of $50 per seat. But the CFL franchise never got off the ground.
However, some people who put up the money have questions about the group behind the franchise bid, as well as the league’s handling of the situation.
The team launched a season-ticket drive in late 2018. At least 6,000 people made deposits.
But the CFL venture disappeared from the public conversation when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived. Two affiliated companies behind the idea — Schooner Sports and Entertainment and Maritime Football Limited — had their registrations revoked in the Registry of Joint Stock Companies.
A July CBC News story highlighted how some fans were left wondering what happened to their money. In late August, the proponents quietly launched the refund website.
Dave Smith of Amherst, N.S., paid a $100 deposit to secure two seats. He said the proponents must have had contact information for people who made the deposits, so he doesn’t understand why they weren’t notified.
Transparency questions
“It’s kind of like, ‘Well, we did [set up the website] and we’ll tell a few people,’ but it’s almost like, ‘Don’t say it too loud. We don’t want everybody coming for their money back,’ right?” said Smith.
While he welcomes the chance to get a refund, he also thinks the league should have been more transparent. He said he gets a weekly newsletter from the CFL and said there has been no mention of the refund website.
A CFL fan wears an Atlantic Schooners jersey at a game between the Toronto Argonauts and the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Wolfville, N.S., in 2022. (Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press)
“Doing anything like that actually makes them look a little more responsible,” said Smith.
Jen Harris agrees. The Beechville, N.S., resident and her husband deposited $100 for two seats. She said the league actively promoted the Schooners.
“I think they owe us something to say, like, ‘This got really messed up and we were a part of it,'” said Harris.
The CFL has distanced itself from the Schooners’ operation, with a league spokesperson providing an 11-word statement to CBC earlier this year. “The season ticket deposits were collected by Schooners Sports and Entertainment,” the spokesperson wrote.
The league did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
The CFL maintains an Atlantic Schooners website. While updates on the state of the franchise are several years old, the site still pulls in fresh stories from the league’s website.
Then CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie, centre, speaks at a 2018 press conference. Schooner Sports and Entertainment’s Anthony LeBlanc is shown on the right. (Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press)
Mark Howard lives in Florida, but has a summer home in northern Nova Scotia. He made a deposit for two seats and is looking forward to trying to get a refund, but he thinks the Schooners should have been more forthright with fans.
“They should have let the public know or fans know or whoever, you know, give an update what’s going on now,” he said. “This is going to happen, not going to happen.”
Schooners’ timeline
Leading up to the pandemic, talk surrounding a CFL franchise in Halifax was quite active.
Anthony LeBlanc, a former CEO of the Phoenix Coyotes, was a founding partner in Schooners Sports and Entertainment and the public face of the operation.
By April 2020, LeBlanc had taken an executive role with the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. However, he remained a director with Maritime Football Limited, the Registry of Joint Stock Companies information shows.
LeBlanc said that when Schooner Sports and Entertainment shut down in 2023, the company had no assets or liabilities, and had been offering refunds to season ticket holders for five years.
Jen Harris of Beechville, N.S., and her husband put down a deposit for two season tickets. She said the experience has soured her, but said her husband would still support another effort to bring a CFL team to Halifax. (Submitted by Jen Harris)
Prior to the refund website’s launch, some people CBC spoke with said it was unclear how they could get refunds, while others said their efforts to get refunds went unanswered.
LeBlanc said the effort to bring a CFL franchise to Halifax involved “significant and material financial obligations, all of which were honoured.”
Prior to learning of the refund website address from CBC, Harris said she tried to find it by Googling “Atlantic Schooner refunds,” but no results showed up.
“It doesn’t seem like it’s very easy to find,” she said.
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