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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto courtesy: Steven Chang\/B.C. Lions<\/p>\n
The season of Roger Greenberg\u2019s discontent is finally over.<\/p>\n
The managing partner and executive chairman of the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG) watched his football team for the final time in 2026 on Saturday afternoon, when the Redblacks fell 35-22 to the Hamilton Tiger-Cat<\/a>s.<\/p>\n The result dropped Ottawa to 1-17, tying them for the worst record in CFL history<\/a> and completing a trajectory that their ownership group has been grappling with for months.<\/p>\n 3DownNation Newsletter<\/p>\n \t\tToday\u2019s CFL news in your inbox every day at 3 p.m.<\/p>\n \t\tBy signing up you agree to receive daily emails from 3DownNation, as well as our \u201c(To say it has been difficult) would be an understatement. This would be the worst summer of my life, without a doubt,\u201d Greenberg told the media earlier this week<\/a>. \u201cI think people stopped talking to me because they didn\u2019t know what to say. They just knew that all three of us \u2014 John (Ruddy) and John (Pugh) and I \u2014\u00a0it just sucked the joy out of going out afterwards. I wouldn\u2019t go out. It was a really, really difficult season.\u201d<\/p>\n The Redblacks set a CFL record with 16 consecutive losses to begin the 2026 season, reaching depths of despair never before seen in Canadian professional football. That was part of a longer streak of 22 straight defeats, a run of ineptitude unequalled since the Great Depression.<\/p>\n Embarrassment has been compounded at the box office, where average attendance at TD Place Stadium dropped to 15,617. That marked a 16.4 percent year-over-year decrease and the lowest number for a CFL team in Ottawa since 1970, excluding the 2021 season where COVID-19 restrictions were in place.<\/p>\n The dramatic drop-off has had both financial and emotional ramifications for those in the owners\u2019 box.<\/p>\n \u201cThe money\u2019s one thing. We were never in it for the money. We\u2019ve said that since day one. Didn\u2019t think we\u2019d be losing quite this much money,\u201d Greenberg acknowledged.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve lost a lot of fans over the past five years. I get it. I understand it. To me, if winning isn\u2019t number one or number two for fan engagement, you\u2019ve got to have a competitive team. I don\u2019t blame the fans.\u00a0We\u2019ve been unlucky with the weather at times. It just seemed like everything was conspiring against us. We\u2019ve got to get a competitive team.\u201d<\/p>\n The Redblacks began play as an expansion franchise in 2014. After reaching the Grey Cup three times in their first five years and winning the CFL title in 2016, they have qualified for the playoffs just once over the last seven seasons. Since 2019, they have gone a combined 28-93-1, firing three head coaches in the process.<\/p>\n Pinpointing the root of the difference between the franchise\u2019s contradictory eras is challenging. Some have suggested that the departure of quarterback Trevor Harris following the 2018 season jump-started the decline<\/a>. The lack of a definitive franchise pivot has certainly proven devastating, though so too have other penny-pinching roster decisions.<\/p>\n More recently, the Redblacks have wildly overspent at non-premium positions, such as interior offensive line, running back, and linebacker. The river of incoming American talent has dried up to a trickle, and those who have cracked the roster have struggled to stay healthy. After losing 281 man-games to injury in 2025, Ottawa finished 2026 with 18 individuals on their six-game injured list and eight more on the one-game.<\/p>\n All of those issues culminated in arguably the darkest chapter in the football history of the nation\u2019s capital this year, with only a single positive scoreline providing solace.<\/p>\n \u201cI call last Friday night\u2019s win the most improbable win I think I\u2019ve ever seen us do.\u00a0I thought for sure we had figured out another way to lose a game that I thought we should have won,\u201d Greenberg said, referencing the improbable 40-39 upset of Toronto in Week 20<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ve been competitive in some games. I do look back and see that there were bits and pieces of almost every game where we had some absolutely brilliant plays by some of the players. We just couldn\u2019t bring it consistently for the four quarters. Having a perfect season the wrong way is not a record that I relished.\u201d<\/p>\n For Ottawa football fans \u2014 at least those that are still around \u2014 the vibes surrounding their team feel disturbingly familiar. This is a city that saw the Rough Riders succumb to incompetence on and off the field in 1996, and witnessed the Renegades go up in smoke after just four fitful seasons.<\/p>\n While OSEG have invested long-term in the form of the upcoming Landsdowne 2.0 renovation<\/a>, that will come at a substantial financial price <\/a>for a team that is already bleeding at the turnstile. That has led to a growing worry that the Redblacks might be on a path to mirroring their predecessors.<\/p>\n However, Greenberg has publicly insisted that whatever the current losses, the demise of the franchise is not a serious possibility<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI also wanna be clear about our commitment as owners. We believe in the Redblacks. We believe in Ottawa. We believe this city can support a perpetually competitive football club. We have invested a great deal in building this organization, and our commitment to this team, this city, and its fans has not wavered. We want to win, and we are committed to doing what it takes to give this club the best opportunity to succeed. We know how much this team means to the people of this city,\u201d he emphasized.<\/p>\n \u201cWe actually had that argument thrown at us when we were starting the team. Why would we wanna start a team when (two teams before have failed)? I remember on the radio before we actually started, the CFRA early morning show, I said, \u2018We have passionate fans here. We just have to produce a winner.\u2019 I\u2019m confident that with all the work that we\u2019ve done with our friends at City Hall in terms of creating facilities for people and all of the good things that we\u2019re doing here, we have to create a winner. As long as we create a winner, and we think we\u2019ve got a winner between us here, we\u2019re gonna figure this out. We did last time when we started; we had it from an expansion team. We\u2019ll figure this out, and we\u2019ll get a team, and the fans will come back. I\u2019m not worried about where we\u2019re going.\u201d<\/p>\n Change has already begun in earnest towards resetting the direction of the franchise. Vice president of football operations Shawn Burke was fired mid-season<\/a>, and team president Adrian Sciarra stepped down from his role<\/a>. On Tuesday, the club announced the hiring of Mike Morreale as their new president<\/a>, touting his previous experience as commissioner of the burgeoning Canadian Elite Basketball League<\/a>. It will be up to the former Ticats and Argonauts receiver to determine the fate of head coach and general manager Ryan Dinwiddie<\/a>, as well as Jim Popp, who was brought in as a temporary consultant to salvage the season<\/a>.<\/p>\n Greenberg emphasized his faith in Morreale, promising that ownership would not meddle in the direction he chooses for the team.<\/p>\n \u201cAs owners, we\u2019re interested. I ask a ton of questions, but as I\u2019ve said to each of the general managers and the coaches that we\u2019ve had, the day that I start telling them who to put on the field, what play to call, that\u2019s the day they should be handing in their resignation because it means I\u2019ve lost confidence in them, and that\u2019s not a good thing,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a football guy. What could I possibly tell him as a football guy? I\u2019m here to support him in everything that he does. We have to reconnect with our fans. We have to reconnect with our sponsors. There\u2019s so much that we need to do, and my comment to Mike is, \u2018Tell me what I can do to help out.\u2019 That\u2019s our role. I don\u2019t tell him; he tells me.\u201d<\/p>\n Greenberg understands that Redblacks represent more to the people of Ottawa than just a football team. However, sentimentality won\u2019t get you very far in professional sports, and he knows the novelty of the return of the franchise can no longer cover all the warts.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t really quite believe what Ted Lasso says when he says he doesn\u2019t care about wins and losses. He just cares about how he treats the players, whatever, and that\u2019ll follow,\u201d he said, referencing the popular Apple TV show. \u201cI sort of understand that. But I do believe at the end of the day, the fans want to see wins. They want to see us in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n No matter how much he wants to forget this year, 1-17 is beyond what even a goldfish is capable of purging.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t J.C. Abbott is a University of British Columbia graduate and high school football coach. He covers the CFL, B.C. Lions, CFL Draft and the three-down league’s Global initiative.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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